Vancouver: A disagreement between the distributor of Hard Core Logo and the Toronto International Film Festival means the Vancouver-produced feature will not play to t.o. festival goers. Details are sketchy, but the issue revolves around Everest Releasing’s decision to decline an invitation to screen the show in the national showcase, Perspective Canada, and tiff’s decision to not offer other programming options such as a ‘Special Presentation’ or ‘Gala.’

Marketer Everest, which seems bullish on the film’s prospects, apparently questions why all Canadian films have to be corralled into the Perspective program, though ceo Paul Gardner was not available to discuss the issue at press time. It appears the company is also concerned about the positioning of the film with potential audiences.

The Perspective Canada program showcases about 16 Canadian features and 27 Canadian shorts.

Hard Core Logo will, instead, screen at the Venice International Film Festival (though not in competition). It joins other notable films skipping the Toronto festival such as David Cronenberg’s Crash.

Everest, meanwhile, will prepare about 20 prints of Hard Core Logo for its release date Oct. 11 in Vancouver (Oct. 18 in the rest of Canada).

It’s a decent-sized release for the film, and Hard Core Logo will be in every major city in Canada at the same time, says Everest’s Tim Bishop.

The film is riding the coattails of Trainspotting (through trailers and timing), and is gearing its marketing to the same audience demographic: twentysomethings. ‘We’re looking at a university crowd. By the time of the release, they should be settled into their studies and this will be a good night out,’ Bishop says.

Victoria’s secret

Three months after cofounding the new Victoria production company, The May Street Group, producer Hilary Jones-Farrow has secured six provincial government and two federal government video jobs. The work will explore employment issues, daycare, water quality and Navy training. And while the government work lacks the sex appeal of broadcast, it pays the bills. ‘It keeps everyone employed and they are useful projects,’ she explains. ‘We’re happy to do them and they help train the people in my company.’

The key to building Victoria’s film base, says Jones-Farrow, is training, and May Street keeps seven people employed full-time, creating a lot of overhead. However, the strategy pays off when she has enough competent people to handle the work and she has time to develop broadcast-quality shows.

Jones-Farrow has just secured nfb funding for an $80,000 documentary about Anne Ross, a Winnipeg nurse who for 60 years has been a social and health activist. The 12-day shoot will happen in October and airdates on Vision tv and wtn are likely for early 1997.

The 30-minute Christmas special How Smudge Came – a drama about a young woman with Down’s syndrome and her pet puppy – is officially in development and recently received $10,000 from British Columbia Film. WIC Western International Communications (through chek) is expected to pick up the broadcast rights to the us$300,000 coproduction featuring Andrea Friedman (Life Goes On), an actress with Down’s.

Jones-Farrow – who created two seasons of Take Off, a Canadian children’s syndicated series, two years ago – formed May Street with Dave Luetjen on May 1. Asterisk and Gumboot are the other major production houses in Victoria that venture into broadcast.

Porkbarrellingtv

The electioneering has begun. Toronto’s Citytv is sponsoring a scholarship at the Vancouver Film School, an initiative to support Vancouver’s multimedia students and grease the pr wheels during the television licence sweepstakes underway on the West Coast. Vying with four other applicants, City (a CHUM Ltd. division) is applying to operate a new Vancouver station called Vtv.

Announced Aug. 7, the one-time scholarship will be awarded to the student executing the best multimedia presentation fitting the theme, ‘Vancouver’s multi-ethnic community from a street-level perspective.’ According to the school, City will provide other scholarships in the future only if it gets the Vancouver broadcast licence.

The best entry will win a $1,500 scholarship, while second place gets $500 and third gets $250. Deadline for entries is Aug. 26; winners will be announced Sept. 18. Annual tuition for the full-time, 10-month multimedia program is $15,000 plus gst.

Goodwill drives Pledge

Pledge Drive – a 30-minute, 16mm film – is in post-production, readying for a fall debut on the festival circuit. The film chronicles the struggles of an isolated and immature man trying to make a connection with the real world.

Written by Vancouver’s John Jantunen and produced and directed by Trevor Hodgson, the film was produced largely because of the goodwill of the crew, most of whom hail from the Cineworks film co-operative. Funding was arranged through the nfb’s pafps program and film stock was provided by Kodak Canada. According to the filmmakers, Pledge Drive is the first film in North America to use the Vision 500 film stock.

New company

A group of social activists are collaborating on a new multifaceted entertainment company in Vancouver. Palomar Entertainment Group was unveiled Aug. 9 and fuses the film- and music-making efforts of Payne & Gilbert Music Publishing, Orca Pacific Studios, Still Waters Pictures and Heartscape Pictures.

First up for the combined company is a one-hour documentary called Stolen Lives: Children in the Sex Trade. Accompanying the film is a cd compilation of North American recording artists, the proceeds of which will go to the Convention of the Rights of Children organization.

No! Not Marsha?!

Panic in the Skies, a James Shavick project for Family Channel, is about a troubled airliner that has been struck by lightning. Among the 300 frightened, London-bound passengers is a veritable Love Boat of guest stars including Robert Guillaume (Benson), Maureen McCormick (Brady Bunch) and Erik Estrada (CHiPs). Kate Jackson (Scarecrow and Mrs. King) stars as the flight attendant who lands the plane.

Shooting Aug. 23 though Sept. 13, the mow could be on the air before the end of the year.

Saleing away

Adventures in Parenting, a five-part parenting series by Vancouver’s Force Four Productions, has been sold by TSC Film Distribution to Wharf Cable in Hong Kong. Burnaby-based tsc has also provided first-stage development funding for the children’s treasure-hunt feature Dreams of Glory, a coproduction between Calgary-based Horus Worldwide Pictures and Regina-based Heartland Motion Pictures.