What is being billed as Saskatchewan’s biggest-budgeted feature film to date wrapped last month after a 36-day shoot in Regina, Lumsden and surrounding areas. It is likely to be only the first of many such projects coming to the province, according to producers. ‘This is a stepping stone to bringing in similarly sized and larger projects in the future,’ says executive producer and Minds Eye Pictures ceo Kevin DeWalt.

The Unsaid, a $22-million psychological thriller which went before the camera on July 31, stars Andy Garcia as a psychologist bent on unraveling the gruesome past of a teenage patient. The feature is being produced and exec produced by Tom Berry of New Legend Media in association with Regina-based Minds Eye. Tom McLoughlin is directing, with Lloyd Ahern acting as dop; story is by Christopher Murphey and screenplay by Miguel Tejada-Flores.

Berry, ex of Montreal’s Allegro and relocated to Los Angeles, is co-ceo of recently merged l.a.-based New Legend Media.

The film is the first of many, say Minds Eye representatives.

‘It’s a new relationship that Tom and Kevin formed – this is their first partnership in bringing a picture of this size to Saskatchewan,’ says Minds Eye spokesperson Lanis Anthony.

Produced with the help of the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit, the film’s three leads are American, with all supporting roles occupied by Canadians.

Release is set for 2001, with distributors yet to sign on the dotted line.

Minds Eye has an investment in the film: ‘We bought a small piece of the financing to the production,’ says DeWalt, who brought the picture to Saskatchewan to jumpstart what will be the province’s biggest production year to date.

Early estimates indicate Minds Eye will commandeer more than $55 million in production this year alone, a significant increase over years past.

*Jet Boy wraps

shooting on Calgary’s Smash It Up Productions’ feature Jet Boy is set to wrap Nov. 1. The film, produced by Bruce Harvey, executive producer at Calgary’s Illusions Entertainment, and written and directed by David Shultz, stars Dylan Walsh (Nobody’s Fool, Congo), Kelly Rowan (Three to Tango, 187, Lonesome Dove) and Bruce McDonald.

Jet Boy, billed as a gritty, modern, urban drama, is about a 13-year-old street hustler (newcomer Branden Nadon) who takes to the road in search of a father figure after his mother dies of a heroin overdose.

The film, actually set in Vancouver, is being shot throughout Calgary, and includes a day of exteriors in Linden.

Budget on the feature is $1.4 million. Funding has come from Telefilm Canada, the A-Channel Drama Fund, the CFCN Production Fund, Showcase, Superchannel, the Canadian Television Fund, and the Alberta Foundation of the Arts. TMN-The Movie Network, which has first window, also ponied up.

The film is set to be ready for next year’s film festival circuit and is slated for a late 2001 theatrical release, with distributor Remstar Distribution already signed on.

*Watch what you wish for

a saskatoon-area shoot, The Impossible Elephant, produced by Edge Entertainment, has just wrapped and is slated for delivery on Feb. 23, 2001. Saskatoon is also home to Edge.

The television movie’s storyline revolves around 12-year-old Daniel Harris (Toronto’s Mark Rendall), struggling with the recent loss of his mother. One night Daniel wishes upon a falling star for the coolest pet he can imagine, and one his mother had told him never forgets. His wish comes true and a baby elephant, Lumpy, appears in the yard. However, the local zoo steps in and Daniel must save Lumpy before he is relocated.

Impossible Elephant, written by Robert C. Copper and directed by Martin Wood, also stars Nicholas Lewa (Vertical Limit, The X-Files) as Daniel’s father Steven and William Taylor (Romeo Must Die, Life) as the zoo keeper.

With a budget of $4.8 million, funding came from the Canadian Television Fund’s Equity Investment and Licence Fee programs, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program and the Saskatchewan Employment Tax Credit.

Peace Arch Entertainment holds u.s. pay-tv and free television rights to the film, while WIC Television holds the Canadian pay-tv and free television rights. Edge holds the u.s. and Canadian theatrical and home video rights. Distribution in foreign territories is through Carlton America.

*Step right up

prairie producers wanting free money, listen up – applications are being called for some of the $700,000 to be invested over the next year by the newly launched Video Television Production Fund.

The company behind the fund, privately owned cable company Videon CableSystems, will invest $700,000 annually in its licensed areas of Alberta and Manitoba.

The fund has been up and running since Oct. 12, when the launch was celebrated in Edmonton with an official ‘film-cutting’ at Videon’s television production studio.

Headquartered in Winnipeg, the fund will, according to a company statement from Videon, ‘give preference to programs with demonstrated audience appeal, that promote positive role-modeling and provide cross-cultural representation. [It] is designed to support independent television programming in accordance with crtc criteria.’

‘We’re so pleased that Videon is providing an additional source of financing to the local film and television production community,’ says Margaret Mardirossian, vp of the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association.

Application deadlines have been set for Oct. 30 and April 30, 2001. Guidelines and applications are available in the Community Section of Videon’s website: (www.videon.ca).

*NSI scribe winners

the five Alberta-resident writers chosen to participate in the National Screen Institute’s National Writers Roundtable are nearing the end of their program. The chosen writers are Phyllis Heltay for the feature comedy Stealing Jesus, Tamai Kobayashi for the feature drama Prairie Ostrich, Doug Curtis for the feature drama Mesa, Patricia Harris Seeley for the family feature drama Spirit Child and Shar Mitchell for Karla’s Rising, a half-hour drama.

The roundtable, which involves three intensive weekends spread over three months will wind up with a public reading by professional actors of the scripts in their finished states. The final reading is to be held on Nov. 19.

*Minds Eye tops Showcase

saskatchewan’s film, television and new media community awards are over for another year, with the Showcase 2000 Gala Awards turning up several clear frontrunners across the 20 production and 20 craft categories.

Minds Eye’s Incredible Story Studio won eight awards, including best children’s/youth program and best dramatic television series, and six crew awards.

13 Seconds: the Kent State Shootings from Regina’s Partners in Motion was on the receiving end of six awards: the best of Showcase, best documentary over 30 minutes, and four crew awards.

Also a strong performer was Heartland Motion Pictures’ Borderline Normal, which came in with four awards, including the special Jury Award. *