Halifax’s Imagex Films (Love and Death on Long Island, The Divine Ryans) is expanding its production slate beyond feature films and moving into television and animation production.

The first step in the company’s expansion is the establishment of corporate umbrella IMX Communications.

Making up the imx management team are vp, business affairs John Kelly, formerly with the law firm McMillan Binch, vp, finance Dana Landry and vp, operations and development Jan Miller, producer of the Atlantic Film Festival’s Strategic Partners.

In other Imagex news, Love and Death on Long Island recently picked up the best first feature award from the New York Film Critics.

Lulu’s Moody Brood

growing up smack in the middle of 11 children, Lulu Keating had a wealth of material to draw from when it came to putting together The Moody Brood.

A 40-minute animated documentary set to air on CBC Newsworld at the end of February, The Moody Brood is a very personal history of the Keating clan growing up in Antigonish, n.s.

Moving from the 1940s to the present day, the story of the brood is told through a traditional form of animation that uses cutouts, photographs and 3D objects moved around under an animation camera and shot on 16mm film.

All the Keating siblings lend their voices and stories to the doc, and in order to keep the process from being intimidating a simple tape recorder was used.

‘Everyone participated, which was very generous of them because it was quite an invasion of privacy,’ says Keating. ‘The main thing was that they were all willing to be as candid as they were.’

While the film includes some of the harsher realities of the Keatings’ lives, such as one sister’s tale of her first husband who was gay and another’s recollections of an abusive relationship, the documentary maintains a light, whimsical feel.

After its cbc debut, Keating plans to take her animated family film on the road in an effort to strike up some international deals. ‘Even though it’s specific to one region of the world, a small Catholic town in Nova Scotia, and to the time we were growing up, it speaks to families everywhere,’ she says.

Keating is president of Halifax’s Red Snapper Films and was writer, director and producer on The Moody Brood. Helen Hill was the animator and Johanna Eliot is executive producer. Editorial is taking place in Halifax at Ocean Digital.

Lewis’ Rabbit Punch

following the success of When Ponds Freeze Over, Newfoundland writer/director Mary Lewis was back in the director’s chair this month calling the shots on Rabbit Punch.

Shot over the course of five days in Toronto, Rabbit Punch is part of the Canadian Film Centre’s Short Dramatic Film program, which gives six teams of cfc residents a shot at a short.

Lewis and Jim Allodi penned the script about the spiritual transformation of a boxer whose wife is about to leave him for another man.

Susan Flanders and Lisa Wyndels are producing.

While When Ponds Freeze Over raked in best short film awards at the Toronto, Atlantic and Vancouver festivals and recently picked up the Genie for best short dramatic film, Lewis says she tried to resist the pressure of success when it came to shooting Rabbit Punch.

‘You have to kind of ignore that in a way and then to challenge yourself, consider everything a learning experience and push yourself,’ she says. ‘It’s really tough to expect a perfect track record; everything is about moving forward.’

Now with a few shorts under her belt, and perhaps one more this summer, Lewis’ next step is to get a feature off the ground, which she says will be set closer to home.

Tickling their fancy

the story of the recent Newfoundland fisheries crisis told from a child’s point of view is the subject of local producers Sharon Smith and John Batcher’s next project, Wind Over Dark Tickle.

Based on a book/cd set of the same name, the half-hour children’s special for cbc will be a combination of live action and animation and will feature original songs. Heather Walter and Eric West, the authors of the story, star.

In the special, Walter and West will read the book to a group of kids in a library setting. The computer-animated segments will be cutaways from the book’s illustrations.

Budget for the project is $140,000 and Smith is hoping to have it in front of the cameras by June. While Wind Over Dark Tickle is not intended as a pilot, it might end up being one. Smith says she has been interested in the idea of a series based on Canadian children’s books for a few years. ‘I think there is more than enough good material out there for a series.’

Other projects in development for Smith include Ghosts of Glory, a feature she is penning that’s set partially in present-day Newfoundland and on the Amazon River circa 1930. Also in the works is Crowns of Valor, a documentary which poses the question, what is the best type of school for young girls – same gender or co-educational.