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Telefilm Canada announces Canadian shorts selected for Sundance 2010 and films selected for Slamdance 2010

16 December 2009

Montréal, December 16, 2009 – Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that in addition to the five Canadian feature films already announced as part of the Sundance official selection, another six short films from Canada have been selected by the prestigious festival. Furthermore, 10 Canadian films have been selected to screen at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival, which runs January 21-28, 2010 in Park City, Utah. Among them, three features are entered in the official competition.

At Slamdance, a feature script supported by Telefilm at the development stage – Gia Milani’s All The Wrong Reasons (Shore Road Pictures, New Brunswick) – will be awarded the 2009 Script Accessible Award, part of the Feature Screenplay Competition.

“This is an exceptional year for Canada at Sundance and Slamdance,” stated Sheila de La Varende, Director, National & International Business Development at Telefilm. “A record number of films have been selected, a testament to the talent of Canadian filmmakers and producers. We are proud to be supporting them in achieving international recognition,” she added.

Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program participants attending Sundance 2010
Thanks to a joint initiative of Heritage Canada’s Trade Routes Program and Telefilm Canada, the Featuring Aboriginal Stories Program is offering a market-focused immersion during the Sundance Film Festival, aimed at eligible Aboriginal producers who are working on a project that has been selected under the program. The National Screen Institute has been mandated by Telefilm with the task of coordinating the producers’ attendance at Sundance and providing them with the necessary coaching both before and during their stay in Park City. The producers will benefit from the services of an experienced advisor who will steer them toward relevant activities based on their level of professional development while enabling networking opportunities.
 

Canadian short films selected for Sundance 2010

Title

Producer

Director

Description

The Armoire

Mark Montefiore (Armoire Films, Toronto)

Jamie Travis

A game of hide and seek gone awry leads eleven year-old Aaron into the heart of a mystery that can only be unraveled through hypnosis.

The Art Of Drowning

Diego Maclean (Vancouver)

Diego Maclean

Based on a poem by Billy Collins, the art of drowning ponders the possibilities of what awaits us at the end of the line.

Rains

Pascal Le Nôtre (Folimage, France), René Chénier, Julie Roy (National Film Board, Montréal)

David Coquard-Dassault

Rains is a meditation on everyday life and our relationship with nature, seen by the acute eye of David Coquard-Dassault, whose simple pencil drawings render all the subtleties of scenes and actions.

Runaway

Michael Scott, Derek Mazur (National Film Board, Winnipeg)

Cordell Barker

Happy passengers are having a great time on a crowded train, oblivious to the unknown fate that awaits them around the bend. The ensuing crisis leads to a class struggle that is as amusing as it is merciless. Naturally there are victims, but in the end everyone is equal.

Tungijuq

Stéphane Rituit (Igloolik & Kunuk Cohn Productions, Montréal)

Félix Lajeunesse – Paul Raphaël

A thought-provoking meditation on the seal-hunt and what it means to the traditional way of life for the Inuit.

Vive La Rose

Tina Ouellette (Global Mechanic, Vancouver), Annette Clarke, Michael Fukushima (National Film Board, Halifax)

Bruce Alcock

The animation Vive La Rose is the tragic love story of a fisherman and his beloved, inspired by a traditional Newfoundland song performed by Émile Benoit.

 

Canadian films selected for Slamdance 2010

Feature films

Title

Producer

Director

Description

Documentary Competition

Rocksteady: the Roots of Reggae (US premiere)

Betty Palik (Muse Entertainment, Montréal), Valentin Greutert (HesseGreutert Films, Zurich)

Stascha Bader

The great singers and musicians of Jamaica’s Rocksteady era reunite after 40 years to record an album of their greatest hits and to tell their story.

Feature Film Competition

Snow & Ashes (World premiere)

Charles-Olivier Michaud, Eric Mantion,
David-Alexandre Coiteux (Neige et Cendre Productions, Quebec City)

Charles-Olivier Michaud

When he returns from a conflict zone, a war correspondent sets out to remember the events that led to his photographer’s mysterious disappearance.

The Wild Hunt (International premiere)

Alexandre Franchi, Karen Murphy (Animist Films Productions, Montréal)

Alexandre Franchi

A medieval re-enactment game turns into a Shakespearean tragedy when a non-player crashes the event to win back his girlfriend. (Received support from Telefilm through the Canada Feature Film Fund.)

Short films

Title

Producer

Director

Description

Danse Macabre

Catherine Chagnon, Pedro Pires (Pedro Pires, Montréal)

Pedro Pires

“For a time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, our body comes to life, expresses itself and moves into action in an ultimate macabre ballet. Are the many spasms that shake our body merely erratic movements or are they an echo of the whirl and tumult of our past life?”

His White Eyes

Betty Wen wen Jiang
(Vancouver)

Betty Wen wen Jiang

Meet Esther Jiang, a self-absorbed and promiscuous Chinese college student who suffers from suicidal ideation. After her mother’s denouncement of her love
of white men, Esther seeks refuge in four hotel rooms.

Junko’s Shamisen

Paul Nandrajog (Toronto)

Sol Friedman

After discovering her blind grandfather murdered, a young Japanese peasant, and her mystical friend, exact gruesome poetic justice on the malevolent samurai lord responsible.

Latte America

Shannon Braithwaite (Embargo Productions, Burnaby)

Embargo Productions

A caffeine junkie busts his dealer loose from the cops and fights his way to a waterside “exit strategy”.

Love & Volts

Josée Vallée, Paul-E. Audet (Cirrus Communications, Montréal)

Normand Daneau

Donald works in a slaughterhouse. He is infatuated with Francine who owns a pet shop. Will love be enough to unite these two lonely souls?  

Massacrator

Pierre Ayotte (Montréal)

Pierre Ayotte

A young woman and Elvis struggle to escape from a killer cyborg from the future.

Planet Sun: The Tan-Fastic Adventures of Shay & Stay

Mark Peachy (The Digitalist, Toronto), Sarah Cornell (Mo’Easy Productions, Toronto)

Matt Atkinson

“Planet Sun: The Tan-fastic Adventures of Shay and Stay" is a character driven comedy that pokes fun at the tanning industry and pop-culture overall. It follows the vacuous life of Shay and Stay, two thirtysomethings who work reception at Planet Sun Tanning Salon. 

 

Telefilm Canada: Developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry. Telefilm provides financial support to the private sector to create distinctively Canadian productions that appeal to domestic and international audiences. The Corporation also administers the funding programs of the Canadian Feature Film Fund, the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.ca.

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Media inquiries:

Eva Hartling
Senior Advisor, External Communications
Telefilm Canada
514-283-0838, ext. 2090 or 1-800-567-0890
hartlie@telefilm.ca