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Cheryl Binning
Skogland wins at VIFF
Fifty Dead Men Walking takes best western prize at close of festival. Bessai’s Mothers & Daughters wins over audiences for most popular Canadian film
Alberta eyeing tax credit
Culture minister looks to have new funding system in place by spring, luring back series like Heartland and Fear Itself
VIFF cheers Perfect Life
Dragons & Tigers prize goes to Emily Tang’s tale of two women in a Chinese boomtown. Festival troubled by construction noise
New caster and categories as gala returns to T.O.
Change has become the norm for the Gemini Awards, and that’s a good thing, according to Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, which organizes the annual celebration of Canadian TV.
CTV proves it has the moves
The hugely successful international So You Think You Can Dance franchise now has a bona fide hit Canadian version as well. CTV’s homegrown installment of the competition show debuted on Sept. 11, not only winning its 8 p.m. ET timeslot, but emerging as the number one show of the night. It maintained the top spot in its second episode, averaging 1.23 million viewers.
Financiers gloomy on film biz
Panelists at the Vancouver Film and Television Forum paint a bleak picture of the state of the indie film business. Still a solid TV market for docs, however
Sonoda shooting Beasts
Sword’n’sorcery telemovie Merlin & The Book of Beasts underway around Vancouver for Sci-Fi and Starz. Laura Harris and James Callis star
Docs, Asian and Canuck flicks to share spotlight
The Vancouver International Film Festival has built its reputation on an extensive program of international documentaries, East Asian cinema and Canadian films. And as the old adage goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, so those specialties will remain the cornerstone of the 27th annual festival, running Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.
Canadian Images ‘a delicate balancing act’
‘It’s a delicate balancing act,’ admits VIFF programmer Terry McEvoy of handpicking the 90 films from among the more than 600 submissions to Canadian Images.
Weeds, Dexter principals to talk creative at forum
The artistic process is clearly front-and-center at this year’s Film and Television Forum, as creators of U.S. cable series such as Weeds and Dexter and innovative filmmakers from the international scene have been tapped to take part, Sept. 24-27.
‘Windfall’ budgets bring creative freedom to helmers
There’s a hat trick of films at VIFF that were produced with ‘windfall’ or prize money – including Denis Villeneuve’s Cannes-winning short Next Floor, Carl Bessai’s Mother & Daughters and the world premier of Tom Scholte’s debut feature Crime. In each case, the no-strings-attached-tiny-budgets provided the filmmakers enormous creative freedom, unencumbered by any business or market restrictions.
CRTC must rein in cablers, says APTN boss
CEO Jean LaRose says his on-going squabble with Shaw highlights the need for Gatineau to get tough on issues like channel reassignment
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