Monday, January 4, 2010

Toronto Preps For The Next Big Thing

A prequel to director John Carpenter's 1981 horror feature "The Thing" is prepping for a production start in Toronto.

Shooting on the Universal monster feature begins in March through to June, set on the Norweigan Antarctic base that first encounters a shape-shifting 'thing' from another world.

Director is Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., from a screenplay by Eric "A Nightmare On Elm Street" Heisserer and Ronald D. "Battlestar Galactica" Moore.


Carpenter's "The Thing" adapted the 1938 "Astounding Magazine" 'novella' "Who Goes There", by author John W. Campbell Jr.

The short story was also the basis of the 1951 film "The Thing From Another World" from producer Howard Hawks.

Premise of the original story follows a group of scientific researchers, isolated in Antarctica, that discover an alien spaceship buried in the ice. The men unwittingly recover the alien pilot that can assume the shape, memories and personality of any living creature.

Strike Entertainment's Eric Newman and Marc Abraham will produce "The Thing" prequel, with David Foster executive producing.

Sneak Peek "The Thing...





Thursday, December 17, 2009

Happy Holidays 2009 from Canwest Publicity

Click image to enlarge...

"Afterlife" Producer See "3D Musketeers"

Producer Jeremy Bolt, currently in Toronto shooting the 3D "Resident Evil 4: Afterlife" has confirmed he is planning to use the same 3D camera system director James Cameron utelized in the Fox feature "Avatar", for a fresh take on the classic public domain novel "The Three Musketeers", by author Alexandre Dumas.

"Yes, it will be "Three" in 3D," said Bolt about "Three Musketeers".

"We've learned so much from this film ("Afterlife"), it would be a pity not to build on that...We have a script ready to go...we'll probably be shooting ("Three Musketeers" in late summer..."

"The Three Musketeers" recounts the adventures of 'd'Artagnan' after he leaves home to become a guard of the king's 'musketeers'.

The 'three' musketeers' of the title are 'Athos', 'Porthos' and 'Aramis', inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all".

The book was first published in serial form in the magazine "Le Siècle" between March and July 1844.

With "Afterlife", Bolt has now lensed several "Resident Evi" features in Toronto and enjoys working in Canada.

With the new Ontario 'enhanced' film tax credits, allowing 25% of refundable credits, Bolt confirmed, "We are definitely considering shooting here," re "Three Musketeers".

"We'll run a budget and look at locations...the fact is, we haven't shot in Los Angeles for 10 years..."


Cinespace Opening Up More Space

Toronto's east-end located Cinespace Film Studios, currently working on "Resident Evil: Afterlife" and "Saw 7' will open a new 30-acre studio complex in Toronto's west-end Etobicoke, with over 1,000,000 square feet of working space.

A 10-minute drive midway between Pearson Airport and downtown Toronto, the new studio currently has 50,000 square feet of production office space available, with 'cinespace' soundstages to be ready by early 2010.

Cinespace president Steve Mirkopoulous made the announcement, coinciding with the Ontario Liberal government, voting into law, the 'enhanced' Ontario film tax credit, refunding 25% of eligible spending, effective as of June 30.

Film equipment supplier
William F. White and post-production facility Deluxe are currently set up in the new facility...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

"High Life" : The Perfect Crime

Set in 1983, just after the implementation of 'Automated Teller Machines', "High Life" is a new Canadian feature, lensed in Winnpeg, written/directed by Gary Yates, starring Timothy Olyphant, Rossif Sutherland, Joe Anderson and Stephen McIntyre.

In "High Life", a visit from his former cellmate 'Bug' (McIntyre) gets 'Dick' (Olyphant) fired from his job as a hospital janitor.

Unemployed and in need of fast cash Dick gets the dumb idea to rob a brand new ATM machine.

Enter 'Donnie' (Anderson) and 'Billy' (Sutherland) to help put the pieces into place.

But things don't go quite according to plan...

"...Alternately tragic and hysterical, the 'High Life’ perfect plan ends up anything but when one of the bank’s employees double-crosses them all. Set against the nostalgic back-beat of 'Three Dog Night', 'Creedence Clearwater Revival' and a raft of 'April Wine', the 'High Life’ highwire tension unfolds with calamitous results..."

Union Pictures will release "High Life" across Canada, Jan 15 in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Calgary and Jan. 22 in Montreal , Ottawa , Edmonton and Halifax.

Sneak Peek "High Life"...

Canadian Television Fund Update...

During the 2008-2009 fiscal year, over 250 global sales were announced for CTF (Canadian Television Fund), financially-assisted film productions.

CTF-funded cop drama, "Flashpoint", aired simultaneously over CTV and CBS, winning critical acclaim , averaging over 1.2 million Canadian viewers per episode and 7.7 million viewers per episode in the US during its first season. The show was renewed and sold to over 25 countries, including Israel, Poland, and Spain.

"Mayerthorpe", another police drama, attracted 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched Canadian movie of the week in 2008, "The Air Farce Live NYE" special attracted 1.5 million viewers, the "Rick Mercer Report" averaged over one million viewers per episode and for
the eighth consecutive year, "Degrassi: The Next Generation" was the US-based "N" network’s most watched program.

CTF-funded documentaries in 2008-2009 also included the futuristic "Aftermath",premiering to the highest- ratings for any show on "History Television Canada".


During the mid 1990's, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) proposed establishing a funding initiative that would focus on facilitating the production/broadcast of Canadian television programs in under-represented categories during peak viewing periods, with revenues to come from contributions by broadcasting distribution undertakings (i.e., cable and direct-to-home satellite providers) at a certain percentage of their revenues.

According to the CTF, over its 12-year history, the fund has paid a staggering $2.7 billion to support over 5,400 productions, resulting in the creation of more than 27,000 hours of television, triggering over $9 billion in production volume across Canada...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Toronto Hosting International Indian Film Academy Awards

Toronto has been selected as the host city for the 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards, the first North American city to host the event.

"We have the know-how, we’ve got the experience and we’ve got the infrastructure", said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty from Mumbai, India, referring to Toronto's international status as host of the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Indian Awards ceremony will close the Festival after four days of screenings, receptions, parties and industry forums, running June 16-19, 2011.

The first Festival, held in 2000 in London England, now has a worldwide TV audience of 350 million viewers.

Oscar-winning 'Bollywood'-like film "Slum Dog Millionaire" made the transition from the Indian community to a mainstream audience, gathering interest for Indian films in North America...


Monday, December 7, 2009

NFB Goes To Sundance With Three Shorts

Canada's National Film Board of Canada (NFB) returns to the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, January 21 to 31 with three selected animated film shorts.

The films screening are Cordell Baker’s "Runaway", Bruce Alcock’s "Vive la Rose" and David Coquard-Dassault’s "Rains".

"Runaway" is Barker's third short film with the NFB. His previous films "The Cat Came Back" (1988) and "Strange Invaders" (2001) won 30 international awards and Academy Award nominations. "Runaway" was produced in Winnipeg by Derek Mazur for the NFB.

Bruce Alcock’s "Vive la Rose", puts into images the words of a plaintive song about lost love. Co-produced by the NFB and Global Mechanic, Alcock’s film is based on an 18th-century song by Newfoundland musician Émile Benoit, in a film that pays homage to the land, sea and the harsh lives of local fishermen, produced by Global Mechanic’s Tina Ouellette and the NFB’s Annette Clarke and Michael Fukushima.

"Rains" is a meditation on everyday life and man's relationship with nature, as seen by illustrator David Coquard-Dassault, produced by Folimage’s Pascal Le Nôtre and the NFB’s Julie Roy...

CFC Offers $10,000 For "The Reel Challenge"

The Canadian Film Centre have launched 'The Reel Challenge Contest', an initiative of the Canadian Film Centre, supported by the Copyright Collective of Canada.

The Reel Challenge is a contest for aspiring filmmakers to make a short compelling film about the importance of creators' rights and copyright protection for their work.


"...For contemporary artists, including filmmakers, the digital age brings extraordinary opportunities, yet at the same time, unprecedented challenges with respect to an artist's ability to control the distribution, use and reproduction of his or her work. The Reel Challenge Contest is an opportunity for artists to speak out on the importance of preserving and protecting copyrighted creative works..."

Eligible submissions should be approximately sixty (60) seconds in length and must not exceed three (3) minutes.

The contest runs December 7, 2009 to April 26, 2010.

Three prizes will be awarded:

first CDN$10,000
second CDN$2,500
third CDN$2,500.

"...All categories and genres of short film are accepted, including drama, comedy, animation, horror, sci-fi, documentary, experimental and music videos. Prizes will be awarded by the adjudicating committee to the creators whose submissions promote creators' rights and address the importance of content protection, from a creator's perspective, in the most compelling way, provoke the most thought and feeling in the viewer, and are considered the most engaging, imaginative and the most innovative in content and delivery..."

Friday, December 4, 2009

Telefilm And Rogers Announce Feature Doc Funding...

Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Group of Funds have announced the names of the feature-length documentary projects that will receive funding support under the 'Theatrical Documentary Program' in 2009-2010.

Participating filmmakers will receive funding support for the production or post-production stage of their project, as the goal of the Program is to broaden both the slate and audiences for Canadian feature-length documentaries produced for commercial screening in Canada, while jointly financing a number of French- and English-language projects likely to be successful in Canada and abroad.

"Through this program, we are looking to attract new audiences in theatres for Canadian documentaries by providing support at crucial stages so projects can be commercially viable," said Michel Pradier, Director of Project Financing, Telefilm Canada.

"The feature films selected this year testify once again to Canadian documentary filmmakers' spirit of innovation and creativity."

Launched in 2005-2006 as a one-year pilot project, the public-private partnership was recently renewed until 2011. The program has a total budget of $4.5 million and provides funding, during production and post-production stages, for feature-length documentary projects with production budgets of $500,000 or more in French and $600,000 or more in English as well as financing for projects at the post-production stage.

English-language projects are "The David Suzuki Project"- Sturla Gunnarsson, "Genius Within: The Inner Life Of Glenn Gould"- Michele Hozer, "The Guantanamo Trap"- Thomas Wallner, "I Will Survive (Again)"- Jamie Kastner and "TuTu Much"- Elise Swerhone...

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Toronto-Lensed "Splice" Screening @ Sundance...

The North American premiere of "Splice", a France-Canadian co-production, directed by Vincenzo Natali, will screen at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in the PARK CITY AT MIDNIGHT program.

Filmed in Toronto at Black Creek Pioneer Village, Cinespace Film Studios and York University, "Splice" follows 'Elsa' and 'Clive', two young scientists, who defy legal and ethical boundaries by conducting a dangerous experiment, splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism.

Named 'Dren', the creature develops from a deformed female into a beautiful winged chimera, forging a bond with both creators. Cast also includes Adrien "The Pianist" Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chaneac and David Hewlett.

Other Canadian features screening at the Sundance MIDNIGHT program include the horror spoof "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil", directed by Eli Craig, written by Craig & Morgan Jurgenson and "7 Days", directed by Daniel Grou, written by Patrick Senecal.


"7 Days" focuses on a doctor who takes revenge by kidnapping the man who previously kidnapped his young daughter. The film stars Remy Girard, Claude Legault, Fanny Mallette, Martin Dubreuil and Rose-Marie Coallier.

"Tucker and Dale vs. Evil", follows two West Virginian hillbillies as they encounter trouble on a vacation at their mountain cabin. Cast includes Tyler "Reaper" Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden and Jesse Moss.

Sneak Peek "Splice"...


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

NFB Awarded For Digital Media Excellence...


The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) was honoured with two awards at the Canadian New Media Awards December 1, a nextMedia event recognizing accomplishments of individuals and companies in the Canadian digital media industry and TorontoFilm.Net was there.

The NFB also won the 2009 Applied Arts Magazine Interactive Award.


For 'Best Cross-Platform Project', recognizing excellence in interactive enhancement of a television property on digital platforms, the award was given to the NFB's "Waterlife Interactive", a story about the last great supply of fresh drinking water on earth, directly affecting over 350 million people.

"Waterlife Interactive" is produced by the NFB, designed by Jam3Media and inspired by the doc "Waterlife" by Kevin McMahon, a coproduction with Primitive Entertainment and the NFB.

For 'Best Online Video Portal' that distributes video content via the Internet or mobile, the winner was the "National Film Board of Canada: Online Screening Room" providing Canadians with free viewing of over 1,300 productions from the NFB’s archive collection.

The 'Applied Arts Magazine Interactive Award' was awarded to the NFB's "GDP", a year-long participatory interactive Web bilingual doc produced by the NFB, under the direction of documentarian Hélène Choquette, eight field directors and eight photographers based in various locations. Over 250 short docs and photo-essays, combine to create a mosaic of how Canadians experience the economic crisis...

Canadian New Media Awards: The Winners...

The Canadian New Media Awards (CNMAs), Canada's only nationwide competition celebrating the country's best digital media companies, announced this year’s winners at a gala ceremony at the Toronto Design Exchange and TorontoFilm.Net was there.

In its ninth consecutive year, the CNMAs spotlight the local interactive media industry in categories including 'Best Mobile Marketing', 'Best Use of Social Media' and 'Best Web-based Game'.

New categories introduced this year include 'Best Online Video Portal', 'Best Mobile Application' and 'Brand of the Year'.

"We were extremely impressed with this year’s award nominees and their work truly represented some of the country’s best new media strategies," said Mark Greenspan, Executive Producer, nextMEDIA.

"As Canada’s only nationwide new media competition of its kind, we’re proud of the achievements this country’s innovators offer."


The gala celebration was hosted by comedian Seán Cullen, with more than 200 industry leaders in attendance.

Award winners included Cyberplex Inc. as 'Best Company of the Year', BBDO/Proximity Canada for "Doritos" as 'Best Brand of the Year' and Syncapse Corp. as 'Most Promising New Company of the Year'.

Here is the list of all the winners...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Milla Jovovich On "Resident Evil: Afterlife"...

Click images to enlarge...

Take a look at new footage of actress Milla Jovovich, filmed by Milla Jovovich on the Toronto set of "Resident Evil: Afterlife", the fourth film in the series, that started shooting in Toronto September 28.

Originally a Capcom video game series, created by Shinji Mikami, selling 40 million games , other "Resident Evil" spin-offs have included comic books, novelizations and action figures.

The first feature, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, released in 2002, grossed $102 million worldwide, focusing on amnesiac affected heroine 'Alice' and a squad of 'Umbrella Corporation' commandos, as they attempted to escape a secret underground facility overrun with zombies.

The new film picks up after the events of "Resident Evil: Extinction", the Mexican-filmed 2007 sequel focusing on Alice and a group of survivors from 'Raccoon City', as they traveled across the Mojave desert wilderness to Alaska, staying one step ahead of a 'zombie apocalypse'.

Friday, November 20, 2009

More DVDs From Canada's Kinosmith...

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Canadian film distributors KINOSMITH are offering the following DVD titles of note from their extensive film collection :

"The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins" follows Vanessa Beecroft’s intentions to adopt orphaned twins, and how it affects her art and personal life.

"...Pop star of the art world, Vanessa Beecroft is determined to adopt orphaned twins, an intention that bleeds into her art and reveals her volatile relationship with her husband. Alongside the adoption process Vanessa photographs herself breast feeding the twins, creating her own artwork. Like Angelina and Madonna, Vanessa is a white westerner intent on rescuing third world babies. But at what cost to her personal life?..."

In "Ghosts", a 17 year-old girl left on her own, creates an intriguing journey to meet a new companion and reunite with her mother.

"...Nina (Julia Hummer) is a vulnerable 17-year old, alone in the world except for the social workers who run her life. She finds an ally in reckless Toni (Sabine Timoteo), a tough young woman who grabs what she wants to survive. Together they experience a fleeting moment of intimacy, an instant of happiness. Françoise (Marianne Basler) has returned regularly to Berlin where her baby daughter was kidnapped many years previously. In the street she spots Nina and becomes convinced that she has found her long-lost child..."

Mika Kaurismäki’s "L.A. Without A Map', a 'fish-out-of-water' story shows life in Southern California is far from straightforward.

"...When Scottish undertaker Richard (David Tennant) is smitten with beautiful American tourist Barbara (Vinessa Shaw), he leaves his dull life behind and follows her back to Los Angeles. Thrown in at the deep end (and unable to drive), he discovers that life in Southern California is far from straightforward. A hilarious fish-out-of-water love story with some surprising guest stars including Johnny Depp, Anouk Aimée, Leningrad Cowboys, Amanda Plummer, Jerzy Skolimowski and Monte Hellman..."

"RiP! A Remix Manifesto", is the controversial feature that introduced the world to mash-up artist 'Girl Talk' and the 'Copyleft' movement.

"...Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers. The film’s central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride. A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film. With RiP! A Remix Manifesto, Gaylor and Girl Talk sound an urgent alarm and draw the lines of battle..."

"FLicKeR", director Nik Sheehan’s mind-expanding doc about the psychedelic 'dream machine', caught the imagination of notable artists including author William Burroughs and singer Iggy Pop.

"...The dream machine looks simple enough: A 100-watt light bulb, a motor, and a rotating cylinder with cutouts. Just sit in front of it, close your eyes, and wait for the visions to come. The dream machine offers a drugless high that its creator – poet, artist, calligrapher and mystic Brion Gysin – believed would revolutionize human consciousness. He wasn't alone. Kurt Cobain had a dream machine. And William S. Burroughs thought it could be used to “storm the citadels of enlightenment.” With a custom-made dream machine in tow, director Nik Sheehan takes a journey into the life of Brion Gysin – his art, his complex ideas, and his friendships with some of the 20th Century's key counterculture figures. Featuring Burroughs (in archival footage) singer Marianne Faithfull, singer/artist Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV, poet John Giorno, rocker Iggy Pop, filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and artist/turntablist DJ Spooky..."


"Tkaronto", from director Shane Belcourt is an 'Aboriginal indie', starring Dwayne Murray, Melanie McLaren and Lorne Cardinal.

"...Tkaronto is a provocative exploration of two Aboriginal thirty-somethings caught in the urban crossroads. Ray (Duane Murray) and Jolene (Melanie McLaren) discover an unexpected connection when their paths’ cross in Tkaronto (the original Mohawk word for “Toronto”). Ray, a Métis writer, has come to Toronto to pitch his TV series, Indian Jones, which is promising to be the big break Ray needs, especially with a pregnant girlfriend back home. Jolene, a Los Angeles-based Anishnabe painter, is passing through Toronto to conduct an interview with a prominent Elder Max (played by Corner Gas’s Lorne Cardinal) and is suddenly taken aback when Max presents her with an eagle feather, an honour that she feels unworthy of. For Jolene and Ray home feels very far away. But through their chance meeting they reveal their hopes, dreams, fears and failures and realize their common struggle: to stake claim to their urban aboriginal identity..."

"The State I Am In" is a gritty feature directed by Christian Petzold.

"...A couple with a terrorist past (Richy Müller and Barbara Auer) have been living on the run for 20 years and have a 15 year old daughter, Jeanne (Julia Hummer), who has never known a normal childhood. When their money is stolen, they are forced to return secretly from Portugal to their native Germany, undertaking a journey during which Jeanne’s teenage development coincides with the disintegration of the family cell..."


Summer 2009, KINOSMITH became the official DVD distribution partner of Toronto’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

The company has released more than 80 feature films in two years, with its current roster including theatrical releases "Unmistaken Child", "Delta", "Enlighten Up!", "Departures", "Little Ashes" and "Burma VJ".

Other current releases include Australian hit "Three Blind Mice", the Alberta Oil Sands documentary "H2Oil", Sarah Goodman's "When We Were Boys", the punk rock doc "Taqwacore", Paul Saltzman's "Prom Night In Missippi", Matt Bissonnette's "Passenger Side", Sean Garrity's "Zooey & Adam", Denis Delestrac's "Pax Americana" and Chris Smith's "Collapse".

KINOSMITH INC. is an independent Canadian film distribution & marketing company founded in February 2007 by distribution veteran Robin Smith. With a mandate to bring critically-acclaimed Canadian/international films to audiences across the country, the company also provides marketing advice to productions in development and in the can, currently acting as Executive Producer on a variety of upcoming Canadian feature films and television projects...