A doc for all seasons

Toronto – Building on the success of their 2003 doc Le Mozart noir, the team at Media Headquarters Film & Television is putting the finishing touches on a new project about classical music – and has sent Jeff Bessner (Year of the Lion) into the editing suite with The Four Seasons Mosaic. The 90-minute doc went to China, India and the Arctic earlier this year, bringing together performers from different musical traditions to perform a ‘reinvention’ of the famed classical work by Antonio Vivaldi, slated for CBC’s Opening Night in February ’05.

‘It’s not unlike Souvenir of Canada in that we had to shoot it in a lot of little bits,’ says producer Robin Neinstein, referring to Media HQ’s adaptation of the Douglas Coupland book, also now in post. ‘But it was fascinating. It’s exciting to see these different cultures bounce off each other.’

Ann Shin (Western Eyes) directs, with DOP Chris Romeike (Souvenir of Canada) shooting on digital video with a new Panasonic 900. Neinstein produces with Shari Cohen and Robert Cohen, noting that they want Four Seasons to have a brighter, more modern feel than the lush and moody Mozart noir.

‘We wanted to bring a different feel to it. This is a more contemporary piece. Very Canadian and very 21st century,’ he says.

Composer Mychael Danna (Monsoon Wedding) reworked Vivaldi’s music for the Chinese pipa, the Indian sarangi and Inuit-style throat singing – a performance of which was recently shot in Toronto with help from Toronto’s noted Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

The ‘lean’ budget is backed by the CTF, tax credits and licence fees from the Ceeb, Bravo! and TV5. Sean Davidson

Chiefs & Champions wraps

Vancouver – Chiefs & Champions, a six-part documentary biography series, wrapped production in Vancouver earlier this month. Hosted by Tom Jackson (North of 60), the series takes an intimate look at successful aboriginal athletes who are also important leaders, role models and advocates in their community and country.

Profiles include Tom Longboat, the great Odondaga best distance runner, who in 1907 held the world’s record for the Boston Marathon; Salish boxing champion Chief Roger Adolph; 1984 Olympic kayaking double medalist Alwyn Morris, a Mohawk from Kahnawake; Waneek Horn-Miller, star of the Canadian Water Polo team that won the Gold Medal at the 1999 Pan American Games and represented Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics; and Freddie Sasakamoose, the NHL’s first native hockey player, who broke into the big leagues with the Chicago Black Hawks in 1953.

Chiefs & Champions is coproduced by Annie Frazier Henry (Full Regalia Productions) and Ken Malenstyn (Big Red Barn Entertainment).

The series will be broadcast on APTN in early 2005 as well as on CLT Access Television and the Knowledge Network. Ian Edwards

Odd Jobs, more Disasters at PIM

Regina – Partners in Motion is currently working on seasons five and six of its doc series Disasters of the Century as well as 16 half-hours of its new educational doc series Very Odd Jobs.

Season five of Disasters started principal photography in countries including the U.S., Australia, the Philippines and England in April and will wrap in April 2005, with delivery to History Television set to begin in September of next year. The $1.1-million series, produced with cash from SaskFilm and Harmony Entertainment Management (PIM’s financing and distribution arm), as well as provincial and federal tax credits, is produced by Heather Kaisler, with PIM CEO Ron Goetz exec producing.

Chris Triffo directs and Bruce Edwards narrates the series that examines the devastation caused by natural and manmade disasters, as well as their social and historical implications. Writers include Edwards, Kenneth Bell and Jeff Martel.

Season six, eight one-hours directed by Triffo and Steve Allen, is being produced on a budget of $1.1 million, with funds from the CTF’s LFP and Harmony. It is written by Edwards and Bell, with Goetz executive producing and Hildy W. Bowen producing. Locations for the season are all in Canada, including Regina, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Quebec City and Windsor, ON. Delivery to History is planned for Jan. 1, 2005, with distribution through the National Film Board.

Triffo also directs Very Odd Jobs, 16 half-hours that introduce youth audiences to a variety of interesting and unique jobs around the world. Produced by Jamie Anderson, Odd Jobs is currently airing on Discovery Kids, SCN and Prime Network. The series is produced with funding from Harmony and tax credits.

Also in the works at PIM are the one-off doc Circus of God and the dramatic pilot Big and Small. Laura Bracken