2014 BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters’ Lecture Series

Every year, BAFTA and BFI host a Screenwriters’ Lecture Series in London, England. This year's speakers were James Schamus (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Ice Storm) Emma Thompson (Sense And Sensibility, Nanny McPhee) and Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Eastern Promises).

They have made available the audio for each of the lectures, as well as provided transcriptions. These are linked below for all three talks.


James Schamus
Thursday 18 September, 7.00pm
BFI Southbank

James Schmaus is behind some of the most loved and critically acclaimed films of the last 25 years. His collaboration with director Ang Lee has resulted in 11 films; as a screenwriter, these include the Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), The Ice Storm (1997) and Lust, Caution (2007). As a producer Schamus’ credits include BAFTA Best Picture winner Brokeback Mountain (2005) and, during his extraordinary career as CEO of Focus Pictures, he helped steward Lost In Translation (2003), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Pianist (2002) and, most recently, Dallas Buyers Club (2013) to the big screen. Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice in Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Chaired by Tanya Seghatchian.

imagineNATIVE Announces Feature Films & Documentaries and The Witching Hour Program

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, with presenting sponsor Bell Media, announces the return of The Witching Hour: Late Night Shorts Program and the Festival’s feature length films and documentaries. Opening night of the festival will be, People’s Choice Award-winner at TIFF’s Midnight Madness, What We Do In The Shadows, on Wednesday, October 22 at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema with director, Taika Waititi in attendance.

The 15th anniversary of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival will present feature length films from October 22-26, 2014 such as Black Panther Woman, about Marlene Cummins, an Indigenous teen full of political conviction, becoming a member Brisbane’s chapter of the Black Panthers, one of many in Australia in the early 1970s. As part of the Australia Spotlight, on Sunday, October 26, this powerful film will reveal how many Indigenous women paid a hefty price for their loyalty to a cause they thought was about equality for all.

Thursday, October 23 holds the World Premiere of The Lodge, a stunning stop-motion animation adopting equal parts Goldilocks and the traditional Anishnaabe legend of the Dandelion. The Lodge challenges colonial concepts of savagery, critiques the de-humanizing of Indigenous peoples and explores the powerful medicine of our animal relations. Later that night, the deadliness of Russian winters reaches psychologically destructive new ground in the International Premiere of A White Day by director Michail Lukachevskyi of the Yakut Republic.

Tanya Tagaq’s Animism Wins The 2014 Polaris Music Prize

Animism by Tanya Tagaq was voted as the winner of the 2014 Polaris Music Prize tonight at The Carlu in Toronto. The winner was decided and announced during the 9th annual gala event. Tanya Tagaq was awarded a cash prize of $30,000. The winner was announced by the gala host, actor Jay Baruchel.

“We've been doing it our own way without backing down artistically or conforming, so to be recognized in this way and have so many people latch on makes me feel the world is tolerable. There's so much hurt in the world and within indigenous cultures with colonialism,” said Tanya Tagaq. “Canada is in a desperate need for repair and I think a lot of people are tired of living this way and just to have people understand where we're coming from makes me have hope that we can move forward and expose the true history of Canada.”

Animism was produced by Jesse Zubot (Dan Mangan, Fond of Tigers) with additional production by Juan Hernandez. The record features Michael Red (Low Indigo), a live programmer whose wild northern field recordings often serve as Tagaq’s de facto backing band, percussionist Jean Martin and opera singer Anna Pardo Canedo.Slaight Music awarded $2,000.00 to each of the runners up – Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat, Drake, Mac DeMarco, Jessy Lanza, Owen Pallett, Shad, Timber Timbre and YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. The gala was webcast live on AUX.tv and broadcast live on SiriusXM channels The Verge XM 173 and The Iceberg Sirius 161.

Call for submissions: fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company's Kitchen XII & Theatre Creators Reserve

Kitchen XII

Rage and Ecstasy: A Play Cycle by Emerging Asian Canadian Playwrights

Rage and Ecstasy is the title and theme of this year’s Kitchen Playwriting Unit for emerging Asian Canadian playwrights who are interested in honing their playwriting skills. This year the unit will be directed by Dramaturg Andrew Cheng, and will be working towards each participant creating their own original piece.

Call for submissions: 18th annual TIFF Kids International Film Festival

Submissions for the 18th annual TIFF Kids International Film Festival, running from April 7-19, 2015, are now open!

TIFF Kids is one of the largest children’s film festivals in the world! Presented each April, the festival offers a diverse slate of programming from Canada and around the globe, using the power of film not just to entertain children and parents but also to foster new ideas about the complex issues facing young people today.

Xavier Dolan's film Mommy selected as Canada's entry for 2015 Best Foreign Film Oscar

TELEFILM CANADA ANNOUNCES THAT XAVIER DOLAN’S MOMMY IS CANADA’S SELECTION FOR THE BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OSCAR IN 2015

Telefilm Canada, which chairs the pan-Canadian Oscar selection committee, is pleased to announce that the feature film Mommy, directed by Xavier Dolan, has been selected to represent Canada for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 87th Academy Awards, to be held in Hollywood on February 22, 2015.

“For the last several years, Canadian cinema has made waves at the Oscars with strong and audacious films,” said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “The 2015 Academy Awards is just as promising because the Oscar selection committee has chosen Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, which has had a brilliant career since its release. Canada has had five films in nomination for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in five years, which bodes well for Mommy, a work that has profoundly moved Canadian and international audiences. There’s no question that members of the Academy will be moved by the film as well.”

WGC's Writers Talking Feature Film presents free screening of The F Word (What If)

Writers Talking Feature Film, with Elan Mastai, "The F Word"

Don't miss the WGC's inaugural "Writers Talking Feature Film" event. Elan Mastai, writer of The F Word, will be interviewed by Michael McGowan, writer of Still Mine.

This intimate evening of conversation about the craft and art of the feature film will include a screening of The F Word (U.S. title: What If), starring Zoe Kazan & Daniel Radcliffe (still in movie theatres). And the on stage conversation will wrap with audience Q&A. It's a great opportunity to get the insiders' view of feature film writing with two very talented writers working in the business. The theatre has limited seating, so please RSVP as soon as possible.

43rd Festival du nouveau cinéma announces opening and closing films

The Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) is pleased to announce that The Good Lie (U.S.), directed by Philippe Falardeau, will kick off its 43rd edition, to be held in Montreal from October 8 to 19. The film will be preceded by Matthew Rankin’s short Mynarski Death Plummet (Quebec/Canada). The documentary feature The Salt of the Earth (Brazil/Italy/France), co-directed by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, will close the Festival on October 18.

The much-anticipated The Good Lie from director Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar, FNC 2011 closing film; Congorama, FNC 2006 opening film) will mark the opening of the 43rd edition on Wednesday, October 8, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts. The director’s first American feature follows refugees of Sudan’s civil war, universally known as “The Lost Boys,” as they struggle to forge new lives in America. The Good Lie stars Reese Witherspoon, Corey Stoll and Sudanese actors Arnold Oceng, Ger Duany, Emmanuel Jal and Kuoth Wiel, in a story of survival and triumph. The film will open in select theatres in Quebec later in October.

The screening will open with Matthew Rankin’s short film Mynarski Death Plummet, a visually surreal, phantasmagorical work tracking the final moments in the life of Andrew Mynarski, a World War II hero from Winnipeg.

Call for submissions: 2015 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Submit A Film To Hot Docs 2015 Festival

Hot Docs is now accepting submissions for the 2015 Festival! Newly revised submission guidelines and FAQs are available

Film submissions to Hot Docs 2015 are now open. Please note that deadlines and fees have changed from previous years. Please review the below before submitting a film.

Please consult the submissions FAQ page for additional information.

Call for submissions: Innoversity Summit Pitch Competition

BELL MEDIA PRESENTS THE INNOVERSITY SUMMIT PITCH COMPETITION

Bell Media presents The Innoversity Summit Pitch Competition - a unique media competition with a staggering amount of prizes in TV Scripted, TV Unscripted, feature film, short film and digital media. Prizes valued at over a quarter of a million dollars.

16 finalist teams are selected and coached to compete for a terrific array of prizes, including months of priceless private mentorships with media industry giants and face to face coaching by Canada’s top media professionals, who have won hundreds of international awards including the Emmy, Sundance, Berlin and the Peabody Award.

2014 Toronto International Film Festival awards – winners

TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2014 AWARD WINNERS

The Toronto International Film Festival® today announced award winners from the 39th Festival which wraps up this evening.

The short film awards below were selected by a jury comprised of Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List; Beth Sá Freire, deputy-director of the São Paulo International Short Film Festival; and visual artist Floria Sigismondi.

The Canadian Music Café at TIFF 2014

Among the many events taking place during TIFF involving music as well as film is the 6th Annual Canadian Music Café taking place September 8 and 9 at the Jazz Bistro. It features musical acts from across Canada and presents an opportunity for film industry professionals such as music supervisors, directors, producers and filmmakers to hear some up-and-coming musical talent.

The Canadian Music Café is a joint initiative produced by the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA), whose mandates are to support, exploit and advocate for the Canadian independent music community and Canadian publishers, respectively. The CMPA and CIMA gratefully acknowledge that the 2014 Canadian Music Café is made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

2014 Festival des films du monde / Montreal World Film Festival awards – winners

AWARDS OF THE WORLD FILM FESTIVAL – MONTREAL 2014

Jury
President : SERGIO CASTELLITTO, director and actor (Italy)
RACHID BOUCHAREB, director (France-Algeria)
ANDRÉANNE BOURNIVAL, cinéma professional (Canada)
FRIDRIK THOR FRIDRIKSSON, director and producer (Iceland)
ANA TORRENT, actress (Spain)
JANE ZHANG, singer and actress (China)