New projects from Kazik Radwanski (pictured) and Floyd Kane are among 20 English-language features selected for Telefilm Canada’s latest funding round.

The funder has invested $7 million for the selected films under its Production Program for features with a budget of $2.5 million and below. In total, seven projects were selected from Ontario, three from British Columbia, with two projects each for Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and one project each for Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Of the 20 films selected, 50% are written and directed by women, according to Telefilm.

Among the Ontario features is Matt and Mara, writer and director Kazik Radwanski’s follow-up to Anne at 13,000 ft., with Dan Montgomery producing under their joint banner Medium Density Fibreboard Films, as well as Orah, with Diggstown creator and showrunner Floyd Kane set to produce under his Freddie Films prodco alongside Amos Adetuyi of Circle Blue Films, with Lonzo Nzekwe set as writer and director.

Other selected projects from Ontario include Kipkemboi from director Hubert David and writer Joel Richardson, produced by Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger under New Real Films; So Much Tenderness from writer/director Lina Rodriguez and producer Brad Deane under their shared banner Rayon Vert; The Incident Report from writer/director Naomi Jaye, produced by Julie Baldassi and Brian Robertson under his prodco Low End; The Wishing Tree from writer/director Laura Adamo, produced by Pasha Patriki with the prodcos big woo woo & 9 Light Entertainment; and The Young Arsonists from writer/director Sheila Pye and producer Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo under the Borrowed Light Films banner, which previously picked up funding from the Harold Greenberg Fund.

The three projects selected from B.C. include Inedia, from writer/director Liz Cairns and producer Tyler Hagan of Experimental Forest Films, which has also received support from HGF; Riceboy Sleeps from writer/director/producer Anthony Shim and producer Rebecca Steele under Lonesome Heroes Productions ; and Door Mouse from writer/director Avan Jogia and producer Kyle Mann under Independent Edge Films.

The two projects from Alberta are Bloodthirsty from director Amelia Moses and co-writers Wendy Hill-Tout and Lowell Boland, with Hill-Tout producing with Michael Peterson under the banners Voice Pictures and Lone Wolf a Movie Company; and Hailey Rose from writer/director Sandi Somers and producer Scott Lepp under his Iylond Entertainment banner. The two from Quebec are The Draft from writer/director/producer Jephté Bastien; and You Can Live Forever from co-writers and directors Sarah Forbes and Mark Slutsky and producer Rob Vroom, which was previously selected for Inside Out’s Finance Forum in 2018.

Features selected from the Atlantic provinces include Nova Scotia’s Bystanders from writer/director Koumbie and producer Terry Greenlaw under her banner Picture Plant; and Two Cuckolds Go Swimming from writer/director/producer Winston DeGiobbi under Easter Green Films; as well as Newfoundland’s Skeet from writer/director Nik Sexton and producer Mary Sexton under the banner Sexton & Son Productions; and Sweetland from writer/director Christian Sparkes and producer Allison White under her Sara Fost Pictures banner.

Rounding out the selections is Saskatchewan feature Indians in Cowtown from writer/director Agam Darshi and producers Anand Ramayya and Kelly Balon under their banner Karma Film; and Manitoba film The Sun and His Daughter from director, co-writer and co-producer Ryan Ward and co-writer and co-producer Mackenzie Leigh under the prodco Heart Shaped Movies.

Telefilm announced the French-language films selected under the Production Program in May. The funder also revealed the 2020 cohort of its Talent to Watch program earlier this month

Image courtesy of TIFF