The 2004 Atlantic Film Festival kicks off nine days in Halifax Sept. 17 with the largest lineup in the festival’s 24-year history, as well as new programs and industry events.

Winnipeg: Building on the buzz around Gary Yates’ first feature Seven Times Lucky, which gained considerable attention and a very positive review in Variety after its Sundance premiere, the Montreal director has returned to Manitoba to shoot his second feature, Niagara Motel, a dark comedy about people whose lives crisscross at a rundown motel in Niagara Falls, ON.

This year, the Vancouver International Film Festival received an uncommonly high number of documentary submissions tackling controversial issues – so many, in fact, that the fest has created a special program to showcase them.

With hundreds of young Canadians graduating yearly from animation schools, many will be facing a significantly tougher job search than they would have a decade ago. And in response to the diminished job market and changing recruitment needs of studios, educational institutions are adapting their training practices.

It looks like second time could be a charm for CHUM’s feature film aspirations.
After only four days in theaters, CHUM’s second attempt at a teen flick with mass audience appeal, Going the Distance, looks like it may do just that. By comparison, Decoys, the first CHUM-branded feature designed to be anything but a typically obscure Canadian feature, fell way short of its big box-office aspirations.

Over the last four years, broadcasters across North America have been abandoning the traditional September-to-May TV season in favor of premiering new programs throughout the year, even during the summer season, long thought to be a ratings wasteland. For some, the new approach has quickly paid dividends, but other broadcasters continue to struggle.

Canadians may be more inclined towards the hockey, curling and other icy events of the Winter Olympics, but this summer more Canadians were watching the Olympics unfold in Athens than did when the Summer Games were hosted in Sydney, Australia four years ago.

Just five years after Cirque du Soleil Images was formed, the production arm of the Quebec performing arts phenomenon has produced its first live television special to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil. The live show, performed and recorded July 11 for the finale of the Montreal Jazz Festival, not only dazzled the 200,000 music lovers gathered in the city’s downtown streets and more than 500,000 Canadians watching the live show on CBC, but also forged new international partnerships and distribution avenues into Germany and France for the young Montreal production company.

In the weeks leading up to the 29th Toronto International Film Festival, Playback caught up with new festival codirector Noah Cowan. Cowan officially joined TIFF Group CEO Piers Handling as codirector Jan. 1, overseeing programming and administration for TIFF 2004.

Three years ago, Randy Manis didn’t pay much attention to documentaries screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. But for the senior VP of acquisitions and business affairs at Toronto-based distributor ThinkFilm, TIFF 2004 is all about docs.

Calgary: Voice Pictures went to camera Aug. 9 on Migration and Wheel to the Stars, the first two of six MOWs coproduced with Turner Network Television and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, with DreamWorks distributing.