Izad Etemadi and Lauren Holfeuer’s Plant Daddy has won the fourth Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition.

Directed by James Cooper and coproduced by him alongside Yoni Collins, Etemadi, Holfeuer, Katherine Fogler, Lisbet Maclean, and Iain Stewart, the short film (pictured) follows a quirky, down-on-his-luck gay man who can’t bring himself to visit his father on his deathbed and begins to care for an abandoned potted plant in order to cope with his guilt. Etemadi, Fogler and Stewart star in the short.

As part of the prize, Plant Daddy will have a world premiere screening at the 2023 Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival. The film also earned a $4,500 cash prize, sponsored by AFBS, and in-kind equipment rentals from Grandé Camera.

Created in partnership with Inside Out, the competition was open to all queer ACTRA Toronto members who were interested in producing a short film. Submissions were reviewed by a jury of four outACTRAto members and two senior programming staff from Inside Out, according to a news release.

Eugene Levy, Konrad von Finckenstein among latest Order of Canada recipients

Six Canadian screen industry members are among 99 new appointments to the Order of Canada for their contributions to the country. The appointments are made by Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.

Among the recipients is Hamilton, Ont.-born actor-writer-producer Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek), who was named as one of the three promotions within the Order for “elevating the stature of Canadian television on the international stage as an acclaimed actor and producer,” according to a news release.

Ottawa-based public servant and former chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Konrad von Finckenstein was also named for his “distinguished and multifaceted career in law and federal public service.”

London, Ont.-born actor Victor Garber (Family Law) was selected for his work in film, television, and theatre, along with Montreal-based actor Michel Côté (De père en flic) for being “one of Quebec’s most prominent actors on stage, on television and in film.”

Other prominent appointments from the industry include Vancouver-based filmmaker Victor Sarin (A Father’s Nightmare) for his work as a director, cinematographer, and screenwriter; and Toronto-based producer and president of Prospero Pictures Martin Katz (Cosmopolis) for his contributions as a producer and leading innovator.

Whistler Film Festival announces 2022 Audience Award winner

U.S. feature film Gringa, co-directed by E.J. Foerster and B.C.-born Marny Eng, has won Whistler Film Festival’s (WFF) 2022 Audience Award.

The film is written by Patrick Hasburgh and produced by Foerster and Eng alongside Eric Hedayat, while J. Kenneth Tate serves as executive producer.

Gringa had its Canadian premiere at the 22nd edition of the festival. The story follows a father who coaches a ragtag women’s soccer team in rural Mexico and reunites with his daughter after her mother dies. It stars Steve Zahn, Roselyn Sanchez, Judy Greer, Jorge A. Jimenez, Valentina Buzzurro, and Jess Gabor.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, directed by WFF Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship program alum Madison Thomas, was a runner-up for the Audience Award, according to WFF. The film’s subject — Cree Canadian-American singer-songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie — was also honoured at the festival with a Luminary Award, which is presented to an outstanding individual who has achieved international success.

Three Canadian projects selected to 2023 Oscars shortlists

Crimes of the Future and short films Nuisance Bear and The Flying Sailor are among the titles shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short lists for 10 categories on Dec. 21, 2022. Nominations will be announced on Jan. 24, while the Oscars ceremony will be held on March 12.

Out of the 98 films that qualified, Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden’s Nuisance Bear has been shortlisted along with 15 other films for the Documentary Short Films category. Produced by Weisman under his banner Documist, the short doc takes a deep dive look into how humans interact with polar bears. The project had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021.

The Flying Sailor, written, directed and animated by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, is one of the 15 films selected to advance in the Animated Short Film category from a pool of 81 qualifying films. It is produced by David Christensen of the National Film Board of Canada, who also served as the executive producer. Inspired by true events, the animated short follows a sailor who was blown into the air during the 1917 Halifax explosion.

Meanwhile, David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future has been named as one of the 10 films on the Makeup and Hairstyling short list. The Canada/Greece copro is produced by Robert Lantos under his Toronto-based banner Serendipity Point Films and Athens’ Argonauts Productions.

Image courtesy of ACTRA Toronto