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Whistler Film Festival gunning to become Canada’s answer to Sundance
Thursday November 22nd 2012If there was any doubt this was going to be a magical 12th birthday for the Whistler Film Festival it vanished with the news that Harry Potter would be materializing.
Daniel Radcliffe, who just finished shooting The F-word in Toronto – a movie based on the play Toothpaste and Cigars by Vancouverites TJ Dawe and Michael Rinaldi – is taking part in a special Q&A session Nov. 30 at this year’s Whistler’s Festival, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.
With a program to put together multimillion dollar deals with Chinese filmmakers, and the country’s second-biggest prize for new Canadian films, Whistler seems to be gunning to become Canada’s answer Sundance, the little indie event no one in the industry can afford to miss.
No wonder the showbiz paper Variety is dedicating a special issue to this year’s event.
Whistler’s Chinese Canadian Gateway program has the potential to launch something genuinely epic. A dozen Canadian writer-producer teams are pitching story ideas to three Chinese studios and there’s up to $15 million in production financing up for grabs.
The numbers are smaller, but the stakes are equally high for the eight films in this year’s Borsos competition honouring new Canadian films. Named for the late Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos (The Grey Fox), the award carries a $15,000 cash prize – the second-largest purse for a new Canadian film after the one offered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The jury includes producer Martin Katz, veteran actress and director Helen Shaver and actors Rachelle Lefevre (Barney’s Version) and Liane Balaban (One Week). This year the festival is adding a new award for Best Performance in a Borsos Competition Film.
The festival is also presenting an award for best documentary. The jurors are the Sundance Institute’s Bird Runningwater, actress Sarain Boylan (Rookie Blue) and Brian D. Johnson, longtime movie critic for Maclean’s.
Also being honoured at this year’s festival are Rashida Jones (The Office), who is receiving the Trailblazer Award for Acting & Scriptwriting in an event being hosted by Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos; and Eric Beckman, founder and CEO of GKIDS, who’s receiving the festival’s Trailblazer in Animation Award.
The festival kicks off Nov. 28 with two big events – the gala premiere of Michael McGowan’s Still and the fest’s first Midnight Madness screening, the local launch of American Mary by North Vancouver’s writer-director duo Sylvia and Jen Soska. The closing gala The Sheepdogs Have at It features Rolling Stone’s Saskatoon cover boys, The Sheepdogs.
Source: Vancouver Sun
Front Page, Industry News
Whistler Film Festival gunning to become Canada’s answer to Sundance
Thursday November 22nd 2012If there was any doubt this was going to be a magical 12th birthday for the Whistler Film Festival it vanished with the news that Harry Potter would be materializing.
Daniel Radcliffe, who just finished shooting The F-word in Toronto – a movie based on the play Toothpaste and Cigars by Vancouverites TJ Dawe and Michael Rinaldi – is taking part in a special Q&A session Nov. 30 at this year’s Whistler’s Festival, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.
With a program to put together multimillion dollar deals with Chinese filmmakers, and the country’s second-biggest prize for new Canadian films, Whistler seems to be gunning to become Canada’s answer Sundance, the little indie event no one in the industry can afford to miss.
No wonder the showbiz paper Variety is dedicating a special issue to this year’s event.
Whistler’s Chinese Canadian Gateway program has the potential to launch something genuinely epic. A dozen Canadian writer-producer teams are pitching story ideas to three Chinese studios and there’s up to $15 million in production financing up for grabs.
The numbers are smaller, but the stakes are equally high for the eight films in this year’s Borsos competition honouring new Canadian films. Named for the late Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos (The Grey Fox), the award carries a $15,000 cash prize – the second-largest purse for a new Canadian film after the one offered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The jury includes producer Martin Katz, veteran actress and director Helen Shaver and actors Rachelle Lefevre (Barney’s Version) and Liane Balaban (One Week). This year the festival is adding a new award for Best Performance in a Borsos Competition Film.
The festival is also presenting an award for best documentary. The jurors are the Sundance Institute’s Bird Runningwater, actress Sarain Boylan (Rookie Blue) and Brian D. Johnson, longtime movie critic for Maclean’s.
Also being honoured at this year’s festival are Rashida Jones (The Office), who is receiving the Trailblazer Award for Acting & Scriptwriting in an event being hosted by Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos; and Eric Beckman, founder and CEO of GKIDS, who’s receiving the festival’s Trailblazer in Animation Award.
The festival kicks off Nov. 28 with two big events – the gala premiere of Michael McGowan’s Still and the fest’s first Midnight Madness screening, the local launch of American Mary by North Vancouver’s writer-director duo Sylvia and Jen Soska. The closing gala The Sheepdogs Have at It features Rolling Stone’s Saskatoon cover boys, The Sheepdogs.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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Front Page, Industry News
Whistler Film Festival gunning to become Canada’s answer to Sundance
Thursday November 22nd 2012If there was any doubt this was going to be a magical 12th birthday for the Whistler Film Festival it vanished with the news that Harry Potter would be materializing.
Daniel Radcliffe, who just finished shooting The F-word in Toronto – a movie based on the play Toothpaste and Cigars by Vancouverites TJ Dawe and Michael Rinaldi – is taking part in a special Q&A session Nov. 30 at this year’s Whistler’s Festival, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.
With a program to put together multimillion dollar deals with Chinese filmmakers, and the country’s second-biggest prize for new Canadian films, Whistler seems to be gunning to become Canada’s answer Sundance, the little indie event no one in the industry can afford to miss.
No wonder the showbiz paper Variety is dedicating a special issue to this year’s event.
Whistler’s Chinese Canadian Gateway program has the potential to launch something genuinely epic. A dozen Canadian writer-producer teams are pitching story ideas to three Chinese studios and there’s up to $15 million in production financing up for grabs.
The numbers are smaller, but the stakes are equally high for the eight films in this year’s Borsos competition honouring new Canadian films. Named for the late Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos (The Grey Fox), the award carries a $15,000 cash prize – the second-largest purse for a new Canadian film after the one offered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The jury includes producer Martin Katz, veteran actress and director Helen Shaver and actors Rachelle Lefevre (Barney’s Version) and Liane Balaban (One Week). This year the festival is adding a new award for Best Performance in a Borsos Competition Film.
The festival is also presenting an award for best documentary. The jurors are the Sundance Institute’s Bird Runningwater, actress Sarain Boylan (Rookie Blue) and Brian D. Johnson, longtime movie critic for Maclean’s.
Also being honoured at this year’s festival are Rashida Jones (The Office), who is receiving the Trailblazer Award for Acting & Scriptwriting in an event being hosted by Variety executive editor Steven Gaydos; and Eric Beckman, founder and CEO of GKIDS, who’s receiving the festival’s Trailblazer in Animation Award.
The festival kicks off Nov. 28 with two big events – the gala premiere of Michael McGowan’s Still and the fest’s first Midnight Madness screening, the local launch of American Mary by North Vancouver’s writer-director duo Sylvia and Jen Soska. The closing gala The Sheepdogs Have at It features Rolling Stone’s Saskatoon cover boys, The Sheepdogs.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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