The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) has set five participants for the upcoming Power Pitch Talent Lab.

The Power Pitch Lab is a pitch training workshop and competition for Canadian producers with scripted or documentary features in development.

The participants will attend a workshop and have one-on-one consultations with The Optimal Pitch principal Kevin Wright, former SVP of programming for Astral Media.

Each competitor will have six minutes to pitch their project to a jury of industry executives. This year the jury is comprised of Melanie Nepinak-Hadley, senior director, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Access Canada; Adam Koehler, director of acquisitions and productions, IFC Films/RLJE/Shudder; and Sharon Stevens, VP of programming, Hollywood Suite.

The lab participants and their projects include three from B.C., one from Ontario and one from Saskatchewan.

The B.C. competitors are Jordan Waunch’s romantic drama If The World Should Break, Milton Ng’s horror comedy New Diamond Restaurant and Jessica To’s comedy Hi, My Name Is Emma.

The Ontario and Saskatchewan participants are Samantha MacAdam’s comedy Surviving Parenthood and Style Dayne’s comedy Pay Day, respectively.

The winner of the competition, which will be announced Dec. 5, will receive a $36,000 prize package that is broken down into a $25,000 post-production credit from Company 3; a $10,000 lighting and grip production credit and a $1,000 cash prize from Sunbelt Rentals.

WFF also announced the 10 local short films that will be showcased as part of its ShortWorks program this year.

The short films include Counting Days, written and directed by Hiromu Yamawaki; Ask The Plantain, directed by Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos; Have I Swallowed Your Dreams (pictured), written and directed by Clara Chan; and DJ, MONK, directed by Aaron Nathanson.

Other selections include Anishinaabemowin, directed by Shaelyn Johnston; DTF?, directed by Jess McLeod; Feral, directed by Rebeca Spiegel and Stephanie Cardona Falck; and V.I.N.C.E, directed by Adam Greydon Reid.

Rounding out the selections is Attendance, written and directed by Riley Davis; and Queen of The Underworld, directed by Stephanie Izsak.

WFF also announced the shortlist for the Screen BC Short Film Award Pitch, for which WFF has again partnered with Screen BC, Creative BC and WBD Access Canada.

The five directors in the shortlist will be contending for the opportunity to develop and direct a short film project.

The participating directors are Ana Carrizales (She Who Fights Wolf), Lucy McNulty (How to Build a Cult and Brainwash Men), Norman Yi Li (Adverse Possession), Sina Sultani (Dictators) and Vincente Kabo Baker (The Nonsense of Waiting).

The winner will receive a $15,000 cash prize along with in-kind services valued up to $100,000. As well, the film resulting from the competition will be screen at next year’s WFF.

WFF takes place from Dec. 4 to 8.

Image courtesy of WFF