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‘Displacement and confusion’ mark Canada First! features
The nine films in TIFF2006’s Canada First! program – a showcase for rookie Canuck feature directors, or those presenting at TIFF for the first time – are driven by misfit characters in false or contrived environments.
Mettler honored on screens and in galleries
A ‘living cinema’ event, an exhibit of lightboxes glowing on black walls, a sequential photo display and a book launch featuring video projections highlight the TIFF2006 Canadian Retrospective on the multifaceted Peter Mettler.
Fest films exploit Internet to varying degrees
These days it’s par for the course for a feature film to have an accompanying website.
TIFF takes mobile into its own hands
While the Internet is already a well-established platform for movie marketing, exploitation through mobile handsets remains in its infancy. There is not much offered in the way of mobile promotional efforts associated with films screening at TIFF, but the potential of hand-held devices is being explored by the festival itself in a couple of initiatives.
Bon Cop blasts box office records
After surpassing the $4.5-million mark at the Quebec box office in record time for a Quebecois film, Bon Cop, Bad Cop is looking for similarly boffo results in English Canada.
The bilingual buddy action flick by director Érik Canuel had, by Aug. 16, brought in a total of $4.7 million and counting, after 14 days.
Bidder emerges for MPD
Alliance Atlantis Communications finally confirmed that it has received a ‘non-binding proposal’ from British firm Marwyn Investments for its troubled Motion Picture Distribution arm, after skirting the issue during conference calls announcing the second-quarter results for both itself and MPD earlier this month.
D’arte film
Next month’s Ottawa International Animation Festival (Sept. 20-24) will feature the premiere of the CG short Vissi d’arte by local director John Mark Seck. The 4:20 toon takes its name and inspiration from an opera by Giacomo Puccini and plays along with 14 other titles in the Canadian Showcase
ReGenesis, History of Violence lead DGC noms
The second season of ReGenesis has topped the nominations for this year’s DGC Awards, taking six nods in total, including best television drama, best direction for Clement Virgo, and a number of technical categories, including production design and sound editing.
Industry accepts JumpTV return
The return and recent IPO of JumpTV is going unchallenged by the pillars of the TV industry now that the Internet rebroadcaster has stepped back from the edge of the Copyright Act.
Hirsh quiet on Cookie’s IPO
Michael Hirsh is saying very little – yea or nay – following reports that his Cookie Jar Group is preparing to go public.
Egoyan joins U of T
Atom Egoyan will be at the University of Toronto this fall – teaching a course about the crossover between film, music and other creative disciplines.
Hot Sheet
The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period Aug. 4-10, 2006 and DVD sales in Canada for the period July 24-30, 2006.
Canucks rock at DVD awards
Montreal concert film prodco FogoLabs picked up two awards at the 2006 Annual DVD Awards, hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin on Aug. 8 in Los Angeles.
Top 20 TV Programs
Top 20 TV Programs tracks ratings for the top 20 television shows in Canada for the period Aug. 7-13, 2006.
Whistler hitches cart to Idol
CTV’s Canadian Idol once again helped boost the ratings of Whistler on Aug. 14. The nighttime soap garnered 512,000 viewers in the Monday 9 p.m. slot, replacing the recently cancelled ABC reality show One Ocean View.
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