* Director/writer: Bill Phillips * Producers: Helen du Toit, Mehra Meh * Cinematographer: John Holosko * Diary by: Dave Lazar

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson * Writer: Ed Riche * Executive producer: Sam Feldman * Producer: Paul Pope * Diary by: Louise Leger

The phone in Laurie-Marie Baranyay’s apartment won’t stop ringing. On the other end are those banes of a first-time independent filmmaker’s existence: credit card collection agencies.

Inertia marks the directing debut of filmmaker/musician Sean Garrity and the first foray into producing for Brendon Sawatzky, both based in Winnipeg. According to Garrity, the film he set out to make was to be played out like a number of musicians jamming on stage. His vision was to put together a film born through improvisation.

* Director: Lynne Stopkewich * Producers: Jessica Fraser, Dean English * Cinematographer: Bob Aschmann * Diary by: Dustin Dinoff

It is the classic challenge in Canadian cinema: how to achieve quality results on a modest budget. To this end, smaller productions have traditionally opted for 16mm or Super 16 origination, and recently shooting on digital video has been in vogue. But in the case of Poor Superman, a $1.3-million feature shot by Daniel Vincelette for writer/director Brad Fraser, producer Ken Mead of realtime films insisted on the 35mm format. To make this economically feasible, he believed Multivision might provide the answer.

Asghar Massombagi is the director of Khaled, which premiers in the Perspective Canada program at this year’s Toronto International Film festival. Khaled is his first feature film and this is his first TIFF.

For Canadian filmmakers, especially those with debut features, the coup of getting into the Toronto International Film Festival can make them forget, if only for a time, the reality of Canadian film: long after the festival wraps, most homegrown movies die an unheralded death at the box office.

Montreal: Members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television – Quebec section don’t necessarily judge programs in the same manner the public does, so audience ratings for this year’s Prix Gemeaux program finalists are only part of the story.
The field in the best drama series category seems especially competitive.
Last season’s top-rated drama, Fortier (Aetios Productions), chronicling the dangerous work of a female anti-crime unit psychologist, is also this year’s most-nominated drama series with 15 Prix Gemeaux nominations. Broadcast on Reseau TVA, Fortier was the only series to draw more than two million viewers last season. The show is scripted by Fabienne Larouche and stars Sophie Lorain and Gilbert Sicotte, each nominated for a Gemeaux.

Following are highlights of this year’s Prix Gemeaux finalist list in selected categories. For the full list of nominees, check out the ACCT website at www.academy.ca.

With new outlets to exhibit their work opening up, the long-term outlook for Canadian short filmmakers has rarely looked brighter. Never before have filmmakers sold their shorts so widely, even if fledgling dot-coms that stream film over the Internet are fewer in number these days.

Vancouver: On Sept. 1, as part of the massive switchover of station affiliations in Vancouver, CKVU 13 returned to its roots as an independent station. This is a temporary measure, until the CRTC approves the $125-million purchase of the station by CHUM Ltd. and paves the way for it to become by fall 2002 The New VU or some such Citytv-branded station like Victoria’s The New VI.
Already the station, formerly owned by Global, is walking and talking like a CHUM station since CHUM is providing much of the fall programming and acts as CKVU’s national sales agent. The bulk of the new schedule will comprise CHUM shows such as FashionTelevision, Star TV, MovieTelevision, Electric Circus, Sex TV, Ed the Sock and The New Music.