Yearly Archives: 2016

Awards

The Directors Guild of Canada honours the best in the business at 15th annual awards

From a media release:

The Directors Guild of Canada handed out 17 awards tonight honouring the best work created by Members this past year in a star-studded, elegant event. Three special career acknowledgments were also handed out during the evening, including the Lifetime Achievement Award to filmmaker Anne Wheeler. The inaugural DGC Discovery Award was presented to newcomer Chloe Leriche for her/his film Avant Les Rues.

Arisa Cox hosted the Awards Gala which was held at The Carlu in Toronto. Presenters included this country’s hardest working filmmakers and actors; Meredith MacNeill, Tracey Deer, Megan Follows, Director X, Benz Antoine, and Nicholas Campbell, to name just a few.

Below is a full list of the awards presented at the 2016 DGC Awards Gala:

DGC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presented by Shaftesbury
Anne Wheeler

2016 DON HALDANE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
Manny Danelon

2016 DGC HONOURARY LIFE MEMBER AWARD
Presented by BellMedia
Trina McQueen

DGC DISCOVERY AWARD
Presented by Entertainment One
Chloé Leriche – Avant les Rues

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM
Presented by Technicolor
Paul Gross – Hyena Road

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES
Presented by deluxe
Kari Skogland – Sons of Liberty

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMATIC SERIES
Presented by Panavision
Helen Shaver – Vikings – Born Again

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY SERIES
Presented by SIM Group
Jerry Ciccoritti – Schitt’s Creek – Moira’s Nudes

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FAMILY SERIES
Presented by William F. White
Bruce McDonald – Heartland – Before the Darkness

ALLAN KING AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTARY
Presented by Rogers Group of Funds
Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr – Patrick Reed & Michelle Shephard
and
Haida Gwaii: On the Edge Of The World – Charles Wilkinson

BEST PICTURE EDITING – DOCUMENTARY
Cathy Gulkin – Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr

BEST SHORT FILM
Portal to Hell!!!

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE FILM
Presented by Pinewood Toronto Studios
Aidan Leroux – Born to Be Blue

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES
Presented by Vanguarde Artists Management
Rob Gray – Sons of Liberty

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TELEVISION SERIES
John Dondertman – Orphan Black – Certain Agony Of The Battlefield

BEST PICTURE EDITING – FEATURE FILM
Matthew Hannam – Into the Forest

BEST PICTURE EDITING – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES
Ron Wisman Sr. & Ron Wisman Jr. – The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

BEST PICTURE EDITING – TELEVISION SERIES
D. Gillian Truster – Orphan Black – Scarred By Many Past Frustrations

BEST SOUND EDITING – FEATURE FILM
Hyena Road – Jane Tattersall, Supervising Sound Editor; Kevin Banks, Sound Editor; Ed Douglas, Sound Editor; David Evans, Sound Editor; Barry Gilmore, Sound Editor; Martin Gwynn Jones, Sound Editor, David Mccallum, Sound Editor; Brennan Mercer, Sound Editor; Dave Rose, Sound Editor; Claire Dobson, 1st Assistant Sound Editor; Krystin Hunter, 1st Assistant Sound Editor

BEST SOUND EDITING – MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe – Steve Medeiros, SFX Editor; Jane Tattersall, SFX Editor; Krystin Hunter, Dialogue Editor; David McCallum, Dialogue Editor; Susan Conley, ADR Editor; Joe Mancuso, Music Editor; Claire Dobson, 1st Assistant Sound Editor

BEST SOUND EDITING – TELEVISION SERIES
The Expanse – The Big Empty – Nelson Ferreira, Supervising Sound Editor and ADR Editor; Nathan Robitaille, Sound Designer; Tyler Whitham, SFX Editor; Dustin Harris, Dialogue Editor; Dashen Naidoo, 1st Assistant Sound Editor

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Second Jen

Link: Second Jen’s Samantha Wan sees diversity as key to creating original stories on TV

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From Craig Takeuchi of The Georgia Straight:

Link: Second Jen’s Samantha Wan sees diversity as key to creating original stories on TV
Samantha Wan finds the state of Asian representation in media “disheartening”.

On the line from Toronto, the Canadian actor and writer says, for instance, she was shocked when she read columns arguing how stories like the live-action film version of Mulan don’t need to be kept Asian. Continue reading. 

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Anne

Amybeth McNulty lands beloved role of Anne Shirley in CBC’s Anne

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From a media release:

After an extensive global casting search, Northwood Entertainment, Netflix and CBC today announced that young rising star Amybeth McNulty has been cast as the precocious and imaginative Anne Shirley in the highly anticipated new dramatic television series ANNE (8 x 60). Based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s timeless classic novel Anne of Green Gables, ANNE began production in Prince Edward Island in September and has now moved to Ontario, Canada.

Fourteen-year-old Irish Canadian actress Amybeth McNulty was raised in Donegal, Ireland. She started acting at the early age of six, and has appeared in numerous productions on stage and on screen including in the feature film Morgan starring Kate Mara and in the television series Agatha Raisin for Sky and The Sparticle Mystery for CBBC in the UK. A trained singer, Amybeth also starred in London’s acclaimed Regent’s Park production of The Sound of Music.

Also starring as the siblings who adopt Anne, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, are Tony and four-time BAFTA nominee Geraldine James OBE (Sherlock Holmes, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and multiple award-winning veteran Canadian stage and television actor, Governor General Award recipient R.H. Thomson (Chloe, The Englishman’s Boy).

ANNE is a coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an aging sister and brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the entire small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

While the new series will honour the foundation of the novel held as a Canadian treasure and global phenomenon (Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide), ANNE will also chart new territory. Anne and the rest of the characters will experience adventures reflecting timeless and topical issues including themes of identity, feminism, bullying and prejudice.

As previously announced, award-winning Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider, McFarland USA, Zookeeper’s Wife) is helming the two-hour premiere episode.

Three-time Emmy® Award and Golden Globe winner Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad, Flesh & Bone) is penning the entire first season of the series and serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside executive producer Miranda de Pencier (Beginners, Thanks for Sharing), under her Northwood Entertainment banner.

Alison Owen (Saving Mr. Banks) and Debra Hayward (Bridget Jones Diary, Les Misérables) are also attached to executive produce and Susan Murdoch will produce.

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Baroness von Sketch Show

Cameras roll on Season 2 of Baroness Von Sketch Show

From a media release:

Frantic Films and CBC today announced that production is underway on Season 2 of BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. Created and written by and starring award-winning Canadian comedians Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen, Season 2 (7×30) of the single camera, all-female sketch comedy series will shoot on location in and around Toronto until late October 2016 for broadcast in 2017.

Debuting to critical acclaim in June 2016, Season 1 of BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW was a breakout hit among Canadian audiences. The series recently garnered a Canadian Comedy Awards nomination for Best TV Show. The series’ first sketch “Locker Room,” which was released on Facebook in advance of the series premiere, has garnered close to 1.7 million views to date, with subsequent sketches following similar success online.

BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW takes a fresh look at the world’s narcissistic contemporary culture. Fast-paced and irreverent, the series celebrates the absurd, mines the embarrassing and satirizes daily lives. The series is insightful and emotionally grounded while offering a witty take on everyday concerns. From the politics of ordering a coffee, to entitled coworkers and open relationships, this satirical sketch show holds a fun-house mirror up to modern life.

Commissioned by CBC, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW is produced by Frantic Film and executive produced by Jamie Brown, Carolyn Taylor, Meredith MacNeill, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Whalen.

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Travelers

Link: Travelers: MacKenzie Porter on the mindset of a Traveler

From Hermione Wilson of The TV Junkies:

Link: Travelers: MacKenzie Porter on the mindset of a Traveler
“I’ve done some sci-fi stuff but this is definitely the best quality I’ve ever done. It’s a genre that I actually didn’t grow up watching, but I have since working on the part. I think  it’s cool because it’s sci-fi based but it’s also drama based and the relationships between characters is really strong.” Continue reading. 

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