Mounties the top gun

The Mounties, Tall Boots to Fill was the big winner at Saskatchewan’s Showcase ’93. The documentary, produced by Ric Seabrooke and Frank Halbert and directed by Seabrooke for stv Regina, examines officers-in-training at the rcmp academy in Regina. The film took awards for best direction (non-dramatic), best videography and best overall sound in addition to being named best overall production.

Other winners at the annual awards for excellence in Saskatchewan film and video included Like Mother, Like Daughter, produced by Brian Stockton and directed by Jessica Raum (best arts/entertainment, best musical score); Kids Raising Kids, produced by Stephen Onda and Will Dixon and directed by Dixon (best documentary/public affairs); Strangers, produced by Lori Kuffner and Gerald Horne and directed by Adrian Kwan (best educational, first production award); and ‘Victoria Square Mall’ from Rob King at Minds Eye Pictures (best commercial under two minutes).

The $500 Sascable Services Community Cable Award went to Jay Willimott at Cable Regina for Sadd is Bigger than Rock and Roll, and the $1,000 Superchannel Script Development Award went to C. Cunningham and D.L. McGregor for Parallax.

The Showcase gala awards ceremony, hosted by North of 60 star Tom Jackson, was broadcast in Saskatchewan on Nov. 28.

WFF poster competition

the organizers of the Montreal World Film Festival are inviting designers, illustrators and graphic artists to submit poster designs for the festival’s 1994 edition. The designer of the winning submission receives a cash prize of $2,500. Competition deadline is March 4, 1994. For information contact the wff at (514) 848-3883.

IQC seminar

institut quebecois du cinema, the government advisory body on film matters, will hold an industry seminar on theatrical distribution and control of screens in the Quebec market Dec. 7 in Montreal.

Scheduled participants include distributors Victor Loewy, president of the National Association of Canadian Film and Video Distributors, Armand Lafond, Pierre Latour and Andre Link; exhibitors Jean Colbert, Claude Chabot and John Xinos; and film producers Francois Bouvier, Rock Demers and Roger Frappier. CineReseau programmer Carole Boudreault and newly elected apftq chair Francine Forest will also participate.

The half-day event starts at 9:30 and is being held at Hotel du Parc.

AIDS video

liza Minnelli rolled into Toronto recently to shoot a music video to raise awareness of aids. Garth Drabinsky of Live Entertainment is the executive producer. The video, directed by Minnelli and Kevyn Aucoin and shot by Peter Hartmann, will be posted by Motion Picture Video colorist Ross Cole and editor Craig Bateman.

Astral directors

mila Mulroney, wife of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, and Paul Godfrey, president and ceo of Toronto Sun Publishing, have been named directors of Montreal-based Astral Communications. The company’s annual shareholders meeting took place in Toronto, Dec. 2.