Bullard to host Geminis

TV talk show host Mike Bullard has been named host of the 16th annual Gemini Awards gala, airing live on CBC Oct. 29.

No stranger to the Gemini stage, Bullard, host of CTV’s Open Mike with Mike Bullard, hosted the Gemini’s 11th opening night gala and the 12th industry night gala, and in 1999 his show won the Gemini for best talk/general information series.

High SeaSS! Entertainment returns as producer of the awards show for the fourth consecutive year with executive producer Maria Topalovich, president and CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Nominees will be announced Sept. 17.

Cirque signs with Granada

Granada International, distribution arm of Granada PLC of the U.K., has announced a three-year agreement to sell programming from Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil.

The agreement gives Granada worldwide TV rights to three 90-minute Cirque specials, one a year through to 2003, except for North America, France and other French-speaking territories. The first show under the deal is the multiple Primetime Emmy nominee Dralion, followed by Alegria next year. The third property will be announced later.

The agreement was announced by Nadine Nohr, managing director of Granada International, and Peter Wagg, managing director of Cirque du Soleil Images.

VIFF, dCinema launch new pitch program

The Vancouver International Film Festival and Vancouver-based dCinema Entertainment Group are partnering to launch the inaugural PitchOFF West 2001 as the festival’s featured Trade Forum event.

PitchOff will give six filmmakers the opportunity to pitch their film or TV project concept to a panel made up of top decision-makers in the entertainment sphere.

Confirmed panelists include moderator Larry Sugar, chairman and CEO, dCinema; Pancho Mansfield, senior VP, original programming, Showtime Networks; Diane Boehme, director, independent production, Chum Television; Kevin Beggs, executive VP of series television, Lions Gate Television; Michael Levine, partner, Goodmans LLP; and Louise Clark, head of Western independent production, CTV.

VIFF’s Trade Forum this year runs Sept. 26-28, with the festival running Sept. 27 to Oct. 12.

For more info: www.pitchoff.com.

Prodcos to trade Halifax for NYC

Eight Halifax-based production companies will invade New York City at the end of September in search of opportunity and production partners by way of a trade mission.

The mission, led by Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, will give the production companies a chance to meet with the some of the Big Apple’s big players. The jet-setting companies are Salter Street Films, imX communications, Topsail Entertainment, Collideascope, Virtual Media, Chronicle Pictures, Wingit Productions and Ocean Digital.

Nova Scotia Film and Development Corporation CEO Ann MacKenzie says the producers ‘are going to be meeting with a barrage of companies and government officials down there. The goal of the mission is for them to investigate coproduction opportunities with New York companies, and sell their services and products to New York companies.’

She says some members of the Nova Scotia contingent will be looking into possible investment financing opportunities in New York as well.

‘It’s pretty mixed, and [the NSFDC] will be there to assist in all of that, but to also promote Nova Scotia as a location destination.’

The trade mission takes place Sept. 24-26.

Da Vinci Canada’s favorite drama series

Da Vinci’s Inquest and star Nicholas Campbell have been named favorites in TV Guide Canada’s all-Canadian reader poll.

Other Canadian top picks include: sitcom/comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes (CBC); MOW Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story (CBC); animated series Bob & Margaret (Global); newsmagazine series W-Five (CTV); kids program Sesame Park (CBC); reality/game show Pioneer Quest (History Television); variety/ music/cooking show The Inn Chef (Food Network Canada); female drama star Julie Stewart (Cold Squad); male comedy star Rick Mercer (Made in Canada, 22 Minutes); female comedy star Mary Walsh (22 Minutes); talk show host Mike Bullard (Open Mike); newscaster Lloyd Robertson (CTV); and sportscasters Don Cherry and Ron McLean (CBC).

The poll also indicated that Law & Order (NBC/CTV) is Canadian viewers’ favorite U.S. import, with Coronation Street (CBC) picking up favorite British import.

BCE sponsors Canada: A People’s History

BCE has joined Sun Life Financial as partner in CBC’s 17-part doc series Canada: A People’s History.

BCE is sponsoring the entire second, and concluding, season of the landmark project, created in English and French by CBC and Radio-Canada, and launched on both networks in October 2000.

Exec produced by Mark Starowicz, the series is shot across Canada using wide-screen digital format cameras.

Season two of the series, which explores Canada’s coming-of-age in the 20th century, debuts on CBC Sept. 30. An encore presentation of season one began airing Aug. 16.

AFF selects jury

Two actors, two directors and a distribution manager have been selected to sit as the jury for the 21st annual Atlantic Film Festival, running Sept. 14-22 in Halifax.

The 2001 jury consists of acclaimed actor Gordon Pinsent (The Shipping News), director Stephen Reynolds (The Divine Ryans), writer/director Shandi Mitchell (Baba’s House), actor Liane Balaban (New Waterford Girl) and Stuart Banyard (distribution manager for film agency Scottish Screen).

The five jurors, selected by the AFF’s programming committee, will be responsible for picking winners in more than a dozen award categories over a four-day period.

Movie Camp goes digital

THE National Screen Institute’s annual Movie Camp is turning more than 30 teens into digital filmmakers this summer, producing scripts by such accomplished Canadian screenwriters as Don McKellar, David Sutherland and Semi Chellas.

Running Aug. 13-24, Movie Camp, led by award-winning film professionals Christopher Beoniscsh, Jeanette Loakman and Michael Dowse, teaches teens advanced skills in filmmaking, including storytelling, lighting, sound and camera movement, as they create a five-minute movie.

Moving Pictures fest and conference

The 10th annual Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video kicks off with a three-day conference exploring the links between performance and technology.

The conference, titled body/ machine, starts Oct. 26, with the festival running Oct. 29 to Nov. 3 in Toronto.

Festival highlights this year include documentaries on luminaries such as Rudolph Nureyev, Jose Limon and Merce Cunningham; a Global Moves program of new dance films from the U.S., U.K., Germany, the Netherlands and Japan; and a full program of Bravo!Fact world premieres by Canadian artists.

Forty films and videos from around the world are set to screen. The featival also feaures a series of workshops, panels and installations.

Founded in 1991 by Marc Glassman and Kathleen M. Smith, Moving Pictures is dedicated to exploring the cross-pollinations between dance and the media arts.

Salon des Refuses

calls for submissions

The first Salon des Refuses Atlantique, a showcase for films rejected by this year’s Atlantic Film Festival, will take place in Halifax Sept. 13, one day before the AFF begins. This Salon provides a venue for filmmakers who received a rejection letter from the AFF after submitting their film or video to the festival.

Produced by Halifax’s Steven May, the Salon is accepting submissions until Aug. 27. Application forms are available at the Salon website (salon2001.tripod.com). May is not accepting actual films or videos, only the rejection letters from the AFF. A random drawing of the letters will determine which projects will screen at the Salon.

The selected films and screening venue will be announced in early September.