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TIFF 2012: Six minutes to win it in Pitch This feature film contest
Wednesday September 12th 2012Ian Harnarine’s microphone wasn’t yet working when he was called to the stage to pitch his film to a crowd of TIFF industry insiders.
About 200 people and jurors fidgeted in the TIFF Lightbox theatre as the clock ticked on his six minute pitch in the 13th-annual Telefilm Canada Pitch This! contest, where six teams pitch their feature film ideas for a chance to win $10,000.
“I thought that everyone was going to think I chickened out,” Harnarine said with a laugh.
But the technological snafu didn’t hurt his pitch – Harnarine’s first feature-length film, Doubles with Slight Pepper, won the coveted prize.
“I’m completely surprised but incredibly excited about what this means for the project,” the born and raised Torontonian said after his film won. “It raises its profile and legitimizes it to a certain extent.”
Harnarine’s film, which is adapted from his prize-winning short on a similar subject, deals with the relationship between a father in Toronto and his son in Trinidad. (Doubles are a Trinidadian street food as prevalent there as hot dogs are here, Harnarine joked in his pitch.)
In his film, the son and father are estranged, yet the father desperately needs his son to come to Toronto to save his life. The story delves into the son’s decision — will he help save the man absent all those years?
While not an autobiography, Harnarine got the idea for the project during his father’s terminal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I began to wonder what it would be like to just have met your father,” said the early-30s filmmaker, who studied physics at York University.
Harnarine hopes to raise about $1 million to complete the film, which is still in its early stages.
The jurors gave an honourable mention to Unwanted, Ed Barreveld and Rama Rau’s documentary about female feticide. Their emotional pitch looked at characters in India whose lives have been changed by the abortion of girl fetuses in pursuit of having a boy child, and the threats this poses to society.
While he didn’t win the top prize, Sol Friedman certainly won the loudest cheers for his animated pitch for Ivan & Evelyn. (And he got a few business cards afterward.) His was the first animated movie pitched at TIFF, which he joked would give it an advantage when it comes to awards.
Annie Bradley, Daniela Saioni, Marilla Wex and Nikki Payne garnered much laughter for their saucy pitch of The WBI (The Women’s Bureau of Information). The comedy follows a group of women, all involved with the same man, who create an online database to expose cheaters. “No men were harmed” in the making of the pitch.
Mila Aung-Thwin and Halima Ouardiri pitched Body, a film based on Ouardiri’s experience as the bodyguard for a Saudi princess.
Karolina Lewicka and Jon Gustafsson pitched Delirium B, the story of a man who tries to direct a musical in a small town. Disaster ensues.
Source: Toronto Star
Headline, Industry News
TIFF 2012: Six minutes to win it in Pitch This feature film contest
Wednesday September 12th 2012Ian Harnarine’s microphone wasn’t yet working when he was called to the stage to pitch his film to a crowd of TIFF industry insiders.
About 200 people and jurors fidgeted in the TIFF Lightbox theatre as the clock ticked on his six minute pitch in the 13th-annual Telefilm Canada Pitch This! contest, where six teams pitch their feature film ideas for a chance to win $10,000.
“I thought that everyone was going to think I chickened out,” Harnarine said with a laugh.
But the technological snafu didn’t hurt his pitch – Harnarine’s first feature-length film, Doubles with Slight Pepper, won the coveted prize.
“I’m completely surprised but incredibly excited about what this means for the project,” the born and raised Torontonian said after his film won. “It raises its profile and legitimizes it to a certain extent.”
Harnarine’s film, which is adapted from his prize-winning short on a similar subject, deals with the relationship between a father in Toronto and his son in Trinidad. (Doubles are a Trinidadian street food as prevalent there as hot dogs are here, Harnarine joked in his pitch.)
In his film, the son and father are estranged, yet the father desperately needs his son to come to Toronto to save his life. The story delves into the son’s decision — will he help save the man absent all those years?
While not an autobiography, Harnarine got the idea for the project during his father’s terminal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I began to wonder what it would be like to just have met your father,” said the early-30s filmmaker, who studied physics at York University.
Harnarine hopes to raise about $1 million to complete the film, which is still in its early stages.
The jurors gave an honourable mention to Unwanted, Ed Barreveld and Rama Rau’s documentary about female feticide. Their emotional pitch looked at characters in India whose lives have been changed by the abortion of girl fetuses in pursuit of having a boy child, and the threats this poses to society.
While he didn’t win the top prize, Sol Friedman certainly won the loudest cheers for his animated pitch for Ivan & Evelyn. (And he got a few business cards afterward.) His was the first animated movie pitched at TIFF, which he joked would give it an advantage when it comes to awards.
Annie Bradley, Daniela Saioni, Marilla Wex and Nikki Payne garnered much laughter for their saucy pitch of The WBI (The Women’s Bureau of Information). The comedy follows a group of women, all involved with the same man, who create an online database to expose cheaters. “No men were harmed” in the making of the pitch.
Mila Aung-Thwin and Halima Ouardiri pitched Body, a film based on Ouardiri’s experience as the bodyguard for a Saudi princess.
Karolina Lewicka and Jon Gustafsson pitched Delirium B, the story of a man who tries to direct a musical in a small town. Disaster ensues.
Source: Toronto Star
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Headline, Industry News
TIFF 2012: Six minutes to win it in Pitch This feature film contest
Wednesday September 12th 2012Ian Harnarine’s microphone wasn’t yet working when he was called to the stage to pitch his film to a crowd of TIFF industry insiders.
About 200 people and jurors fidgeted in the TIFF Lightbox theatre as the clock ticked on his six minute pitch in the 13th-annual Telefilm Canada Pitch This! contest, where six teams pitch their feature film ideas for a chance to win $10,000.
“I thought that everyone was going to think I chickened out,” Harnarine said with a laugh.
But the technological snafu didn’t hurt his pitch – Harnarine’s first feature-length film, Doubles with Slight Pepper, won the coveted prize.
“I’m completely surprised but incredibly excited about what this means for the project,” the born and raised Torontonian said after his film won. “It raises its profile and legitimizes it to a certain extent.”
Harnarine’s film, which is adapted from his prize-winning short on a similar subject, deals with the relationship between a father in Toronto and his son in Trinidad. (Doubles are a Trinidadian street food as prevalent there as hot dogs are here, Harnarine joked in his pitch.)
In his film, the son and father are estranged, yet the father desperately needs his son to come to Toronto to save his life. The story delves into the son’s decision — will he help save the man absent all those years?
While not an autobiography, Harnarine got the idea for the project during his father’s terminal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I began to wonder what it would be like to just have met your father,” said the early-30s filmmaker, who studied physics at York University.
Harnarine hopes to raise about $1 million to complete the film, which is still in its early stages.
The jurors gave an honourable mention to Unwanted, Ed Barreveld and Rama Rau’s documentary about female feticide. Their emotional pitch looked at characters in India whose lives have been changed by the abortion of girl fetuses in pursuit of having a boy child, and the threats this poses to society.
While he didn’t win the top prize, Sol Friedman certainly won the loudest cheers for his animated pitch for Ivan & Evelyn. (And he got a few business cards afterward.) His was the first animated movie pitched at TIFF, which he joked would give it an advantage when it comes to awards.
Annie Bradley, Daniela Saioni, Marilla Wex and Nikki Payne garnered much laughter for their saucy pitch of The WBI (The Women’s Bureau of Information). The comedy follows a group of women, all involved with the same man, who create an online database to expose cheaters. “No men were harmed” in the making of the pitch.
Mila Aung-Thwin and Halima Ouardiri pitched Body, a film based on Ouardiri’s experience as the bodyguard for a Saudi princess.
Karolina Lewicka and Jon Gustafsson pitched Delirium B, the story of a man who tries to direct a musical in a small town. Disaster ensues.
Source: Toronto Star
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