SaskFilm in partnership with Film Market Access is pleased to support the involvement of Saskatchewan emerging producers and filmmakers in the Toronto Internship Program from September 8-15th 2010 in Toronto, Ontario.  

FMA’s Toronto program helps emerging filmmakers and film students maximize opportunities available during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) through the following:  

1. Introduction to the festival in the form of intern (or junior delegate)

2. An internship with well-respected companies such as William Morris, Yari Film Group, IM Global and Moving Pictures; where they can prove themselves and launch their careers. 

 For complete details on this announcement please contact: charlene@saskfilm.com  or Tel: 306-798-3317

Dates:  September 8-15, 2010.   Participants must arrive on September 8 prior to 3:00pm local time.

Location:  Toronto, Ontario 

To apply: Applicants must submit the following by August 18, 2010 to charlene@saskfilm.com: 

1. A completed application form.

2. A current resume.

3. Electronic file of Passport size headshot (TIFF requires photo for accreditation badge).

 Registration fee: SaskFilm will cover registration fee and flight.

 For additional information contact:

Charlene Hilkewich

Initiatives and Policy Manager

SaskFilm

Tel: 306-798-3317

Email: charlene@saskfilm.com

A view of the Lightbox's main control centre (think HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) as seen from the exhibition floor

It’s been in the planning stages for a decade (and under construction for what seems like even longer), but the TIFF Bell Lightbox at King and John is set to open its doors to the public, for real, on September 12, smack in the middle of the thirty-fifth annual Toronto International Film Festival. As the new headquarters for TIFF, whose various operations are now divided between Jackman Hall, 2 Carlton Street, and various screening spaces throughout the city, expectations for the space have been running high. More than just an office building with a bunch of theatres, the Lightbox has promised to serve as a site for education about visual culture, a gallery space, and, more generally, a shining beacon of Toronto’s world class film culture. Lofty goals all.

But if today’s behind-the-scenes media tour at the Lightbox is any indication, the venue is well on its way to establishing a name for itself as the year-round locus of cinema in Toronto. It’s still very much under construction, but it’s becoming easier to conceive of the Lightbox as a unified space, and not just a bunch of scaffolding, concrete, and puffed-up press release rhetoric.

Photos courtesy of TIFF.

There is a lot of this country that I think many Canadians have not seen. For example I have never visited the North West region of Ontario. In particular, Manitoulin Island which is over an hour away from Sudbury on the Georgian Bay. It is a beautiful natural landscape – a feast for my weary city eyes. To get here by car from Toronto it would take a person 6 hours a similar drive from Toronto to Montreal. 

It would have taken one hour by plane however I was grateful that I did not take that option. I had the chance to travel along the great Canadian high way passing many places I’ve only heard of such as Muskoka, Parry Sound and Casino Roma. We made a brief stop at the Casino sadly it wasn’t anything like I’ve seen in the movie. I guess I will have to go to Las Vegas for that. Along the way we were thankful that we dodged a tornado by 30 minutes in a town that we drove through.   

So what am I doing 6 hours away from Toronto? I was invited to become a member and take part in the AGM of the first Aboriginal Film Institute in Ontario. Weengushk Film Institute (WFI) was founded by Shirley Cheechoo a multi discipline artist from the Cree Nation.  WFI is a non profit charitable organization that offers media –arts programs in the fields of film, video and multimedia to Aboriginal youths and person of diversity. The institute has only been open to students for one year but within the institute has attracted attention to its education mandate. On May 2, WFI had its first group of graduation students and in July institute will launch the first emerging artist program and welcome fourteen new participants to the youth program in September 2010. 

To learn more about WFI please visit their website. www.weengushk.com

The three directors - Daniels, Virgo and Jewsion

Tuesday night (Feb 9th) saw the celebration of Black History Month by the Canadian Film Centre, Canada’s equivalent of the American Film Institute. Taking place at the Isabel Bader Theatre, it began with a private reception for industry guests. Then the theatre filled to capacity to greet director Clement Virgo (Rude, Lie With Me, TV’s “The Wire“), who moderated a conversation that lasted well over an hour with directors Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck) and Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, and producer of The Woodsman & Monster’s Ball).

Many from Toronto’s filmmaking community turned up, including prominent black filmmakers such as David “Sudz” Sutherland (Love, Sex and Eating the Bones), Charles Officer (Nurse.Fighter.Boy), Powys Dewhurst (Delroy Kincaid), Alison Duke (Raisin’ Kane: A Rapumentary); writer Andrew Moodie; and broadcasters Joan Jenkinson (S-VOX) and Karen King (CanWest). The audience gave Jewison a warm ovation when he was brought out after highlights from his films were shown. Some recited along with the many familiar lines (“Snap out of it!” “They call me Mr. Tibbs!”) After some humourous awkwardness about whether they should stay onstage for the clips from Daniels’ films, the audience gave another ovation as Daniels was brought out.

Daniels expressed his love for Toronto, having been here in the fall for the screenings of Precious at the Toronto International Film Festival. It claimed the festival’s prestigious Audience Choice Award. Although I have previously written about how I think the film disappointing, there’s no denying that it has a strong emotional punch.

Their discussion covered a wide range of topics, but focused primarily on the careers of Daniels and Jewison with respect to the role of black artists and black America. Jewison spoke of traveling in the southern states and being shocked to see how black people, many who had been asked to serve and possibly die for their country, returned to be treated with such disrespect. He mentioned that he got some heat for showing solidarity with them, for example boarding buses and “sitting where I wanted to sit.” He recounted how when he told Bobby Kennedy he was making In the Heat of the Night, Kennedy was pleased and told him “timing is everything – it’s the right time for this,” and then when Kennedy presented him the New York Critics Award for Best Picture, he repeated “what did I tell you? Timing is everything.”

Jewison admitted that he never expected that an African-American could become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Colin Powell) or President (Barack Obama) in his lifetime, and how proud that made “the African-American in me.” This brought one of the many big laughs of the night. Lee Daniels said, “I love this man” which he often repeated, clearly showing genuine admiration for Jewison.

Daniels was himself utterly charming and funny. He talked about how a lot of the haters he has had for each of his films, and how many of them were from the black community itself. Sometimes it was because he dealt with mix-race relations as with Monster’s Ball and Shadowboxer, or because with Precious he shows the underside of the community – not Obama and where they could be, but the ghetto where some of them came from. He also joked about haters for Billy Bob Thornton on Monster’s Ball, because he went home to Angelina Jolie, and came to work with Halle Berry.

He spoke openly about being gay, which one attendee told me was a good thing because the black community can sometimes reveal their own prejudices in that regard. Daniels laughed about how his son asked him if it was alright if he liked girls, and he had to assure him it was fine. He joked about how he didn’t have a style, that his style is “steal.” His reaction to watching the clip of Sidney Poitier slapping a white man was visceral, and he said “I’m going to use that.” Daniels chuckled at the delicate manner in which Jewison addressed giving up Malcolm X to Spike Lee after working hard to develop it, and bringing Denzel Washington on board the project. Jewison said he was impressed by Spike Lee’s passion, but did admit to fighting him on the idea that as white man he wouldn’t understand the black experience. By the end of their lunch meeting, however, he willingly gave the project to Spike.

They took a few questions from the audience as well, before they wrapped up and received one big final standing ovation. Some people left at that point which is too bad. They missed an opportunity to see a big-screen 35mm film projection of In the Heat of the Night. It looked terrific, and as Lee Daniels pointed out it stands the test of time.

It was a fun evening. It left me with a touch of sadness though, that there has been no comparable success for North American-born Asians. I doubt that there will ever be an Asian Best Actor or Actress in my lifetime. And although Ang Lee won best director, he’s not North American-born and all his Hollywood movies are about white people. Still, times are changing and there was no better proof of that than the work of Jewison and Daniels. All in all, a terrific evening, and I hope this becomes a regular event on the Toronto cultural calendar.

Written by David Eng