Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World to screen in Sydney
Xavier Dolan’s Juste la fin du monde (“It’s Only the End of the World”) is set to screen in competition at the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) in June. The Canada/France coproduction will screen in SFF’s Official Competition program alongside 11 other titles, including Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women (U.S.), Oliver Hermanus’ The Endless River (South Africa/France) and Martin Zandvliet’s Land of Mine (Denmark/Germany). Juste la fin du monde makes its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Production underway on new episodes of Blood and Water
Production is underway on an additional eight episodes of OMNI’s Blood and Water, which will serve as the second half of a 16-episode first season. The 30-minute crime drama from Breakthrough Entertainment is being shot in Toronto. Blood and Water is directed by veteran Canadian directors Gail Harvey (Murdoch Mysteries, Lost Girl) and Carl Bessai (Rehearsal) and executive produced by Ira Levy, Diane Boehme, Michael McGuigan, Malcolm Levy, Nat Abraham and Peter Williamson. The series, produced in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English, tells the story of a wealthy Vancouver family dealing with the death of their two sons.

WIFT-T names new board
Women in Film and Television – Toronto has elected its board of directors for 2016-17, with new additions Sonia Brar, VP, information technology, Bell Media, and Marilyn Orecchio, VP, national sales, Corus Entertainment, joining the board. The WIFT-T board of directors includes chair Jocelyn Hamilton, vice-chair Rekha Shah, treasurer Fiona Lee and secretary Christina Buchli. There were also two new additions to the Foundation for WIFT-T Board of Directors, as development consultant Dianna Klisanin and media industry tax specialist at Pricewaterhouse Coopers Linda Stregger were elected to the board.

Kevin Spacey Foundation announces film shortlist, panel
The Kevin Spacey Foundation (KSF) has named Vancouver filmmaker Nick Citton’s film project Mary God of War to the shortlist for the KSF Artists of Choice 2016 program. The program is designed to provide mentorship and funding to projects from artists and companies based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Canadians involved in the judging panels are: director and producer Gary Harvey, Thunderbird’s director of media and marketing Nicola Pender, Jason Priestley, writer/director Jonas Quastel and actress/producer/director Amanda Tapping.

Afroglobal Television launches on Rogers
Twenty-hour channel Afroglobal Television, based in Toronto, has launched on Rogers cable. The channel features docs, biographies, movies, and talk shows related to African culture and the African Diaspora. Afroglobal is on Rogers Cable channel 708 and Bell Fibe channel 2472. The channel is headed up by CEO and executive producer Moses A. Mawa and EVP Patricia Bebia Mawa.

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