Kayak adventure documentary Soul of the Sea, directed by Winnipeg filmmaker Ivan Hughes and producer Angela Heck (NSI Features First), will screen on Tuesday, May 29, 7:30 p.m. at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg.

Sistema is a short documentary that follows three directors from the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO) in Canada as they explore how Venezuela has developed the world’s largest export of professional classical musicians.

Best Director – Fiction 
Long Branch – producer: Jordan Gross (NSI Totally Television)

Short Subject
Oliver Bump’s Birthday - director: Jordan Canning (NSI Drama Prize)

Best Short Drama
Alchemy and Other Imperfections – Heather Lindsay, producer (NSI Totally Television)

Best Cinematography in a Short Drama
Le Jeu des Soldats – Amy Belling (NSI Features First)

Best Music, Comedy, or Variety Program or Series
Hiccups - Brent Butt, Nancy Robertson, David Storey, Laura Lightbown (NSI Global Marketing), Arvi Liimatainen – producers (NSI Global Marketing)

Best Direction in a Music, Comedy, or Variety Program or Series
Todd and The Book of Pure Evil – Jungle Fever – David Winning (this series was developed through NSI Totally Television)

Best Performance in a Music, Comedy, or Variety Program or Series
Less Than Kind – March Forth – Benjamin Arthur (this series was developed through NSI Totally Television)

Our Bite Comedy Month (in honour of the new award provided by Bite) draws to a close this week in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

In Tucker, directed by Zia Marashi, Sara throws a party, has sex and within minutes the child is born!

With every passing minute the child ages much faster than usual. Tasked with being a single mom, Sara experiences every stage of motherhood and it becomes obvious she is the one who is growing up.

Zia says, ‘The script of Tucker was originally a slapstick comedy which I would compare to movies like Encino Man or the Beethoven movies. The script was funny but when I was attached I wanted to explore new ideas. We tried to flesh out the characters more, Tucker and Sara’s relationship in particular, wanting to find the borders of how ‘unconditional’ unconditional love can be.’

In Dave Foley & Fans, directed by Brian G. Smith, two exuberant fans trap actor Dave Foley in a Toronto hotel lobby.

Director Brian G. Smith came up with the idea for the video about an hour before shooting. And it was originally conceived as a promotional video for the NXNE Music and Film Festival.

Brian says, ‘We improvised the thing twice. In all it took maybe 20 minutes. I handed in a cut the next day, and it was on the website in three hours. After the festival, I had a good friend of mine who’s a professional trailer editor look at the thing. He found some nice trims and made great use of jump cuts and ‘home movie’ devices to keep the thing moving.’

At the start of June we’ll have some brand-spanking new films for you. We’re currently screening all the recent submissions so stay tuned for more news in June.

Five days into my first experience at the Cannes Film Festival and the sun has finally arrived. In fact, this is the first day it’s been warmer in the French Riveria than in Halifax!

Rainy weather and long lineups dominated the beginning of my festival. That’s a lethal combination considering most lineups are outside and you usually have to wait for hours to have a chance to get in.

In fact, I’ve been turned away from twice as many films as I’ve gotten into. The priority is usually for media, buyers and programmers so that doesn’t leave many seats for regular passholders unless you have a special ticket.

These tickets are doled out via an online box office in the most complex release process you can imagine. I won’t bother trying to explain and honestly I don’t think I completely understand it yet.

But c’mon.

I think it would be nearly impossible to have a bad week at Cannes. For me the highlights have been many.

I mentioned in my first post that I’m staying with a dozen other Canadian filmmakers at a large house we rented in town– we’ve dubbed it the Canadian film frat house.

Most of us didn’t know each other before this trip so it’s been a great chance to get to know our peers from across the country, see their films and talk about future projects.

The Canadian content continued for my first two screenings of the festival when I saw Laurence Anyways by Quebecois auteur Xavier Dolan, and the premiere of Antiviral by Brandon Cronenberg. Yes, he’s the son of David.

Since then I’ve seen a handful of international films from France, Belgium and Bosnia. Tonight, I’m off to the red carpet screening of Post Tenebras Lux by Carlos Reygadas.

And my favorite party at the festival so far wasn’t on the beach or hosted by a foreign country.

Last night we had a ‘get together’ at our place with a Mexican meal made by Chris Orchard who did special effects for the BC short Joanna Makes A Friend.

Aptly, the recipe was inspired by a scene from Robert Rodiguez’s Once Upon a Time. Afterward we gathered around the big screen TV with champagne and screened the shorts of everyone in the house. Then a band showed up and we found out or cinematographer Stephanie Weber-Biron can play the accordion. Good to know!

Thank you to our housemate and Winnipeg filmmaker Deco Dawson for inviting them. Best party I’ve been to at Cannes 2012.

But the highlight of highlights was the chance to hear two-time Palme d’or winners the Dardannes brothers talk about their films, their career and their unique model of making films. I spent most of the discussion jotting down notes like this one:

“For us story doesn’t just come from imagination. It comes much more from everyday life. Real people, real places, real objects.” – the Dardennes Brothers

I’ll be writing one more post next week once I’m back home in Canada. I’m keeping track of all the tips and lessons I can pass on, so stay tuned for my Cannes recap.

Follow Nelson on Twitter, check out the Facebook page for his new film or visit his company Grassfire Films.

May means one thing: the Banff World Media Festival is around the corner.

Quick!

You better start getting ready. And so should I. I’m woefully behind the eight-ball this year.

While I’d like to say that the Banff World Media Festival is a crazy-busy-stressful time for me, the truth is that I love it. Yes it’s busy and crazy but this will be my ninth year so getting ready for the festival is a fairly stress-free endeavour.

To add to the craziness, I’ve even signed up to write a couple of blog posts starting with this one. Watch out for the second which will be a list of do’s and don’ts at Banff.

The Banff World Media Festival is a fantastic chance for me to catch up with the Toronto-based friends and colleagues that I rarely get to see (NSI is based in Winnipeg). It’s also a chance to thank (profusely) all those wonderful executive producers, showrunners and story editors, and broadcasters that share their time and knowledge with the NSI Totally Television participants every year.

And seriously – the festival takes place in the Rocky Mountains. Breathtaking.

Goals

Just so you don’t think I slack off horribly while I’m there – I do have some fairly important goals for the festival.

First and foremost I’m there to champion and act as a mentor/home base/friendly smile to the current NSI Totally Television teams attending the festival for the first time (writer Shane Belcourt and producer Duane Murray of Embracing Mason; and writer Andrew DeAngelis and producer Mark Montefiore of Sal).

Secondly I make a huge effort to meet with as many course applicants and potential applicants as possible. I accomplish both those goals in very different ways.

The NSI Totally Television deadline was May 1, so my plan is to have a short list of applicants by the time I head to Banff so I can hopefully meet with some of them while I’m there.

And even though I personally know most of the Canadian broadcasters, it never hurts to find out what’s on their development shopping list again. Maybe one of the NSI Totally Television short-listed projects will be a perfect fit.

As far as championing the current NSI Totally Television teams is concerned, that starts with doing as much prep work as possible prior to the festival and coming up with a solid strategy for their attendance.

There is no “one-size fits all” strategy.

Every team and project is unique and has different festival goals. My job is to help them figure out exactly what those goals are and determine how best to accomplish them.

I’ve mentioned before that while the primary goal of the NSI Totally Television course is to get television series concepts into development, the secondary goal is to train talent who will have career longevity. So if their NSI Totally Television project doesn’t get made, the next one will.

Broadcasters

To that end, I encourage the teams to meet with as many production companies as possible – both as potential co-producers on their NSI Totally Television project and as potential partners down the line. It’s important to find out who does what and meet people in person. I can make introductory emails for the teams if need be but they generally don’t have a problem setting up meetings on their own if they mention they are in the NSI Totally Television course.

The Banff World Media Festival is also a really good time to follow-up with the broadcasters they pitched earlier in their training. We also set up general group sessions with the broadcasters they haven’t had a chance to meet which are informal with no pitching.

Meeting with an international broadcaster (including those from the US) is a bit trickier. I have two approaches – each with varying degrees of success.

I can occasionally secure 30 minutes from one of the international broadcasters for an informal group meeting where they tell us about their network and what they have in development. This is getting harder to do as most Americans fly in for their panel and fly out same day.

Also, Banff does a really good job with their Broadcaster Briefing sessions where executives provide insight into their schedules, outline production priorities and biases and discuss potential partnerships in Canada. The only downside is that you don’t get one-on-one time with them.

Which leads me to the second way of meeting an international broadcaster: the face-to-face meetings or ‘take a decision maker to breakfast/lunch/cocktails.’

These are great 10-minute and hour-long, no-pressure meetings with key decision makers. The only downfall here is that my teams and I missed the memo telling us that the face-to-face sessions were available to be reserved and are now almost fully booked. Yup, mistakes like this happen to the best of us.

Agents

I encourage the writers to meet with agents if they don’t already have one. It’s not a bad idea for the producer to meet with them as well – agents are a great source for producers looking for great writers. Distributors are also great to meet with and, depending on where you’re at in your career, they’re either information gathering sessions or pitch/sales meetings. The NSI Totally Television meetings tend to fall in the latter category.

Attending workshops

The course participants also take in as many sessions and workshops as they can. There’s always a wealth of great topics with really great speakers. It’s a huge inspiration to hear how some of the most watched TV shows came to life.

Last but not least – the fun stuff.

Network, network, network

As much as the Banff World Media Festival is about meetings and sessions, it’s also about relationships and making connections.

Banff provides a prime opportunity to build those all-important relationships and make a good first impression. We try to take in as many networking opportunities as possible. It sounds calculated but over the course of the week I will play matchmaker and make sure ‘producer A’ meets ‘broadcaster X’ or ‘writer B’ meets ‘producer Y.’

Sounds like a lot of work doesn’t it? I guess I should stop writing this blog and start setting up meetings. Hope to see you there at a meeting, downtown, a party or two or perhaps the NSI Power Hour.

NSI Power Hour, Banff World Television Festival

Join us at the NSI Power Hour, Banff World Television Festival, Tuesday, June 12 from 10 to 11 a.m., Telefilm Demo Hub, Crump Room

Renowned for having given many emerging television writers and producers their first breaks, the National Screen Institute provides training and production support through NSI Totally Television.

In the past nine years, 12 shows have gone into development, five have gone to air, one was piloted and one was produced as a feature film that had its world premiere at TIFF 2011.

NSI nurtures filmmakers through programs like NSI Drama Prize and NSI Features First. NSI also offers national exposure through the NSI Online Short Film Festival, and provides vast resources and support to those in the film, television, and digital media industries. This fall we plan on launching the NSI Aboriginal Documentary course.

Make sure you come to this intimate session for an exclusive opportunity to talk to our experts from NSI: Melissa Kajpust, Director of Programming, NSI and Brandice Vivier, NSI Totally Television Program Manager.

NSI’s CEO John Gill and Director of Programming Melissa Kajpust head west to the Yorkton Film Festival which runs from May 24 to 27.

They’ll be hosting the NSI Power Hour on Friday, May 25 from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m.

And on Saturday, May 26 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. John Gill joins Richard Gustin, Valerie Creighton (CMF), Tom Perlmutter (NFB) and Mark Bishop (MarbleMedia) for a freewheeling discussion which will try to get a sense of what the next few years might hold for screen-based media practitioners in Canada in a session called Workshop Stage: Brave New World.

Story optioning

• Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, producer: Liz Jarvis (NSI Features First)

• The Journal of Mortifying Moments by Robyn Harding, producer: Tracey Boulton (NSI Drama Prize)

Treatment to first draft

• Oliver’s Flight by producers: Darren Portelli (NSI Features First)

• Reishima by producer: Ziad Touma (NSI Totally Television), screenwriter: Philip Kalin-Hajdu (NSI Totally Television)

First to second draft

• Oddly Flowers by screenwriter: Jordan Canning (NSI Drama Prize)

Second to final draft

• Needles by producer: Jordana Aarons (NSI Totally Television)

• A Good Girl by producer: Marc Almon (NSI Drama Prize)

• Idiot Wind by producer: Corey Marr (NSI Totally Television), screenwriter: Joseph Kay (NSI Totally Television)

Polish and packaging

• Cas & Dylan by producer: Mark Montefiore (NSI Totally Television)

• Empire of Dirt by producer: Jennifer Podemski (NSI Global Marketing

If we’ve missed you from this list, please email us details.)

Aboriginal

• Parkdale by director: Lisa Jackson (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• The Tragedy of Pikangikum by director/producer: Coleen Rajotte (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• Saali – This is My Time by director: Michele Latimer (NSI Storytellers, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program), and producer: Laura Milliken (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

Comedy

• Dave VS Death by producer Anneli Ekborn (NSI Features First)

• Todd & The Book of Pure Evil: See You Later, Masturbator by producer: Craig David Wallace (NSI Totally Television)

Digital media

• RPM – Revolutions Per Minute by producer: Lynn Booth (NSI Global Marketing)

Documentary biography

• Regarding our Father by producer: Mary Sexton (NSI Features First)

Documentary history

• The Paper Nazis: Winnipeg’s Fascist and Nazi Movements of the 1930′s by producers: Kyle Bornais, Brendon Sawatzky (NSI Features First)

Documentary social-political

• Semi Sweet by producer: Lalita Krishna (NSI Global Marketing)

Documentary science/medicine/technology

• When Dreams Take Flight by producer: Adamm Liley (NSI Drama Prize)

Drama

• Joanna Makes a Friend by director: Jeremy Lutter (NSI Drama Prize)

Emerging Filmmaker

• Alchemy and Other Imperfections by producer: Heather Lindsay (NSI Totally Television)

• Long Branch by producer: Jordan Gross (NSI Totally Television)

Lifestyle

• All For Nothing?: Mother Daughter/Husband Wife by producer: Tim Alp (NSI Global Marketing)

Multicultural

• The Invisible Red Thread by director/producer: Maureen Marovitch (NSI Global Marketing) and producer: David Finch (NSI Totally Television)

Performing Arts & Entertainment

• Saali – This Is My Time by director: Michelle Latimer (NSI Storytellers, Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program) and producer: Laura Milliken (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

• Pow Wow Wow by director: Lisa Jackson (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program) and producer: Laura Milliken (Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program)

Short subject

• Alchemy and Other Imperfections by producer: Heather Lindsay (NSI Totally Television)

• Long Branch by producer: Jordan Gross (NSI Totally Television)

• Oliver Bump’s Birthday by director: Jordan Canning (NSI Drama Prize)

Category awards

Comedy

• Edumacation: Winnipeg Comedy Festival 2010: producers Shawn Watson (NSI Features First), Shaun Johnson (NSI Totally Television)

• Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil: The Ghost of Chet Sukowski: producers Shawn Watson (NSI Features First), Anthony Leo, Craig David Wallace (NSI Totally Television); Director Craig David Wallace

• Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil: The Phantom of Crowley High: producers Shawn Watson (NSI Features First), Anthony Leo, Craig David Wallace (NSI Totally Television)

• Wapos Bay: The World According to Devon: producer(s) Anand Ramayya (NSI Totally Television, NSI Drama Prize, NSI Global Marketing), Dennis Jackson (NSI Totally Television, NSI Storytellers), Melanie Jackson (NSI Storytellers); director: Cam Lizotte (NSI Storytellers)

Documentary arts & culture

• 12 Takes: producer/director John Bolton (NSI Drama Prize, NSI Totally Television)

Documentary POV (Point of View)

• Drop the Nickel: producer Kyle Bornais (NSI Features First)

Documentary science/medicine/technology

• Are We Digital Dummies?: producer Merit Jensen-Carr (NSI Global Marketing)

Drama

• How To Rid Your Lover of A Negative Emotion Caused By You!: producer Daniel Bekerman (NSI Features First)

Performing arts & entertainment

• Flame / Through Walls: producer/director John Bolton (NSI Drama Prize, NSI Totally Television)

Special awards

Emerging filmmaker

• Hangnail: producer Norma Mendoza; director Cavan Campbell (NSI Drama Prize film)

Best of Saskatchewan Ruth Shaw Award

• Wapos Bay: The World According to Devon: producer(s) Anand Ramayya (NSI Totally Television, NSI Drama Prize, NSI Global Marketing), Dennis Jackson (NSI Totally Television, NSI Storytellers), Melanie Jackson (NSI Storytellers); director: Cam Lizotte (NSI Storytellers)

Craft nominees

Director fiction

• Alchemy And Other Imperfections by producer: Heather Lindsay (NSI Totally Television)

• Dave Vs Death by producer: Anneli Ekborn (NSI Features First)

• Oliver Bump’s Birthday by director: Jordan Canning (NSI Drama Prize)

If we’ve missed you from this list, please email us details.