what’s turning heads, what isn’t, and what’s on deck

The Jon Dore Television Show will debut on The Comedy Network on Oct. 17, not Oct. 18 as reported in the Sept. 17 article ‘Dore cracking wise for Comedy.’ Its team includes exec producer Barbara Bowlby and supervising producer Lindsay Cox.

Comparing the digital media news out of Hollywood and Canada in recent weeks has been a matter of innovation in the case of the former and what looks to be a step back here at home.

Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises both had well-received premieres at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, with the former grabbing the coveted opening-night slot, and the latter winning the People’s Choice award.

Vancouver Film School’s marketing of its student-produced content is paying off for its young creators, and could continue to pay off as a fund for films by future alumni.

The turbulent times of one of Quebec’s most popular politicians will be brought to life, again, in René Lévesque II, a miniseries now shooting in Montreal and Quebec City for CBC/Radio-Canada.

Bruce Dern is in Montreal for three weeks shooting the horror Swamp Devil for Muse Productions.

Quebec director Jean-Claude Lord is scheduled to wrap Summer House, an MOW for Montreal’s Incendo Productions and Power in the U.K., following a three- to four-week shoot in Montreal. Slated to air on The Movie Network, Movie Central and Super Écran, the story follows Lindsay Price (Coupling, Beverly Hills, 90210) as a pregnant woman dogged by an apparent family curse, and also features David Haydn-Jones (Fatal Trust) and Sadie LeBlanc (Rumors).

Minds Eye Entertainment starts work next month on the psychological thriller Walled In, a Canada/France copro starring Mischa Barton (The O.C.) and Deborah Kara Unger (Shake Hands with the Devil). The Saskatchewan company has linked arms with Paris-based Experience Films (Gomez Vs Tavarès) and Forecast Pictures (O Jerusalem) on the psychological thriller, with financing and distribution assistance from Leomax Entertainment of Berlin and Los Angeles. Remstar will distribute in Canada.

Deepa Mehta will start work on her next feature in November, again putting Water star Seema Biswas in front of the camera, this time paired with Bollywood star Preity Zinta, seen recently in the TIFF selection The Last Lear. Heaven and Earth, set to shoot in Toronto and India, follows a young Indian bride who creates an alternate reality to escape her abusive marriage. Mehta directs from her own script, again teaming with producer David Hamilton and distributor Mongrel Media.

Liz Marshall says she looked to the example of Allan King and his doc Dying at Grace during the seven-week shoot for Women: The Face of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

Shooting is underway on Nurse. Fighter. Boy – the latest title from the Feature Film Project at the Canadian Film Centre – which went to camera around Toronto last month under writer/director Charles Officer (Hotel Babylon) and cowriter/producer Ingrid Veninger (Gambling, Gods and LSD).