Vancouver: Love, connections and the lighter side of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are at the heart of My Name Is Sarah, a B.C.-shot romantic comedy from Vancouver director Paul A. Kaufman (Honeymoon With Mom) and exec producer Norman Stephens (Bang, Bang, You’re Dead).

The recent sale of Toronto studio land to a box store developer has again raised concerns among industry insiders over the future of the city’s production ghetto.

The face of Toronto’s Port Lands will soon be quite different.

Soundstages in B.C. unsurprisingly report the most business this summer shooting season, buoyed by a rejuventation in dramatic programming, while a pair of large features highlight a sub-par summer in Toronto, and volume in Montreal is finally picking up with film work from both U.S. majors and indie producers.

Philippe Falardeau’s dramedy Congorama – about the unusual friendship between a Belgian and Quebecois man – will close the Director’s Fortnight this month in Cannes, making good on a goal set by producer Luc Déry.

Love in all its tortured beauty, animation that blows apart the very act of creation, cell phones that transmit messages of loneliness, and family relationships stretched to the breaking point are all part of the mix in this year’s 44-film Short Cuts Canada program. Now in its second year, the Short Cuts program brings together works by new and established Canadian filmmakers from across the country, each sharing a passion for the succinct nature of the short film.

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