Vancouver: Snap Shot is the newest family feature from producer Ian Fodie, who last made The Duke, about a dog that inherits an estate. This time, it’s a research chimp who gets lost in Nelson, b.c., finds his way onto a hapless junior hockey team, and becomes a hero.

Fodie, who is the cfo at Vancouver’s International Keystone Entertainment, makes his films independently of Keystone and then uses Keystone as a distributor. In this film, however, the relationship gets cozier, with Keystone chief Robert Vince of Air Bud fame acting as director.

Production on Snap Shot runs April 24 to May 23. No cast list was made public at press time.

The Duke, meanwhile, screened at the recent American Film Market. Behaviour Communications is handling Canadian distribution, and no sales have yet been made into the u.s., says Fodie.

*Action, glamour

Fast-rising action star Jet Li (Lethal Weapon 4) will be in Vancouver for Romeo Must Die, a Joel Silver/Warner Bros. high-impact, feature-length revision of Romeo & Juliet. The gang-flavored storyline goes to camera May 3 to July 9.

Supermodel Tyra Banks is set to star in the Disney mow Life Size, about a young girl who mistakenly brings a Barbie-like doll to life. Production runs April 26 to May 21.

Kathleen Quinlan stars in the pilot Family Law for Columbia TriStar and cbs. Of course, until it’s picked up, details are few from Columbia, which has a strict policy on talking about pilots. Production wraps April 21.

Tomorrow at Ten (aka As Time Runs Out), meanwhile, is a cbs mow about a man trying to find his son after a botched kidnapping. Stephen Collins (7th Heaven) stars. Production is scheduled to begin April 20 and wrap May 14.

*History in stone

Annie Frazier Henry of Full Regalia Productions will direct the half-hour one-off Legends April 26 to May 3 for vtv, Vision tv and tvnc (which will become aptn Sept. 1).

Legends is a contemporary retelling of the native legend of Siwash Rock, a prominent feature on Stanley Park’s seawall in Vancouver. The project stars Dakota House (North of 60) and newcomers Nathan Joe and Chief Simon Baker in a story about a 19-year-old man who reconnects with his heritage while he grapples with the reality that his girlfriend is pregnant.

Howard Dancyger acts as producer and Michael Chechik of Omni Films acts as co-executive producer with Frazier Henry.

*Oral traditions

Native film director Barb Cranmer of Alert Bay and Vancouver producer Cari Green – partners in documentary-minded Nimpkish Wind Productions – will have two projects on their slate this year.

T’£ina: The Rendering of Wealth is about the traditional eulachon fishery and Out of the Ashes, We Will Dance Again is about the rebuilding of the ceremonial Bighouse in Alert Bay. CanWest Global and Vision tv are backing the films.

The filmmakers have also formed Nimpkish Wind Interactive, which has an agreement with Vancouver-based DNA Productions to publish a cd-rom exploring the past, present and future of the First Nations fisheries on the West Coast.

*Backbeat

The latest in a long string of low-budget privately financed features in Vancouver is Late Night Sessions.

The $150,000 project, with hopes of a Toronto International Film Festival debut this year, is about seven friends and their lives over the week leading up to a big rave party. Director, cowriter and coproducer Joshua Hamlin – to date a short film and music video producer – calls Late Night an exploration of the rave subculture.

Actress Joely Collins (Madison), who coincidentally is promoting her own rave-themed documentary, Summer of Love, stars with a number of locals.

Production runs May 4 to 31.

*Docupersonals

After two years of production, Mating Calls in the Urban Jungle debuted at Vancouver’s Purple Onion Cabaret. Produced by Evelyn Victory and Barbara Anderson of Vancouver’s Amazon Communications and directed and edited by Kyle Koch, Mating Calls is a one-hour exploration of how singles look for a mate today.

Six subjects from different backgrounds and ages are followed on their search for a mate through the chat-line, personal ads, Internet, and dating services.

Funding has come from Baton Broadcasting, B.C. Film and the Saskatchewan Communications Network.

IV Positive, called the first educational documentary by and for injection drug users, debuted at Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside March 27.

Created by Vancouver’s Denis Paquette and Carmen Henriquez (Crossroad Productions), IV Positive is designed in a modular format: one- to four-minute sequences on subjects such as getting tested, safe fixing, eating right and detox.

Funding came from Merck Frosst Canada, Health Canada, the Vancouver Foundation, GlaxoWellcome and the Vancouver-Richmond Health Board, among others.

*Short(ened) feature

The 35mm short comic film Abe’s Manhood wrapped four days of shooting in Vancouver April 5. Written and directed by Aubrey Nealon, Abe is the story of a 22-year-old who has designed his own rite of passage into adulthood – a journey that culminates in a circumcision.

The cast includes Ryan Robbins, Deanna Milligan, Tyler Labine and Bill McDonald. Jonathan Tammuz is executive producer and Michael Ghent is producer. Canada Council for the Arts is a funder.

*Composing of another sort

Music composer Jim Gutteridge and X-Files prop master Ken Hawryliw, both of Vancouver, have expanded their creative horizons by authoring the April 11 episode of The X-Files.

The episode called ‘Trevor,’ about an unstoppable criminal up against the series’ heroes, is a rare event for Vancouver screenwriters in that few scribes have been able to break through to the popular series’ story department.

Gutteridge is better known for his music work with Ferocious Fish partner Daryl Bennett. Hawryliw is prepping a book on the sets and props for The X-Files.