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Telefilm backs 11 through LIFAP
Louis Bélanger and Bruce McDonald were among the 11 filmmakers who drew cheques from Telefilm Canada late last month through the low-budget end of its Canada Feature Film Fund.
CIFVF divvies $1.6M
It is not hard to find friends after handing out more than $1.6 million, and after the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund released its annual round of grants, Leigh Badgley was quick to sing its praises.
Playback Readership Poll Results
Hogtown officials could be doing more, say Playback readers. In a recent online poll that asked ‘Is the City of Toronto doing enough to support the local film and TV industry?’, 18% voted yes, and 82% voted no.
Correction
In the July 18 article ‘Corus channels court older viewers,’ the ownership of the CMT station was mis-stated. CMT is fully owned by Corus, whereas The Documentary Channel is 53% owned by Corus, with the remainder divided among CBC, the National Film Board and independent programmers.
Rocket launches in Montreal
Montreal: Production has wrapped on a new feature about Quebec’s greatest hockey hero from two of the province’s most acclaimed producers, Denise Robert and Daniel Louis of Montreal’s Cinémaginaire, recent Oscar winners for Les Invasions barbares.
Principal photography on Maurice Richard ran May 29 to July 31 in and around Montreal and Quebec City.
Features
Nomad travels the world
Capri, CORE eyeing Watership redo
Toronto: The way Vincenzo Natali remembers it, even at age 11, he knew that the animation in 1978’s Watership Down was ‘totally wrong.’
‘It was very Disney,’ he recalls. Disney with rabbit blood, to be sure, but still out of step with the distinctly harsh mood of the Richard Adams book. He hopes that a new version – in early development at Capri Films with him as director – will make things right.
Broadcast
Walsh pilot Hatches as series in St. John’s
Docs
Handel Productions gets growing
Briefly
* CBC’s This Is Wonderland (Indian Grove Productions/Muse Entertainment) has started work on its third season (13 x 60), and shoots in Toronto until February.
Local post companies on summer screens
With summer upon us, film fans with a taste for blockbuster escapism have seen their share of cutting-edge special FX, from the glorious to the gruesome, in a number of notable releases. Two of the six films featured below shot in Canada: Fantastic Four in Vancouver and Land of the Dead in Toronto. Both productions kept at least part of their post and FX work in Canada. Director Robert Rodriguez brought his U.S.-shot, FX-heavy film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lavagirl in 3-D to Montreal’s Hybride, after having recently done so with his April release, Sin City. Mr. & Mrs. Smith had some of its post handled in Toronto. And, in every case, Canadian-made software and systems providers figured in the FX mix, including Alias, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, Softimage, eyeon and Side Effects.
Reshuffled Rainmaker makes some moves
When Bob Scarabelli died suddenly of a heart attack last September, British Columbia’s film community went into mourning. The loss of homegrown entrepreneur Scarabelli, who started Vancouver post-production house Rainmaker, shook an industry already grappling with its own health problems.
White Iron expands to U.S.
Calgary-based video post, FX and animation house White Iron Digital is expanding south of the border and, on July 6, opened the doors to its new Southington, Connecticut, offices.
3D expansion for Le Bureau de Post
As Montreal’s Le Bureau de Post Productions celebrates its 13th anniversary this summer, the video post house is making a major push into the 3D animation and special FX market, while formalizing its motion graphics and broadcast design department.
PowerPost sees East Coast in HD
Halifax-based PowerPost Production continues to be Atlantic Canada’s busiest post-production facility since launching in its current incarnation in February 2004. It has seven projects on the go and is establishing itself as a leader in posting HD.
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