William F. White International (WFW) has promoted Daniel Braun to director, sales and operations in Calgary to support local and international productions in the region.

Braun (pictured) returned to the Calgary market from Vancouver to lead the company’s sales on the heels of successful productions in province, including HBO’s The Last of Us, as well as an incoming $100 million over the next three years for the Film and Television Tax Credit. He most recently served as a customer service representative in Vancouver, after first joining the Sunbelt Rentals-owned company in 2014 as a warehouse manager.

Braun’s work outside of WFW included positions as a best-person LX, lamp operator and camera trainee for IATSE 212 and 669 as well as in the lighting department on productions like The Revenant, Interstellar, Fargo and Diablo. Braun was also part of the Keep Alberta Rolling film advocacy campaign extolling the virtues of the local screen industry.

Canadian Film Fest launches inaugural feature pitch program

The Canadian Film Fest (CFF) has selected seven feature film projects for its inaugural You-CAN-Pitch workshop, which gives filmmakers from underrepresented communities the opportunity to pitch a feature to a panel of industry experts. Alan Bacchus, director of business affairs at Toronto’s Aircraft Pictures, will serve as a mentor for the finalists.

The seven participants and their feature concepts are writer-director-producer Priyanka Shailendra (Frozen); writer Linda St. Pierre (The Phoenix); director Choltu Curlin (Blackhurst); writer-producer Farah Abdo and writer producer Kyle Credo (Lacuna); writer-director Kristina Mileska and producer Steven Czikk (Summer 2002); producer Danilo Reyes and writer Chattrisse Dolabaille (Other Words); and writer Daniel James Pike (Pride of the Dead).

The pitches will be presented to an industry panel that includes CFF festival director and head programmer Ashleigh Rains, filmmakers Jason Karman and Faran Moradi, William F. White International’s Greg Jeffs, Neshama Entertainment’s Lauren MacKinlay, Vortex Media’s Matt Orenstein, The Characters Talent Agency’s Sohrab Merchant, and Bell Media’s Jay Carolyn Wu. Pitches will be presented on March 31 at Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto. CFF runs from March 28 to April 1.

Montreal’s FIFA to close with world premiere

The Festival International du Film sur l’Art (FIFA) will close with the world premiere of the film Gravel (re)Works, co-directed by Frédérick Gravel and Jean-Christophe Yacono. The 28-minute project explores the relationship between live performance and digital broadcasts, with part of the film’s soundtrack played live during the festival. Montreal-based FIFA’s 41st edition began on March 14 and runs through to Sunday (March 26).

CBC docuseries unveils partners for impact campaign

The Black Life Impact Foundation has secured a number of partnerships for the impact campaign for the upcoming CBC documentary series Black Life: Stories Untold, including the Black Opportunity Fund.

Other impact partners include the Canadian Museum of History, skincare brand The Ordinary, and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. Additional funding has been provided by UNIFOR and the Steelworkers’ Toronto Area Council. The impact campaign will include a bilingual digital museum and interactive experience, created in collaboration with Montreal agency Akufen, cross-country screenings with panel discussions, and a curriculum aimed at middle school and high school students.

The series, originally announced as Black Life: A Canadian History, is produced by Studio 112 in association with Northwood Entertainment and Ugly Duck. Executive producers include Studio 112’s Leslie Norville, Ugly Duck’s P.K. Subban, Northwood Entertainment’s Miranda de Pencier, and U.S. author Nelson George. Activist and Black Lives Matter – Canada founder Sandy Hudson is co-executive producer.

CMF supports free directory for equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility consultants

Alberta non-profit Creatives Empowered has launched a directory of Indigenous, Black, and people of colour consultants for members of the cultural sector seeking expertise on equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility. The directory was created with the support of the Canada Media Fund and is available free of charge. Creatives Empowered launched in 2020 and was formed to create a more equitable cultural sector in Alberta.

Cinespace, York University launch program for production accountants

Cinespace Studios has partnered with York University in a bid to help alleviate the global production accountant shortage. The organizations have launched the Production Accounting Micro-Credential Program, a six-week initiative taught at the Cinespace Studios Toronto Kipling campus. The program was designed by production accountants and Directors Guild of Canada Ontario (DGC Ontario) members Marr Morgan and Christina “Kitty” Spiropoulos, and was established through the studio’s CineCares division. It is scheduled to launch in June.

“Film and television production accountants are in critically short supply globally and this micro-credential program will allow the industry to quickly fill a much-needed role as production volumes continue in the region,” said Ashley Rice, president and co-managing partner at Cinespace Studios in a statement.

DGC Ontario executive Victoria Harding said the guild’s production accountants “are in demand on a global scale,” so “it only makes sense that industry leaders like Cinespace and York University have partnered with DGC Ontario Members to design the Production Accounting Micro-Credential Program curriculum.”

“We’re thrilled that future students of this program will receive training at a level that meets the professional standards expected on Guild signatory productions, and we are delighted that our Members are playing such an active role in the growth of our industry,” she added.

With files from Ahmed Dirie

Image courtesy of William F. White International