Over the last 15 months, the Nova Scotia film industry has grown from $47.5 million to $92.5 million in production as of March 31.

Anne-Marie Varner, ceo of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, attributes much of the growth to the infusion of additional funding for nsfdc, the continuation of the Nova Scotia film industry tax credit program and the renewal of the ctcpf. Varner says the continuation of these programs will help the Nova Scotia production community reach the $100-million mark by the end of next year.

– Halifax toon fest

The first Halifax Animation Festival is set for April 24-25 featuring seminars, demos, meetings and screenings of the latest works from the East Coast’s top animators and students.

The two-day festival kicks off with a meet-and-greet luncheon followed by seminars on ‘Educating our Industry’ and ‘Animation Budgeting and Funding.’

Day two gets underway with technical demos on what’s hot. ‘Animation and New Media’ takes a look at cross-platform opportunities and is followed by a seminar on training issues. Later in the afternoon is an open discussion on ‘The Future of the Atlantic Animation Industry.’

– Group animation project

Also on the animation front, Halifax’s pixelMotion, Windhorse, Marshall Media and Adner are in development on The Legends of Glooscap, a 13 half-hour animated kids’ series based on the primal aboriginal myths of Nova Scotia.

The group has received $25,000 of development funding from the nsfdc, which covers one-third of the cost, and is currently in discussions with broadcasters.

– Sex, religion, politics and hockey in St. John’s

A six-week shoot for Halifax-based Imagex feature film The Divine Ryans will get underway April 20 in St. John’s and Halifax.

The film, which Imagex president Chris Zimmer says is about ‘sex, religion, politics and hockey in St. John’s,’ is being lensed for around $4 million, with principal funding being provided by Canadian financing agencies in addition to some international presales. The Divine Ryans, which has been in development for five years, is based on the novel of the same name by Newfoundland writer Wayne Johnston.

Stephen Reynolds is directing and Robert Joy and Pete Postlethwaite star. The rest of the cast is still to be confirmed.

– Shortworks

Flashfire Productions, in association with cbc, the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative and the Center for Art Tapes, is offering Shortworks, a hands-on film and video production training program running March 19 to June 14 in Halifax.

With funding from cbc, the nsfdc and Telefilm Canada, Shortworks offers aspiring filmmakers an opportunity to develop their skills in all aspects of the industry – from writing screenplays to performing to preproduction scheduling.

The new and expanded program evolved from afcoop’s Film-5 and the Center for Art Tapes’ 5-Minute Production Program, which give filmmakers a chance to produce a five-minute film.

The two scripts chosen for production from afcoop, to be completed with $10,000 toward each project, are Andrew Kaufman and Andy Pederson’s Ab-er-iss-ti-with and Marcia Connolly and Lee Anne Gillan’s My Inheritance.

Waiting For Squeaky by writer/ director Connie Littlefield and producer Johanna Eliot, and Waiter, Waiter by writer/director Walter Forsyth and producer Doug Karr have been chosen for production by the Centre For Art Tapes’ 5-Minute Production Program.

Past winners include Thom Fitzgerald’s Cherries, Scott Simpson’s Terminal Lunch (winner of the $10,000 Telefilm Award at the 1997 Atlantic Film Festival) and Michael Greer’s Bird in the House, which was recently sold to cbc for broadcast.

– AFF calling

The 18th Atlantic Film Festival, taking place Sept. 18-26 in Halifax, is calling for entries, asking all filmmakers, aspiring and established, to submit their latest and greatest.

The festival programming committee will select films and videos for five programming streams – Atlantic Focus, Canadian Perspectives, International Perspectives, The Late Shift and ScreenScene.

In previous years, the program has been composed of approximately 30% Atlantic, 30% Canadian and 40% international films and videos.

Entry forms will be available via the aff Website – www.atlanticfilm.com – at the end of April. Submission deadlines are June 15 for Atlantic Canada and June 5 for the rest of the country and for the International and ScreenScene sections.

In addition, the aff is looking for half-hour or feature-length scripts from Atlantic Canadian writers for its Script Development Workshop, which involves three intensive weekends under the direction of current Canadian Film Centre writer in residence Allan Magee. Deadline for submissions is May 28.

– Charles Bishop’s cookin’

Halifax’s Charles Bishop Productions recently got the green light on a second season of Foodessence for Life Network.

The doc series on the culture, history and technology of food will be shot mostly in Nova Scotia, and while the budget has not been confirmed, Bishop estimates the cost of the 13 half-hours at around $1 million.

Other projects in development at cbp include a new children’s series for cbc called Oopsi Daisy, a live-action show for preschoolers. Details have not been nailed down, but Bishop says it looks like they will be starting to shoot 26 episodes this spring for delivery in the fall.

The prodco recently took home a Gemini for best short dramatic program for Nan’s Taxi.

– A good Bette

Following a well-received 1996 Christmas special out of Halifax-based Topsail Entertainment and Brookes Diamond Productions, Topsail president Mike Volpe is anxiously awaiting the go-ahead on six half-hours of The Bette Show for cbc starring East Coast stand-up funny lady Bette MacDonald.

According to Volpe, the show, penned by This Hour Has 22 Minutes writers Ed MacDonald and Tim Steeves and produced by Topsail, will be a mix of Carol Burnett meets Mad tv.

Meanwhile, Topsail and p.e.i.’s Seahorse Films are currently in development on Born Lucky, an mow based on Larry LeClair’s story of a mysterious horse who wins a big race and his connection to a boy with a debilitating disease.

Plans are for a summer shoot, but whether it’s this summer or next depends on completion of the script.