Avion Films has hired a new executive producer in the person of Andrea Minot. Minot previously worked at Chameleon.

Also at Avion (sort of), director Tim Hamilton, who is repped for spots out of the shop, has an entry in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Perspective Canada program.

Hamilton’s half-hour film Shrink was produced out of Hoodoo Films and will do the festival circuit – including a premiere at the Welterstadt festival near Frankfurt Aug. 15, the One-Reel Film Festival in Seattle on Sept. 4, and tiff Sept. 12 and 13. In addition, the cbc has purchased the film for its Canadian Reflections series.

Shrink, Hamilton’s first dramatic film, stars Gabrielle Rose (The Sweet Hereafter), Johnathan Wilson (House), Brigitte Gall and Boyd Banks, with Daniel Richler as himself, and takes a horrific/comedic look at a man’s first traumatic visit to a psychoanalyst.

The film is seen from the main character’s perspective and as a result wavers between fantasy and reality, says Hamilton, who employed a horror film look to convey the character’s skewed perceptions in that first hour of couch time.

Avion veteran cinematographer George Morita lensed the project and music was by Martin Tielli, with contributions from his band The Rheostatics. The film was shot over five days in Toronto and was financed largely through Avion, with development money from Montreal’s cfcf.

Hamilton, who’s currently working on some feature scripts, says the project is meant to be a calling card to facilitate the move into features.

– Hajek moves on

After two years at Partners’ Post, editor Mark Hajek has cut out and gone solo. Hajek has been in the business for 10 years, starting off at D’Allan (which later became Revolver), where he primarily cut music videos, followed by five and a half years at The Daily Post.

The editor says he may eventually be hooking up with an existing post house but right now things are still very tentative.

Hajek is currently cutting some Radio Shack spots, directed by Imported Artists’ Richard D’Alessio for Young & Rubicam.

– Gemini nod for Czukar

Panic & Bob editor Michelle Czukar has been nominated for her first Gemini Award for best picture editing in a comedy, variety, performing arts program or series for her work on Rhombus Media’s Yo-Yo Ma Inspired by Bach: Six Gestures.

– 30 explosive hits. Not available in stores

Saatchi & Saatchi is offering the Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut compilation tape featuring the industry’s budding directorial talent in the salad days of their early careers. The tape is 90 minutes worth of spots from the people who entered competition for new directors and it can be yours for $100. Call Sean Fenell at Saatchi for details.

– On the move

Navigator Films has added director/cameraman Gabor Tarko to its roster. He will continue to freelance as a dop.

– David Martin has been appointed national creative director at Anderson Advertising. With 15 years in the business, Martin most recently vp, associate creative director at Ammirati Puris Lintas.

– Mobius call for entry

The Mobius Advertising Awards has issued a call for entries. Deadline is Oct 1 and entry details can be obtained at the Mobius Website (www. mobiusawards.com).

– Credits postscript

For the record, the production credits for specialty channel Showcase’s new multimedia and onair repositioning campaign (Playback, Aug. 10, p. 24) are as follows:

The Showcase redesign was handled by Alliance Broadcasting’s Creative Services Group together with teams from commercial industry players like Revolver and Soho Post and Graphics and Louder Music.

The eight-spot tv campaign was created by Alliance Broadcasting associate creative director Stephen Markle, who also directed the spots, and creative director Sandy Fraser along with Harrod & Mirlin/fcb writer Mark Hunter. Producer was Jeff Chadwick of Chadwick Brothers Production Company, dop was John Holosko and Ross Lewchuk edited in-house at Alliance Broadcasting.

The network also launched a major redesign of its on-air look, working with creative teams from Soho and Revolver.

The team at Soho created the concepts for 11 on-air pieces, ranging from five to 20 seconds.

The Soho team included creative director Tony Cleave, senior designer Brian DeVille, producer Stephanie Liberi, animators Derek Gebhart and Greg Lev, and effects editors Lee Maund and Andy Hunter.

Alliance handled much of the offline editing of the pieces in-house but called on Soho for the more involved computer animation and compositing.

The live action was codirected by Alliance Broadcasting producer/director Sandra Enns and Revolver’s Mike Andringa and produced by Revolver’s Jannie McInnes.

– Correction & ommission

Director Ulf Buddensieck handled the new video for Hootie and the Blowfish through Blackwalk, not Stephen Scott as was mentioned in last issue’s Word.

Buddensieck is now being repped for commercials by Spy Films.

In the July 13 Word item about Floria Sigismondi’s short film Spiral, which played at the Ret-Inevitable Film Fest in New York recently, Panic & Bob editor Michelle Czukar was omitted from the credit list.