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The Timekeeper Wins Hot Shots Contest The winning script in the 6th annual Hot Shots Shorts Film Contest is The Timekeeper by Cookie Boyle and Walter Sawadsky. The filmmakers will receive approximately $10,000 in cash and $30,000 in-kind sponsorship to make their short film. “We are so honoured to have been selected,” said Boyle. “The Hot Shots Shorts contest gave us the opportunity to develop a script with what we believe is a universal story. Now we’re able to move to the next phase of the project, working with the Di-
rector, Scott Weber as he brings The Timekeeper from the page to the screen.” The script is about a watchmaker who pawns time from people who waste it, so he may give it to others who value it. The story reminds that time is the one luxury that people desire but they cannot buy. The annual contest provides sponsorship and monetary support to an exceptional Vancouver short film script that might not otherwise have the opportunity to be made into a film.
Tactica Interactive in the Ring with Boxing App
Winnipeg’ digital media company Tactica Interactive has launched the Fit First fitness app to accompany the launch of the third season of APTN series Fit FirstYouth Edition. The ap allows users to train alongside Canadian National Boxing champion Kent Brown. The TV series Fit First: Youth Edition follows four Aboriginal youth from different walks of life, who all struggle with being overweight but have set a goal to get healthy in mind, body and spirit. The four participants become part of Kent Brown’s gym and learn to sweat off the pounds to become lean and powerful, both inside and out. Fit First: Youth Edition is a joint venture between Animiki See and Indios Productions Inc and produced by Stephanie Scott, Vanessa Loewen, and Holly Moore with writers/directors Shannon Letendre, Stephanie Scott, and John Gurdebeke. Reel West September / OCtober 2013
Indie Scene
Short Films on the Big Screen at VIFF
T
hat time of year again. In the uncertain climate that is the BC film industry, you can count on the Vancouver Internation-
Paul Armstrong Producer
al Film Festival to come around every Fall. It’s a reminder that summer is over. Like that back to school feeling when you are a kid …. but something you look forward to. You can also look forward to a selection of some of the best short films made over the past year. In terms of BC-made shorts, this year’s VIFF is no exception. One such local film is Anxious Oswald Greene, written and directed by Marshall Axani, and winner of the 5th Annual Hot Shot Shorts Contest operated by the Celluloid Social Club. In the film, Oswald Greene, played by Ryan Beil, visits a shoddy clinic in a desperate attempt to cure his crippling anxiety only to be confronted by a series of unpredictable characters, including a blind nurse, Ellie Harvie, a talking fly, and an eccentric doctor with a knack for rhyming, John Novak. This is Axani’s first time screening a film at VIFF. But in this era of everything moving on-line, what are the continuing benefits of film festivals? Many, most of the filmmakers agree. “They are still a great way to capitalize on exposure, publicity, and networking as they bring people together, and no one can really deny that there’s not a great feeling to sitting and watching your film in a theatre,” says Marshall. “We’d also like to use the Festival to develop more relationships for future collaborations, as well as to promote upcoming projects in development and hopefully further those along.” Producer Diana Donaldson adds: “The opportunity to see your short film in a festival on the big screen is a magnificent experience not offered on YouTube or other online outlets. You are surrounded with a live audience and get to partake in that special feeling when they laugh, jump and cry in all the right spots. You get to hear the whispers of what every-
one loved or thought was cool about the film.” One of the 2013 Crazy8s Film Event finalist films is also screening at VIFF: Under the Bridge of Fear by Mackenzie Gray, recently seen acting in the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. Under the Bridge is an homage to the great film noir thrillers of the 1940s and 50s in which hard-boiled private eye Hamilton Drake, played by David Lewis, is hired to chase down the rat who’s blackmailing rich dame Georgia Thurlow and her sultry movie star companion, Carrall Cordova. But in this sapphic underworld, nothing is black and white. “For many films, festivals are the only place they get seen on a big screen, which is where films are meant to be seen,” says Gray. “And film watching is meant to be a SHARED experience. It is part of its whole dynamic. So festivals are even MORE relevant than before.” He adds, “I enjoy VIFF because it is about the films, first and foremost. In some bigger festivals you feel lost amidst the glamour, celebrity, eventmania and press. VIFF let’s you stand out and shine.” Yet another local film contest winner screening at VIFF is Beauty Mark directed by Mark Ratzlaff, a darkly satirical story of 8-year-old Annabelle, Taya Clyne, a child-beauty-queen who is pushed to the edge and must take drastic measures to reclaim her childhood. The film won the MPPIA Short Film Award pitch competition in 2011 at one of BC’s other major festivals, the Whistler Film Festival. “Viewership is always important, but screening online can’t give you the same opportunities to network with industry professionals and fellow filmmakers,” says Ratzlaff. “There’s something wonderful about the spontaneity and random nature of networking at a festival that can only happen in the flesh with a drink in your hand.” And what makes VIFF a special festival to screen at? “VIFF has always gone above and beyond for their filmmakers,” he explains. “They still manage to keep things personal Indie Scene continued on page 28 9