Content was supposed to be the central driver of convergence. But to the gurus of convergence, content has been a fickle friend.

CTF impact study renewed

Asked what performer or program had been ‘most snubbed’ by the 2002 Gemini nominations, 40% of respondents voted for Trudeau, which was strangely absent from noms for best MOW or miniseries. This was followed by 21% who cast their clicks with ‘Any comedy other than Made in Canada.’ Blue Murder and Nicholas Campbell of Da Vinci’s Inquest each scored 13% while Degrassi: The Next Generation bottomed out at 10%.

Sturla Gunnarsson’s Rare Birds was the big winner at the first annual DGC Awards held at Toronto’s exclusive Boulevard Club Oct. 5. Rare Birds took home four of the 14 trophies including outstanding achievement in direction for Gunnarsson, production design for Pam Hall and picture editing for Jeff Warren.

Montreal: The thirtysomething cult drama La Vie, la vie (Cirrus Communications/Lux Films) topped all program entries this year, winning 10 Prix Gemeaux including best drama series, best actress for Julie McClemens, best direction for Patrice Sauve, best writing for Stephane Bourguignon and best original score for composer Luc Sicard.

Vancouver: Canadian films will have to be commercially, rather than culturally, successful if they expect to meet government policy objectives to increase their share of domestic box office from 2% to 5% by 2006, says Canadian Heritage Minister Shelia Copps.

* Lions Gate Entertainment, based in Vancouver and Marina Del Rey, CA, has expanded chief administrative officer Jim Keegan’s role to include the duties of CFO. Current CFO Marni Wieshofer will move to the new position of executive VP, corporate development. As part of Keegan’s 13 years of entertainment sector experience, he was previously CFO of Artisan Entertainment and Trimark Holdings.

Montreal-based animator Christopher Hinton takes away two of the top prizes at this year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival (Oct. 2-6), making him one of the most decorated animators internationally of 2002.

Vancouver: Attendance was up 18% at Vancouver International Film Festival’s 17th annual Film and Television Trade Forum, which ran Sept. 25-28 including the popular New Filmmaker’s Day.

‘I’d never shot on high-definition before,’ says Montreal cinematographer Eric Cayla of the Media Principia feature The Baroness and the Pig. ‘I would have been more than happy to shoot on 35mm, but when I was approached to shoot in HD, it added something new to the project and I liked the challenge.’

Montreal: The National Film Board has a plan to develop more meaningful professional experiences for young animation filmmakers, primarily through shorter-term projects.

In its new 14,000-square-foot Flash studio, Vancouver’s Studio B Productions is producing 52 11-minute episodes of Yakkity Yak for Teletoon entirely in-house. Using traditional animation, the labor-intensive animating process would usually be done overseas to cut costs, but creating the children’s TV series with Flash allows Studio B to keep work in Canada.

Animation maverick John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show and The Ripping Friends, has worked in the business since 1980. He launched his independent studio, Spumco, in Los Angeles in 1989, and this fall opened Spumco Canada in his hometown of Ottawa.

Just weeks into fall and already it’s been a very busy season for Minds Eye Pictures of Regina. The prolific Western Canada prodco celebrated the official opening of the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage, is moving its head office, hosted an international industry conference, is shooting a $4.3-million feature and recently sold another to Universal Studios in the U.S.
Universal will take The Unsaid, a $22-million psychological thriller starring Andy Garcia and coproduced with New Legend Media out of L.A. and Montreal. to English-speaking territories worldwide plus Japan.
‘Universal hasn’t given a date or told us how they’re going to release it, but we’re just very thrilled to be able to say that Universal Studios did a negative pickup on The Unsaid,’ says Minds Eye president and CEO Kevin DeWalt.

Vancouver: Vancouver native Alex Vendler, cinematographer for the British documentary Kurt and Courtney, returns home for The Delicate Art of Parking, a drama/mockumentary by Anagram Pictures, makers of Mile Zero.
As the feature debut for director Trent Carlson (who directed the 1997 short film Groomed), The Delicate Art of Parking is about an idealistic parking enforcement officer whose devotion to his job is challenged by a motor vehicle accident that leaves his mentor in a coma.
At press time, only actor Dov Tiefenbach (Between Strangers, Flower and Garnet), who plays a documentary filmmaker trailing the hero, was signed on.
The $1.3-million budget – through Telefilm Canada, British Columbia Film, Movie Central and The Movie Network – allows for 20 days of production beginning Oct. 28.