In its sixth year, with 39 dramatic shorts to its credit, the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Al Waxman Calling Card program is proving itself to be an effective catalyst for emerging filmmakers looking to make the difficult leap into feature film.

Case in point, four old friends from Winnipeg, who were working in diverse fields ranging from law to advertising to theatre, came together to make the Calling Card short You Might be the Youngest. Now the team is in development with Toronto prodco Water Pictures (Ginger Snaps) on their feature The Norris Division.

Corey Marr, producer of You Might be the Youngest, which screened with three other Calling Card shorts on Showcase March 11, says the program’s credibility within the industry is a great advantage to emerging filmmakers. ‘Previous projects have paved the way,’ he says. ‘The program approaches the production of a short film like a feature. You’ve got some serious money, you go in and negotiate deals with incredible contacts in the industry, and you have the chance to work with some serious cast.’

Valerie Buhagiar (Highway 61) stars in You Might be the Youngest alongside Jonas Chernick (The Eleventh Hour), who won best performance for a leading role at the recent Blizzard Awards for his work in Inertia. The film, which explores a pivotal moment in a man’s life as he rides with his sister in a limousine to their father’s funeral, was directed by Joshua Wilder and written by Joseph Kay.

Kay, Wilder, Marr and Chernick have formed Shotgun Films and are collaborating on The Norris Division, with funding from Telefilm Canada and The Harold Greenberg Fund. Water Pictures’ Karen Lee Hall is executive producing.

Participants in the Calling Card program are awarded up to $42,000 and access to incentives from Canada’s leading industry suppliers with the aim of providing emerging filmmakers with the exposure and experience they need to make feature-length commercial films.

Also screened on Showcase were AWOL, written and directed by Heidi Gerber and produced by Angie Pajek, and Countdown, written and directed by Nathan Morlando with producer Andrew Rosen, who is currently producing two shorts at the Canadian Film Centre. Andre Turpin (Un Crabe dans la tete) was the cinematographer on Countdown. The Quarry, directed by Svjetlana Jaklenek, written by Marie Rickard and produced by Tom Strnad, also screened on March 11. Borris Mojsouski, DOP on The Quarry, is now directing Strnad’s next film, Three and a Half.

-www.omdc.on.ca