Exclusive: Lifetime has revealed its January and February movie slate that includes a ripped from the headlines movie about catfishing and another about multigenerational eating disorders. There’s also a flick abouta new mom who searches for the truth bout her missing newborn and another about the abduction of a Philadelphia nurse’s aide at the hands of a homicidal predator.
Inspired by real events, Girl in the Video follows the story of widowed mother Mo, whose daughter Krissy has begun chatting online with a closet predator who ends up kidnapping her and exploiting her in sexually abusive live streams on the dark web.
Girl in the Video airs Jan. 13 and is produced by ITN Productions for Lifetime. Ian Russell serves as executive producer. The film is written by Matthew Broughton and Neil Rawles directs.
Inspired by true events.
Inspired by real events, Girl in the Video follows the story of widowed mother Mo, whose daughter Krissy has begun chatting online with a closet predator who ends up kidnapping her and exploiting her in sexually abusive live streams on the dark web.
Girl in the Video airs Jan. 13 and is produced by ITN Productions for Lifetime. Ian Russell serves as executive producer. The film is written by Matthew Broughton and Neil Rawles directs.
Inspired by true events.
- 12/6/2023
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
Amazon and Hulu have swooped for Syfy comedy drama “Reginald the Vampire,” starring “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star Jacob Batalon.
The streamers have picked up the show for select territories, while Cineflix Rights has come on board as international distributor and will be shopping the 10-part series at next month’s MipTV market in Cannes. It’s produced by Thunderbird Entertainment-owned Great Pacific Media.
Hulu has acquired second-window U.S. rights to the series — co-produced with Modern Story, December Films and Cineflix Studios — while Amazon has bought streaming rights in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The show is in its final week of shooting and is slated for a summer premiere on Syfy.
Based on Johnny B. Truant’s “Fat Vampire” novels, the comedy-tinged drama stars Batalon as Reginald, a newly turned vampire who crashes into a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires. New on the scene,...
The streamers have picked up the show for select territories, while Cineflix Rights has come on board as international distributor and will be shopping the 10-part series at next month’s MipTV market in Cannes. It’s produced by Thunderbird Entertainment-owned Great Pacific Media.
Hulu has acquired second-window U.S. rights to the series — co-produced with Modern Story, December Films and Cineflix Studios — while Amazon has bought streaming rights in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The show is in its final week of shooting and is slated for a summer premiere on Syfy.
Based on Johnny B. Truant’s “Fat Vampire” novels, the comedy-tinged drama stars Batalon as Reginald, a newly turned vampire who crashes into a world populated by beautiful, fit and vain vampires. New on the scene,...
- 3/16/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Lifetime has set premiere dates for its fall movie slate, including its Highway to Heaven reboot with Jill Scott and Barry Watson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff with Heather Locklear and EP Meghan McCain, and List of a Lifetime, with Shannen Doherty and Kelly Hu, among others. As we previously reported., the anticipated Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace debuts on Labor Day, September 6 and the rest follow every weekend through November 6.
Full Fall schedule and descriptions below. All times at 8pm/7c.
Sept 6: Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace
(Sydney Morton, Jordan Dean)
Sept 18: Imperfect High
(Sherri Shepherd, Nia Sioux)
Sept 24: Dying to Marry Him
(Only on Lifetime Movie Club)
Oct 2: The Good Father: The Martin MacNeill Story
(Tom Everett Scott, Anwen O’ Driscoll, Charisma Carpenter, EP Nancy Grace)
Oct 9: Dying to Belong
(Shannen Doherty, Favour Onwuka, Jenika Rose)
Oct 10: List of a Lifetime
(Kelly Hu,...
Full Fall schedule and descriptions below. All times at 8pm/7c.
Sept 6: Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace
(Sydney Morton, Jordan Dean)
Sept 18: Imperfect High
(Sherri Shepherd, Nia Sioux)
Sept 24: Dying to Marry Him
(Only on Lifetime Movie Club)
Oct 2: The Good Father: The Martin MacNeill Story
(Tom Everett Scott, Anwen O’ Driscoll, Charisma Carpenter, EP Nancy Grace)
Oct 9: Dying to Belong
(Shannen Doherty, Favour Onwuka, Jenika Rose)
Oct 10: List of a Lifetime
(Kelly Hu,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
From VancouverFilm.Net, here is the Vancouver Film Production Update for November 2019, including "A Babysitters Guide To Monster Hunting", "Batwoman", "Resident Alien" and a whole lot more:
Feature Film
Grackle Bird
Local Production Company: Grackle Bird Productions Ltd.
Director: Robert Schwentke
Producer: Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Erik Howsam
Oct 15/19 - Dec 06/19
The Last Victim
Local Production Company: Tlv Productions LLC.
Director: Naveen Chathapuram
Producer: Naveen A. Chathapuram, Todd Berger, Charles Leslie, Graem Luis
Nov 04/19 - Nov 28/19
New Media Feature
A Babysitters Guide To Monster Hunting
Local Production Company: Double Double Productions Ulc.
Director: Rachel Talalay
Producer: Ivan Reitman, Amie Karp, Bob Huberman
Aug 29/19 - Nov 08/19
Christmas Chronicles 2
Local Production Company: Maple Syrup Productions Ulc.
Director: Chris Columbus
Producer: Mark Radclliffe
Oct 21/19 - Feb 01/20
Love, Guaranteed
Local Production Company: Love Guaranteed Productions Inc.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Producer: Chris Foss
Oct 21/19 - Nov 20/19
TV Movie
Alice In Winterland
Local Production Company: Alice Road Productions Ltd.
Feature Film
Grackle Bird
Local Production Company: Grackle Bird Productions Ltd.
Director: Robert Schwentke
Producer: Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Erik Howsam
Oct 15/19 - Dec 06/19
The Last Victim
Local Production Company: Tlv Productions LLC.
Director: Naveen Chathapuram
Producer: Naveen A. Chathapuram, Todd Berger, Charles Leslie, Graem Luis
Nov 04/19 - Nov 28/19
New Media Feature
A Babysitters Guide To Monster Hunting
Local Production Company: Double Double Productions Ulc.
Director: Rachel Talalay
Producer: Ivan Reitman, Amie Karp, Bob Huberman
Aug 29/19 - Nov 08/19
Christmas Chronicles 2
Local Production Company: Maple Syrup Productions Ulc.
Director: Chris Columbus
Producer: Mark Radclliffe
Oct 21/19 - Feb 01/20
Love, Guaranteed
Local Production Company: Love Guaranteed Productions Inc.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Producer: Chris Foss
Oct 21/19 - Nov 20/19
TV Movie
Alice In Winterland
Local Production Company: Alice Road Productions Ltd.
- 11/2/2019
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
On the heels of Telefilm Canada’s pledge on November 11 that half of its projects will be directed or written by women in a move to close the industry gender gap by 2020, the Whistler Film Festival (Nov 30 — Dec 4) was proud to present an unprecedented number of female focused films, talent, events and awards throughout its 2016 programs.
The festival featured a record 31 (36%) films all directed by women (including 15 feature films out of 50 and 16 short films out of 36). Wff also has 38 (58%) female filmmakers out of the 66 Canadian artists confirmed to date participating in 11 talent programs — including 22 directors, 6 producers, 3 screenwriters, 2 actors, and 5 musicians/bands in the Music Showcase. Add this to the talent confirmed to attend the festival in support of their films and projects, including award winning director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta (An Anatomy Of Violence), director Ingrid Veninger (Hockey Night), director Kirsten Carthew (The Sun At Midnight) and director Martine Blue...
The festival featured a record 31 (36%) films all directed by women (including 15 feature films out of 50 and 16 short films out of 36). Wff also has 38 (58%) female filmmakers out of the 66 Canadian artists confirmed to date participating in 11 talent programs — including 22 directors, 6 producers, 3 screenwriters, 2 actors, and 5 musicians/bands in the Music Showcase. Add this to the talent confirmed to attend the festival in support of their films and projects, including award winning director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta (An Anatomy Of Violence), director Ingrid Veninger (Hockey Night), director Kirsten Carthew (The Sun At Midnight) and director Martine Blue...
- 12/7/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Toronto engagement for Siobhan Devine's family drama The Birdwatcher begins at the Carlton Imagine Cinema on November 18th. Devine will be coming to town to attend opening weekend screenings of her feature film debut. ScreenAnarchy has an exclusive clip to share with you which you can watch below. In the clip it looks early on in the film and Saffron is checking out her tent. There would appear to still be a lot of distance between her and her birth mother. Saffron (Camille Sullivan) is a dying single-mom with limited options for her two children. Her sole biological kin is a misanthropic ornithologist (Gabrielle Rose above) who gave her up for adoption at birth and avoided contact thereafter. A social worker, Saffron knows the...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 11/7/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Eight women directors from across Canada have been selected to attend the 20th annual session of Women In the Director’s Chair (Widc), which includes the pilot program, Widc Story & Leadership. Over the coming months this top-notch group of content creators will develop their feature films and web series, working with an ensemble of hand-picked professional actors, technicians and other industry experts. A major component of the program takes the form of an Industry Immersion at the 15th anniversary Whistler Film Festival (December 2-6), and culminates with a three-month mentorship tailored to advance each director’s project.
Mounting their sophomore feature films are East coast favorites, Mary Walsh ("A Christmas Fury," based on the characters from the riotously-funny TV series "Hatching, Matching and Dispatching"), Anita Reilly McGee ("Black Mammy"), and Widc Feature Film Award-winner, Jordan Canning ("Suck It Up"). Weaving fiction into their prolific body of documentary works from Ontario are, Maya Gallus ("Nights in the Underground"), and Frances-Anne Solomon ("Hero"). Also from Ontario is Nicole Dorsey , developing a debut feature "Black Conflux," along with BC-based actress Ana De Lara ("The Virgin Mary Had a Little Lamb"). Multiple award-winner Marie Clements is developing a new interactive web series "Crooked Bones," based on the true story of First Nations artist, Connie Watts.
"Widc understands that being committed to bringing women’s voices to the screen means investing in the storyteller. Not simply as a “one off” but as a continued partnership between stakeholders who recognize that the development of skill, process, and creation has lasting and profound value,” states Metis actor/ writer/director, Marie Clements. “I am honored to be in this year’s Story & Leadership Program with some of Canada’s most talented and innovative filmmakers."
Award-winning director Rachel Talalay ("Dr. Who," "Tank Girl") will be one of this year’s key mentors focusing on directing action. This year’s line up also includes peer mentors, award-winning Widc alumnae, writer/directors Siobhan Devine ("The Birdwatcher," which premieres at the Whistler Film Festival), and web series creator Karen Lam ("Mythos"), along with popular Widc instructors, writer and Jungian expert, Dr. Carolyn Mamchur , and screen-writer / story consultant Linda Coffey ("These Arms of Mine"). Industry guests include, John Galway (Harold Greenberg Fund), Maureen Levitt , (Super Channel), independent producer, Lael McCall , (Principia Productions), and Telefilm Canada’s Lauren Davis .
“Taking part in this Widc workshop makes me excited about the possibility of someday having television and film represent the perspectives of women, “ states Mary Walsh, a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts. “Although women make up 51% of the Canadian population, they comprise less than 20% of the directors and screenwriters working in Canadian Film.”
The Women In the Director’s Chair (Widc) program has earned an international reputation for propelling over two hundred Canadian women directors’ skills, stories and careers to the next level of excellence. Creative Women Workshops Association, The Banff Centre and Actra (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) have been Widc collaborators, and Telefilm Canada has been a major sponsor since the program’s 1997 inception. Widc and the Whistler Film Festival collaborate again through the Widc Wff Industry Immersion.
The Festival’s online box office is now open for Industry Passes, Festival Passes and Ticket Packages allowing you to select your films in advance and share them with friends and family.
New for 2015 , Wff has introduced a Festival Credential that provides access to the Music Café, ShortWork Showdown and Festival Lodge, and is included in select ticket packages if purchased by October 31.
Air travel and ground transportation deals as well as best accommodation rates starting from $89 per night are now available. The Westin Whistler Resort and Spa is Wff’s official host hotel. Wff has 20 accommodation partners to choose from that offer special rates to Whistler Film Festival attendees. Book your accommodation early to ensure your perfect match and price. For information, go to whistlerfilmfestival.com.
Mounting their sophomore feature films are East coast favorites, Mary Walsh ("A Christmas Fury," based on the characters from the riotously-funny TV series "Hatching, Matching and Dispatching"), Anita Reilly McGee ("Black Mammy"), and Widc Feature Film Award-winner, Jordan Canning ("Suck It Up"). Weaving fiction into their prolific body of documentary works from Ontario are, Maya Gallus ("Nights in the Underground"), and Frances-Anne Solomon ("Hero"). Also from Ontario is Nicole Dorsey , developing a debut feature "Black Conflux," along with BC-based actress Ana De Lara ("The Virgin Mary Had a Little Lamb"). Multiple award-winner Marie Clements is developing a new interactive web series "Crooked Bones," based on the true story of First Nations artist, Connie Watts.
"Widc understands that being committed to bringing women’s voices to the screen means investing in the storyteller. Not simply as a “one off” but as a continued partnership between stakeholders who recognize that the development of skill, process, and creation has lasting and profound value,” states Metis actor/ writer/director, Marie Clements. “I am honored to be in this year’s Story & Leadership Program with some of Canada’s most talented and innovative filmmakers."
Award-winning director Rachel Talalay ("Dr. Who," "Tank Girl") will be one of this year’s key mentors focusing on directing action. This year’s line up also includes peer mentors, award-winning Widc alumnae, writer/directors Siobhan Devine ("The Birdwatcher," which premieres at the Whistler Film Festival), and web series creator Karen Lam ("Mythos"), along with popular Widc instructors, writer and Jungian expert, Dr. Carolyn Mamchur , and screen-writer / story consultant Linda Coffey ("These Arms of Mine"). Industry guests include, John Galway (Harold Greenberg Fund), Maureen Levitt , (Super Channel), independent producer, Lael McCall , (Principia Productions), and Telefilm Canada’s Lauren Davis .
“Taking part in this Widc workshop makes me excited about the possibility of someday having television and film represent the perspectives of women, “ states Mary Walsh, a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts. “Although women make up 51% of the Canadian population, they comprise less than 20% of the directors and screenwriters working in Canadian Film.”
The Women In the Director’s Chair (Widc) program has earned an international reputation for propelling over two hundred Canadian women directors’ skills, stories and careers to the next level of excellence. Creative Women Workshops Association, The Banff Centre and Actra (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) have been Widc collaborators, and Telefilm Canada has been a major sponsor since the program’s 1997 inception. Widc and the Whistler Film Festival collaborate again through the Widc Wff Industry Immersion.
The Festival’s online box office is now open for Industry Passes, Festival Passes and Ticket Packages allowing you to select your films in advance and share them with friends and family.
New for 2015 , Wff has introduced a Festival Credential that provides access to the Music Café, ShortWork Showdown and Festival Lodge, and is included in select ticket packages if purchased by October 31.
Air travel and ground transportation deals as well as best accommodation rates starting from $89 per night are now available. The Westin Whistler Resort and Spa is Wff’s official host hotel. Wff has 20 accommodation partners to choose from that offer special rates to Whistler Film Festival attendees. Book your accommodation early to ensure your perfect match and price. For information, go to whistlerfilmfestival.com.
- 10/15/2015
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
The 15th anniversary of what's considered ‘Canada's coolest film festival' is rapidly approaching. The 2015 Whistler Film Festival (Wff) will take place December 2 to 6 with new films, special guests, industry connections, great events and time to enjoy on of North America’s premiere mountain resort destinations. Wff has announced its first 18 confirmed films, plus industry and event programming highlights.
The Whistler Film Festival combines an international film competition with a focused industry Summit dedicated to the art and business of filmmaking in the digital age. Featuring over 80 innovative and original films from around the world and opportunities to connect with the people who made them, this year’s fest will be filled with a solid lineup of premieres, honored guests, lively celebrations, and unique industry initiatives.
Wff’s Director of Programming and industry veteran Paul Gratton had this to say about the 2015 lineup confirmed to date: “The Whistler Film Festival continues to be a must-attend event for hip, young, film buffs and emerging filmmakers, and we are pleased to carve out our own unique niche by offering an impressive selection of Canadian premieres. This year's titles cast a wide net in terms of subject matter, and our Summit will complement our film programming by addressing key challenges and opportunities facing the industry this year. WFF15 has something for everyone. "While our final line-up of titles is far from complete, early programming trends suggest a very strong year for female directors and innovative new voices from young directors hoping to find new ways of telling stories and connecting with audiences.”
A great example of innovation will be the World Premiere screening of Daniel Robinson's "Nestor," the first narrative feature ever made by one person, who wrote, produced, directed, edited and stars in this compelling tale of outdoor survival.
Another example of seeking out new narrative approaches, and leading this year's women directors present at Whistler, is Diy queen Ingrid Veninger’s latest "He Hated Pigeons" about a young man pushed to the border of sanity as he steps into manhood. Shot in South America, the film is designed to support a spontaneous live score to be performed during the screening. In other words, each screening will evoke different responses depending on the approach taken by the live musicians accompanying the showing. Other female directed highlights coming to Whistler include the World Premiere of Vancouver filmmaker Melanie Jones' "Fsm," a contemporary study of a female DJ trying to find love in a world of technological innovation and all-night raves.
Continuing its love of quirky musicals, Wff will present the Western Canadian premiere of Jude Klassen’s debut feature film "Love in the Sixth," an unromantic musical comedy of “enviromantic” angst. Another Canadian Premiere is Valerie Weiss' "A Lights Beneath Their Feet," a superb study of the mutually dependent relationship between a young student hoping to leave home for college and her bipolar mother who can't cope with the thought of letting her go. Taryn Manning, Maddie Hasson and Madison Davenport lead the cast. Another moving look at mother/daughter relationships can be found in the World Premiere of Siobhan Devine’s "The Birdwatcher," a family drama about a mother and daughter reconnecting starring WFF14 Rising Star Camille Sullivan and Gabrielle Rose.
Jeremy Lalonde's "How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town," featuring Lauren Holly and Katharine Isabelle; and Sergio Navarretta's "The Colossal Failure of the Modern Relationship," set during a mouth-watering winetasting tour of the Niagara region; focus on the challenge of maintaining interpersonal relationships. Darker still is the Canadian Premiere of Josh Hope's "The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man," in which a disillusioned young man decides to visit his past to see where it all went wrong. Brian Stockton's "The Sabbatical" is a comedic look at a photography professor's mid-life crisis and a young artist who rekindles the lost spirit of his youth, and Matthew Yim's "Basic Human Needs" follows a young couple whose plans to get out of Regina are thwarted by a missing prophylactic.
BC's own Fred Ewanuick stars as a man who can see two minutes into the future in Vancouver filmmaker O. Corbin Saleken's first feature "Patterson's Wager."
BC based genre specialist Jeffery Lando will be gracing the late night screens with the Western Canadian Premiere of his latest horror work "Suspension." John Ainslie will be unveiling the World premiere of his tense psychological thriller "The Sublet," about a new mother unraveling psychologically after and she and her fiance move into a sublet apartment, featuring Vancouver actress Tianna Nori in the lead.
On the documentary front, Wff will be presenting the North American premiere of Jan Foukal's "Amerika," a lyrical look at a unique Eastern European phenomenon known as 'tramping', as Vancouver-based Barbara Adler takes us on a mission into the mountains and the forests of the Czech Republic where she encounters social dropouts who choose to live what they consider to be a North American back-to-the-wilderness lifestyle. "Last Harvest," from director Jane Hui Wang, is a Canadian documentary feature that looks at an elderly Chinese couple forced to relocate by the government to make way for a mammoth water diversion project. Also, on the international front, Whistler is proud to present the Canadian Premiere of "Blood Cells" by Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore about a lost man wandering through the British countryside, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
As always, Whistler is pleased to feature the best of Quebec cinema, and this year the festival has two titles already lined up. Bernard Emond's "Diary of an Old Man" is a deeply moving adaptation of an Anton Chekov story about an old man fighting feelings of bitterness despite his privileged life as an academic, starring Paul Savoie in a Canada Screen Awards worthy performance. Finally, a haunting look at childhood innocence, at risk from the evils of an outside world is Philippe Lesage's "The Demons" starring Pascale Bussières and Laurent Lucas, about a tight-knit small-town community beset by a child serial killer.
Celebrating its 12th edition in 2015, Wff’s coveted Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature honors independent vision, original directorial style and the diversity of talent found in Canadian independent film. New for 2015, all Canadian feature films in the festival with Western Canadian premiere status will be included in the Borsos Competition and there is no longer a six film restriction to the number that can compete. An international jury of three will decide on four awards including a $15,000 Cdn prize.
Wff’s slate of special events confirmed to date include the Opening and Closing Galas, Signature Series including the Pandora Tribute and Variety 10 Screenwriters to Watch In Conversation, ShortWork Showdown, Awards Brunch and a grand15th Anniversary Celebration, with more to come.
New for 2015, Wff introduces the L’Oreal Mens Expert Bobsleigh Race on December 3 at the Whistler Sliding Centre, one of the fastest tracks in the world, where celebrities, filmmakers, VIP guests and corporate teams will experience the thrill of a lifetime reaching speeds up to 125 km per hour. And the adrenaline continues to flow with Wff’s annual Columbia Celebrity Challenge on December 5, with corporate teams and festival guests joining the stars of the screen and the stars of the slopes in a fun, guess your time, dual slalom race on Whistler Mountain. Proceeds from these fun-raising” events will support Wff’s annual programs for Canadian artists, including the industry initiatives, labs and festival.
Film meets music at Wff’s Music Café, which has expanded to two days to include an evening showcase on December 4, and daytime showcase and dedicated industry panel on December 5, with the possibility of additional performances during the festival. Up to 10 export-ready British Columbia songwriters and artists from across the musical spectrum will be selected to each play a live 20-minute set and meet with key international music and film executives and delegates attending the festival.
Wff's Industry Summit will feature three concentrated days of business programs and networking that address the business and future of Canadian film, locally and in the international marketplace, as well as the ever-changing landscape of filmmaking in the digital age. Featuring over 20 interactive sessions, Wff's Summit is designed to provide practical business and creative intel, and foster business collaborations for filmmakers and deal-makers. Offering in-depth conversations, lively debates and critical insight into a broad range of issues vital to the domestic and international film communities while addressing crossing borders and platforms, Whistler is the place to be, connect and deal this December. 1,000 delegates are expected to attend.
The Whistler Summit directly connects to Wff’s slate of project development programs designed to provide creative and business immersion experiences for Canadian artists including the Feature Project Lab, Praxis Screenwriters Lab, Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship and Music Café. Wff also collaborates with several industry organizations by hosting specific third party initiatives at the Whistler Summit including the Variety 10 Screenwriters to Watch, Women in the Directors Chair Industry Immersion, Women in Film & Television Film Market Preparation Mentorship, and the Mppia Short Film Award Pitch with the Motion Picture Production Industry Association and Creative BC. Application details and information for all Wff industry and project development programs are available at whistlerfilmfestival.com.
The Whistler Film Festival combines an international film competition with a focused industry Summit dedicated to the art and business of filmmaking in the digital age. Featuring over 80 innovative and original films from around the world and opportunities to connect with the people who made them, this year’s fest will be filled with a solid lineup of premieres, honored guests, lively celebrations, and unique industry initiatives.
Wff’s Director of Programming and industry veteran Paul Gratton had this to say about the 2015 lineup confirmed to date: “The Whistler Film Festival continues to be a must-attend event for hip, young, film buffs and emerging filmmakers, and we are pleased to carve out our own unique niche by offering an impressive selection of Canadian premieres. This year's titles cast a wide net in terms of subject matter, and our Summit will complement our film programming by addressing key challenges and opportunities facing the industry this year. WFF15 has something for everyone. "While our final line-up of titles is far from complete, early programming trends suggest a very strong year for female directors and innovative new voices from young directors hoping to find new ways of telling stories and connecting with audiences.”
A great example of innovation will be the World Premiere screening of Daniel Robinson's "Nestor," the first narrative feature ever made by one person, who wrote, produced, directed, edited and stars in this compelling tale of outdoor survival.
Another example of seeking out new narrative approaches, and leading this year's women directors present at Whistler, is Diy queen Ingrid Veninger’s latest "He Hated Pigeons" about a young man pushed to the border of sanity as he steps into manhood. Shot in South America, the film is designed to support a spontaneous live score to be performed during the screening. In other words, each screening will evoke different responses depending on the approach taken by the live musicians accompanying the showing. Other female directed highlights coming to Whistler include the World Premiere of Vancouver filmmaker Melanie Jones' "Fsm," a contemporary study of a female DJ trying to find love in a world of technological innovation and all-night raves.
Continuing its love of quirky musicals, Wff will present the Western Canadian premiere of Jude Klassen’s debut feature film "Love in the Sixth," an unromantic musical comedy of “enviromantic” angst. Another Canadian Premiere is Valerie Weiss' "A Lights Beneath Their Feet," a superb study of the mutually dependent relationship between a young student hoping to leave home for college and her bipolar mother who can't cope with the thought of letting her go. Taryn Manning, Maddie Hasson and Madison Davenport lead the cast. Another moving look at mother/daughter relationships can be found in the World Premiere of Siobhan Devine’s "The Birdwatcher," a family drama about a mother and daughter reconnecting starring WFF14 Rising Star Camille Sullivan and Gabrielle Rose.
Jeremy Lalonde's "How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town," featuring Lauren Holly and Katharine Isabelle; and Sergio Navarretta's "The Colossal Failure of the Modern Relationship," set during a mouth-watering winetasting tour of the Niagara region; focus on the challenge of maintaining interpersonal relationships. Darker still is the Canadian Premiere of Josh Hope's "The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man," in which a disillusioned young man decides to visit his past to see where it all went wrong. Brian Stockton's "The Sabbatical" is a comedic look at a photography professor's mid-life crisis and a young artist who rekindles the lost spirit of his youth, and Matthew Yim's "Basic Human Needs" follows a young couple whose plans to get out of Regina are thwarted by a missing prophylactic.
BC's own Fred Ewanuick stars as a man who can see two minutes into the future in Vancouver filmmaker O. Corbin Saleken's first feature "Patterson's Wager."
BC based genre specialist Jeffery Lando will be gracing the late night screens with the Western Canadian Premiere of his latest horror work "Suspension." John Ainslie will be unveiling the World premiere of his tense psychological thriller "The Sublet," about a new mother unraveling psychologically after and she and her fiance move into a sublet apartment, featuring Vancouver actress Tianna Nori in the lead.
On the documentary front, Wff will be presenting the North American premiere of Jan Foukal's "Amerika," a lyrical look at a unique Eastern European phenomenon known as 'tramping', as Vancouver-based Barbara Adler takes us on a mission into the mountains and the forests of the Czech Republic where she encounters social dropouts who choose to live what they consider to be a North American back-to-the-wilderness lifestyle. "Last Harvest," from director Jane Hui Wang, is a Canadian documentary feature that looks at an elderly Chinese couple forced to relocate by the government to make way for a mammoth water diversion project. Also, on the international front, Whistler is proud to present the Canadian Premiere of "Blood Cells" by Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore about a lost man wandering through the British countryside, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
As always, Whistler is pleased to feature the best of Quebec cinema, and this year the festival has two titles already lined up. Bernard Emond's "Diary of an Old Man" is a deeply moving adaptation of an Anton Chekov story about an old man fighting feelings of bitterness despite his privileged life as an academic, starring Paul Savoie in a Canada Screen Awards worthy performance. Finally, a haunting look at childhood innocence, at risk from the evils of an outside world is Philippe Lesage's "The Demons" starring Pascale Bussières and Laurent Lucas, about a tight-knit small-town community beset by a child serial killer.
Celebrating its 12th edition in 2015, Wff’s coveted Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature honors independent vision, original directorial style and the diversity of talent found in Canadian independent film. New for 2015, all Canadian feature films in the festival with Western Canadian premiere status will be included in the Borsos Competition and there is no longer a six film restriction to the number that can compete. An international jury of three will decide on four awards including a $15,000 Cdn prize.
Wff’s slate of special events confirmed to date include the Opening and Closing Galas, Signature Series including the Pandora Tribute and Variety 10 Screenwriters to Watch In Conversation, ShortWork Showdown, Awards Brunch and a grand15th Anniversary Celebration, with more to come.
New for 2015, Wff introduces the L’Oreal Mens Expert Bobsleigh Race on December 3 at the Whistler Sliding Centre, one of the fastest tracks in the world, where celebrities, filmmakers, VIP guests and corporate teams will experience the thrill of a lifetime reaching speeds up to 125 km per hour. And the adrenaline continues to flow with Wff’s annual Columbia Celebrity Challenge on December 5, with corporate teams and festival guests joining the stars of the screen and the stars of the slopes in a fun, guess your time, dual slalom race on Whistler Mountain. Proceeds from these fun-raising” events will support Wff’s annual programs for Canadian artists, including the industry initiatives, labs and festival.
Film meets music at Wff’s Music Café, which has expanded to two days to include an evening showcase on December 4, and daytime showcase and dedicated industry panel on December 5, with the possibility of additional performances during the festival. Up to 10 export-ready British Columbia songwriters and artists from across the musical spectrum will be selected to each play a live 20-minute set and meet with key international music and film executives and delegates attending the festival.
Wff's Industry Summit will feature three concentrated days of business programs and networking that address the business and future of Canadian film, locally and in the international marketplace, as well as the ever-changing landscape of filmmaking in the digital age. Featuring over 20 interactive sessions, Wff's Summit is designed to provide practical business and creative intel, and foster business collaborations for filmmakers and deal-makers. Offering in-depth conversations, lively debates and critical insight into a broad range of issues vital to the domestic and international film communities while addressing crossing borders and platforms, Whistler is the place to be, connect and deal this December. 1,000 delegates are expected to attend.
The Whistler Summit directly connects to Wff’s slate of project development programs designed to provide creative and business immersion experiences for Canadian artists including the Feature Project Lab, Praxis Screenwriters Lab, Aboriginal Filmmaker Fellowship and Music Café. Wff also collaborates with several industry organizations by hosting specific third party initiatives at the Whistler Summit including the Variety 10 Screenwriters to Watch, Women in the Directors Chair Industry Immersion, Women in Film & Television Film Market Preparation Mentorship, and the Mppia Short Film Award Pitch with the Motion Picture Production Industry Association and Creative BC. Application details and information for all Wff industry and project development programs are available at whistlerfilmfestival.com.
- 9/7/2015
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
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