Mackenzie Donaldson’s sci-fi thriller All the Lost Ones (pictured) will make its world premiere at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival on Thursday (Sept. 19).

North Bay, Ont.-shot All the Lost Ones (The Donaldson Company, Electric Panda Entertainment) follows the stories of civilians caught in the aftermath of a fictional North American war. It is produced by Donaldson, Chantal Kemp, Yas Taalat, Yipeng Ben Lu and David J. Phillips. The film is written by Cheryl Meyer and distributed in Canada by levelFILM.

All the Lost Ones received support from Telefilm as well as the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

Other world premieres at Cinéfest are Rêver en néon and Home Free.

WIFF names Canadian film prize nominees

The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) has announced the 10 nominees for the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film, which celebrates outstanding achievement in Canadian cinema.

The award comes with a $25,000 cash prize for the film’s director.

The 10 nominees include Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (NFB) directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee; Hunting Daze (Midi La Nuit) by filmmaker Annick Blanc; Lucy Grizzli Sophie (KO24, Azimut Films) by Anne Émond; On Earth as in Heaven (Extérieur Nuit) by Nathalie Saint-Pierre; and Paying For it (Wildling Pictures, Hawkeye Pictures), directed by Sook-Yin Lee.

The other nominees are Really Happy Someday (Spindle Films) by filmmaker J Stevens; Russians at War (Raja Pictures, CAPA Presse), directed by Anastasia Trofimova; Sharp Corner (Alcina Pictures, Shut Up & Colour Pictures, Kobalt Films, Workhorse Pictures), directed by Jason Buxton; Universal Language (Metafilms) by Matthew Rankin; and Who Do I Belong To (Instinct Bleu, Tanit Films, Midi La Nuit, 1888 Films, Godolphin Films, Eye Eye Pictures), directed by Meryam Joobeur.

WIFF’s 20th edition runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 3.

FEM wins big at La Rochelle festival

Marianne Farley’s (Marguerite) FEM, produced by Montreal-based production company UGO Média, has won the Best French Fiction Series (over 20 minutes) at the Festival de la Fiction in La Rochelle, France.

The 10 x 30 minute series follows a 17-year-old aspiring singer who has long been questioning his gender identity. The series is produced by Patrick Bilodeau for UGO Média and written by Maxime Beauchamp, Anne-Hélène Prévost, Camille Trudel, Joëlle Bond and William S. Messier. FEM is broadcasted on Unis TV with KO Distribution as the distributor.

Five hair and makeup artists selected for inaugural CFC, CMU intensive

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and the CMU College of Makeup Art & Design have announced the five hair and makeup artists taking part in the first CFC/CMU Hair and Makeup Intensive.

The initiative is supported by NABET 700-M UNIFOR, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), with the goal to accelerate the careers of “hair and makeup professionals from Black, Indigenous and racialized communities.

The participants are CMU alums Sadé Tuitt, Eleanor Vaz, Paola Rincon, Janessa Yuen and Alannah Delgado.

The intensive will run from Sept. 23 to Nov. 15. Participants will collaborate and work on CFC productions through the Norman Jewison Film Program and CBC Actors Conservatory.

“This Hair and Makeup Intensive provides a vital step towards fostering diversity and inclusion on-set,” said maxine bailey, executive director of the CFC in a statement.

Photo by Ashley Iris Gill