Winnipeg: Canadian films, Canadian filmmakers, and opportunities for emerging Canadian talent to make the leap from shorts to long-form television and feature filmmaking was the focus at the Local Heroes Canadian Film Festival in Winnipeg, Feb. 27 to March 4.

This, the second rendition of Local Heroes in Winnipeg, turned its attention to indigenous production with an all-Canadian lineup, particularly celebrating the art of short filmmaking with 38 shorts screening at the festival, almost twice as many as last year. More than 300 filmmakers and industry types from across Canada gathered for the festival, a 20% increase over last year’s numbers.

The short program included the world premiere of the National Screen Institute’s 1999 Drama Prize-winning films 237 by Michael Dowse and Jason Belleville of Calgary; St. Bernadette of Bingo by James Sutherland and Brent Kawchuk of Calgary; When I Was Seven by Jessica Bradford and Andrea Bastin of Vancouver; Autoerotica by Mark Wihak and Jill Riley of Toronto; Dissonance by Timothy Taylor, Mitchell Kezin and Aaron Johnson of Vancouver; and In Between by Daun Windover and Margaret Harrison of Halifax.

A people’s choice award for best short film was added for the first time this year, with the $1,000 A-Channel Audience Choice Award going to Soul Cages from Toronto filmmaker Phillip Barker.

The route to long-form

Beyond the film screenings, Local Heroes showed short filmmakers some of the various paths available to take the next step into long-form television and feature filmmaking.

ctv’s Louise Clark, cbc’s Tara Ellis and Global’s Loren Mawhinney discussed how they have built relationships with writers and creative producers that eventually led to broadcast deals.

Guests included David Sutherland, an intern story editor on Riverdale who went on to write a pilot episode for Back Alley’s series Drop The Beat, and several more episodes after the series was ordered by cbc; and Karen Troubetzkoy, head of creative affairs at Forefront Entertainment, who began her career in Vancouver with a number of short films and is now creative producer on the ctv series The Magician’s House.

Brent Haynes of The Comedy Network showcased three short filmmakers who went from selling their shorts to Comedy to developing series for the specialty channel. Ottawa-based Greg Lawrence began his television career with the short film Kevin Spencer, which was picked up by the Comedy and then commissioned as a series, as was his next project Butch Patterson: Private Dick. Both programs have been renewed by Comedy for next season.

In a similar scenario, David Huband of Toronto wrote the Gemini Award-winning short film The Dane, which was broadcast on Comedy and has since been licensed as an expanded four-part, half-hour series titled Mr. Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. The limited series will be produced by Clarence Square Pictures of Toronto.

On the West Coast, Kellie Benz and Ken Hegan of Vancouver individually sold short films to Comedy and then together pitched the channel the series Skullduggery, which premiered in February on Comedy and has been renewed for a second season.

Haynes says while he is willing to give a chance to emerging filmmakers, he expects them to surround themselves with experienced line producers or executive producers, as was the case with Benz and Hegan, who brought veteran producer Suzanne Berger aboard Skullduggery. He also looks for emerging filmmakers who have some production credits, such as short film, and who understand the business realities of production.

aptn’s program director Jim Compton alerted producers to opportunities to produce for the aboriginal peoples channel. aptn is looking for proposals for shorts and series to fill its 90% Cancon schedule, both as presales and acquisitions. Particularly, he is looking for drama, children’s shows, variety programs, travel and talk shows. Compton noted that non-aboriginal producers can pitch the network projects which have some aboriginal content and if producers involve aboriginals in the production process, for example, by mentoring newer crew members.

Digital boon

Shooting on digital formats is becoming an increasingly viable and affordable way for filmmakers to get their first features off the ground.

First-time producer Shirley Vercruysse (Gary Burns’ waydowntown), Trailer Park director Mike Clattenburg, and Stuff director/producer James Dunnison talked about their experiences shooting on digital.

As evidence of the growing demand for digital production among independent filmmakers, James Tocher, whose first digital feature Noroc premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival, announced the opening of Digital Film Group. The Vancouver-based company was formed by a team of filmmakers who saw a need for a film service to support digital filmmaking, and offers affordable video-to-film transfer – 16mm or 35mm, all forms of ntsc video formats, analog or digital as well as hdtv.

High-definition is also making inroads into Canadian television production, and on hand to discuss their experiences with hdtv were Les Kriazan, who shot the third season of Salter Street’s Lexx in hd; Harald Bachmann who shot the first hdtv English-language Canadian series, Alliance Atlantis’ I Was A Sixth Grade Alien; and Marc Pingry, who shot Chihuly Over Venice, the first hdtv program to be simulcast nationally on pbs in hd and ntsc.

Canadian Digital Television’s Michael McEwan was a keynote speaker at the festival. He stressed that emerging and veteran producers alike should begin shooting in formats that can be converted to hdtv (16mm and Super 16 are not convertible) so that their libraries have a long shelf life in export markets such as Europe.

Furthermore, he told the filmmakers that access to funding progams such as the Canadian Television Fund may soon be tied to shooting in hd.

Local Heroes will now turn its attention to the international front with the Edmonton leg of the festival, March 31 to April 8. While the Winnipeg festival focused on short filmmakers and the Canadian production scene, the upcoming Local Heroes Festival in Edmonton is international in scope and geared towards first- and second-time feature filmmakers, offering them a chance to experience international cinema and meet potential coproduction partners. More than 57 independent feature films from around the world will be screened and seminars on film financing and distribution will be featured.