Pierre Falardeau’s 15 Fevrier 1839 is this year’s opening film for Toronto’s Cinefranco film festival….

It was passed on by distributors and rejected by all the major Canadian film festivals, but Andrew Ainsworth’s first feature Too Much Sex slipped up through the Hollywood cracks to win best foreign film at the Malibu Film Festival in Santa…

The news is filled with reports of an economic slowdown in both Canada and the United States. Add to that the uncertainty caused by the looming strikes amongst U.S. writers and actors, and many companies are pondering whether they’ll be able to maintain their staff at the current levels.
In order to avoid potentially costly lawsuits, before you terminate any employees, you should ensure that you conduct the termination in accordance with all legal requirements and take into consideration the realities and sensitivities of the employees being terminated.

Halifax’s Salter Street Films cannot seem to keep itself out of the news lately. Following its sale last month to Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis Communications, Salter has announced it is buddying up with another Toronto company, Infopreneur. Together the two will develop a television version of Infopreneur’s Web hit Chilly Beach, retaining all of the Canadianisms that have made the animated property so popular.

Montreal: Documentary producer Catherine Mullins of Green Lion Productions is in production on the Sony HD shoot A Bridge to Mars (working title), licensed by Discovery Canada, TVOntario, Knowledge Network, SCN and Canal D. The house is also in development on A Community at the Crossroads – As seen through the eyes of Dr. Jane McGillivray, a one-hour doc for the Women’s Television Network on the crisis among the Innu children of Sheshatshiu in Labrador.

Vncouver: Turkish Internet celebrity Mahir, famous for his hit dance tune I Kiss You, has planted one on Vancouver-based Noisemedia.
The self-proclaimed ambassador of peace and love – through distributors iPop in Canada and Universal Music in the U.S. – has commissioned the local Internet producer to create what is hailed as the world’s first Flash-animated music video.

Another awards show, another prize for Daniel Pellerin. The 2001 Genie win by the Deluxe Toronto director of mixing services for achievement in overall sound has created chaos on his mantelpiece. The latest trophy, for Love Come Down, must vie for…

Come Sunday, March 25, staffers at Vancouver audio post-production house Pinewood Sound will be glued to their TV sets, like a billion others, for the 73rd Academy Awards. But while many viewers will be preoccupied with what gowns starlets are wearing, Pinewood’s people will have their fingers crossed that U-571, the feature it worked on, will take home Oscars for achievement in sound and achievement in sound editing.
Although a limited number of names can be included on a nomination – and none from Pinewood have been – Greg Nielsen, Pinewood director of business development, is content in knowing the shop played a crucial role in the audio for the WWII submarine flick. Producer Universal Pictures booked 16 days at Pinewood’s Studio A to record ADR and Walla for the film, with cast members Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi on hand.

Jesh Krishna Murthy, visual effects supervisor at Vancouver’s Command Post/TOYBOX West, is no stranger to big jobs. In his time at the post-production house, Murthy has worked on F/X for features including The Cell, Fight Club, Lost in Space and the forthcoming Jason X. He says it was still a nice surprise to learn TOYBOX West had been appointed lead effects house on Universal Pictures’ Josie and the Pussycats, due for an April release.
‘We were bidding against a lot of big companies,’ says Murthy. ‘I think what clinched it for us was first being in Vancouver, because it was shot here, and second the fact we did a lot of tests with warping and morphing that the directors really liked.’

The growth of F/X house Hybride Technologies is a reflection of the long-form production renaissance in Quebec. After 10 years in operation, Hybride has seen a 25% increase in its long-form work, which now accounts for 75% of its overall business….

Post Producers Digital says it is trying to move into the realm of drama, but the transition is not easy. The two-year-old Toronto offline/online editing house has built its business on commercial, infomercial, corporate and music video projects. It has also…

Even in a self-described slow spell, Fearless Films’ staff of seven has plenty on its plate….

Umbrella Audio Post, a Toronto company formed by the merger of Sonic Bloom Audio Post and Umbrella Sound, has opened its doors. Sonic Bloom’s credits include the features My Dog Vincent and Hayseed and TV work for CBC, The History Channel…

Optimistic in the face of the writers and actors strikes that threaten to halt two-thirds of B.C.’s production volume, Vancouver audio house Post Modern Sound has opened its new mixing theatre in a bid to draw prestigious feature and series work…

In the following article, director of photography Kim Derko details her experience collaborating with John Greyson on The Law of Enclosures, shooting in Winnipeg, and working with some pretty ugly furniture.
John Greyson and I knew each other from the arts community, and I think that’s really the connector when we work together. He asked me to be the cinematographer on some of his short films years before either he had directed or I had shot a feature. (Of course, he went on to make Lilies and other features.) I hooked up with him again a few years later to make Uncut, a dance film shot at the Banff Centre for the Arts. The low-budget feature originated on video and transferred to film. Then he pulled me into The Law of Enclosures.
I knew some of John’s work from before he moved into film, when he made political video art. We have a kind of communication shorthand we can use because of similar art school training in articulating aesthetic ideas. But don’t get the idea it was all artsy dialogue, berets and double-tall lattes when it came to creating a style for The Law of Enclosures.