Tag Archives: AMI

From a media release:

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its tenth anniversary awards gala on Saturday, May 11th, in the Bruce Guthro Theatre at Casino Nova Scotia in front of a sold-out crowd of industry members and supporters. The annual event celebrates the incredible talent, creativity, and passion that are the trademarks of Nova Scotia’s screen industry. Awards handed out included the ACTRA Maritimes Awards for Outstanding Performances, the Film Crew Excellence Award, the Women in Film & Television – Atlantic Award, the Community Recognition Award, and the Screen Nova Scotia awards for best television, film, and animation. New 2024 awards included the Screen Nova Scotia award for Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting and the addition of a new category from ACTRA Maritimes for Series Ensemble.

The night’s finale was the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film, sponsored by the Director’s Guild of Canada, which went to The Queen of My Dreams from writer/director Fawzia Mirza and producers Marc Tetreault and Jason Levangie (Shut Up & Colour Pictures) and Andria Wilson (Baby Daal Productions). Filmed in Pakistan and Nova Scotia, the film tells the story of a mother, Mariam (Nimra Bucha) and her daughter, Azra (Amrit Kaur) coming of age in two different eras while exploring the characters’ complicated relationships to their home countries and each other.

The third season of the Bell Fibe TV1 series Vollies from Canadian Content Studios was crowned the winner of the Best Scripted Television Series Award. The fresh, funny comedy follows the Essex-West-Essex Fire Department, a small town volunteer fire department that never has any actual fires to fight. The cast of Vollies (Jonathan Torrens, Mary Austin, Brian George, and James Faulkner) also took home the inaugural ACTRA Maritimes Award for Series Ensemble.

Meanwhile, the Best Unscripted Television Series Award went to That Sex Show (featured image above) from Ocean Entertainment. The AMI series, hosted by sex educator Rachele Manett, features experts and members of the disability community discussing the myths and misconceptions surrounding the sex lives of people with a disability.

The Best Documentary Film Award went to Cold Dip from Amy Mielke and Brittany Gavin (A+B Roll Films). The film follows Jessica Wiebe, a Canadian veteran and artist, who practices cold dipping in Nova Scotia as a way to heal physical and emotional trauma. Mielke and Gavin also took home the Best Nova Scotia Director Award from Women in Film & Television – Atlantic.

The new award for Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting went to writer/director Taylor Olson for his 2020 award-winning micro-budget feature Bone Cage, while Best Animated Production was awarded to Toopy and Binoo: The Movie, animated by HH Animation.

Locally filmed TV series proved to be a showcase for N.S. talent, with Kristin Howell (Moonshine) and Shelley Thompson (Sullivan’s Crossing) both taking home ACTRA Maritimes trophies for Outstanding Performances. Britt Loder also won an Outstanding Performances award for her role in the Hallmark movie Christmas Island, while David Rossetti won for his performance in the short film Remnants, which was made in the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative’s Film5 Program.

Songs of Unama’ki (Ruby Tree Films) was the winner of the Best Short Film Award. Directed by Mi’kmaw filmmaker Dawn Wells and Jeff Miller, the film details how the Mi’kmaq of Unama’ki (Cape Breton) are turning to the musical traditions of their ancestors in a race against time to revive their dying language and culture.

The Groundbreaking Performance Award, which celebrates a performer who identifies as being from an underrepresented community and does not yet meet the eligibility criteria for the ACTRA awards for their work in a film or television/web series, went to drag performer Deva Station (Steven MacLeod) for their role in the series Apocalyptic Kitchen. The award recipient is determined by an online voting process, to better engage the wider community outside of the screen industry.

This year’s Film Crew Excellence Award went to art director and production designer Ewen Dickson. A skilled carpenter and member of DGC Maritimes, Dickson has worked in the Nova Scotia film and television industry for over 25 years on countless productions of all sizes, genres, and budgets. A mentor to many, Dickson is known for his skill, generosity, enthusiasm and professionalism. His credits include Kids vs Aliens, Books of Blood, Moonshine, Diggstown, and Hobo with a Shotgun, as well as countless short films.

The 2024 Community Recognition Award recipient was Janet Hawkwood, a former lead instructor of the Screen Arts program at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). Hawkwood was recognized for her dedication to nurturing, promoting, and elevating the local film scene through mentoring hundreds of emerging filmmakers over her 20 year tenure at the college. She was pivotal in the development of the two-year filmmaking diploma at NSCC that has since served as a launching pad for many individuals who have gone on to create impactful and critically acclaimed work.

This year’s prestigious Industry Champion Award was awarded posthumously to visionary television producer David MacLeod. A passionate industry advocate and a pillar in the local production community for over 30 years, MacLeod will be remembered for mentoring and encouraging an entire generation of Nova Scotian filmmakers. MacLeod was a true trailblazer and instrumental in the early success of Screen Nova Scotia as a founder and long-time board member.

The Screen Nova Scotia Awards were made possible this year due to the generous support of many sponsors, including Platinum Partners at the Directors Guild of Canada, Support4Culture, the Canadian Media Producers Association, and William F. White International Inc. Special thanks to 902 Post, Narrative Environment Studios, and The Hideout Studios for their continued work to ensure another successful event in 2024.

2024 Winners:

– Best Feature Film: The Queen of My Dreams (director Fawzia Mirza / producers Shut Up & Colour Pictures)

– Best Documentary Film: Cold Dip (directors/producers Amy Mielke and Brittany Gavin, A+B Roll Films)

– Best Scripted Television Series: Vollies S3 (Canadian Content Studios)

– Best Unscripted Television Series: That Sex Show S1 (Ocean Entertainment)

– Best Short Film: Songs of Unama’ki (Ruby Tree Films)

– Best Animated Series: Toopy and Binoo: The Movie (HH Animation)

– Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting: Taylor Olson, Bone Cage

– Groundbreaking Performance: Deva Station (Steven MacLeod), Apocalyptic Kitchen

– ACTRA Maritimes Awards for Outstanding Performances: Britt Loder (Christmas Island); David Rossetti (Remnants); Kirstin Howell (Moonshine S3); Shelley Thompson (Sullivan’s Crossing S1)

– ACTRA Maritime Series Ensemble: Vollies (Jonathan Torrens, Mary Austin, Brian George, and James Faulkner)

– WIFT-AT Award for Best Nova Scotia Director: Amy Mielke and Brittany Gavin (Cold Dip)

– Film Crew Excellence Award: Ewen Dickson, Art Director/Production Designer

– Community Recognition Award: Janet Hawkwood, NSCC Screen Arts Program (retired)

– Industry Champion Award: David MacLeod, Producer

Featured, Industry News

The Squeaky Wheel: Canada set to debut June 24 on AMI-tv and AMI+

April 23, 2024 Greg David

From a media release:

Be Loud. Be Disabled. Be Squeaky. AMI is pleased to announce that Season 1 of The Squeaky Wheel: Canada will debut Monday, June 24, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv and AMI+.

Based on Steven Verdile’s popular web publication The Squeaky Wheel and produced by Hitsby Entertainment, The Squeaky Wheel: Canada is an eight-episode satirical, half-hour news format which pokes fun at the ableist society people with disabilities face every day.

Directed by Lucy Belgum and Tobi Abdul, the series stars Graham Kent and Gaitrie Persaud as lead anchors Grant Gewürztraminer and Arianna Salara. The ensemble cast of Margaret Rose, Samantha Wyss, Sivert Das, Wesley Magee-Saxton and Yousef Kadoura are on the scene, ready to take on absurd situations and characters, including flipping the script and embodying obnoxious able-bodied/neurotypical personalities.

Rounding out the troupe is stand-up comedian Courtney Gilmour (Canada’s Got Talent) as the cantankerous January Knougho from Organizational Operations Practices and Standards (a.k.a. O.O.P.S.) to give Arianna and Grant the what’s what from the control room.

Each week, Canadian guest stars from the disability community make a splash, including social media influencers Taylor Lindsay-Noel (Mind Your Own Business), who portrays a pivotal witness to a porch pirate theft; Madison Tevlin (Champions, Who Do You Think I Am?), playing a frustrated marketing executive; and Lil’ Gabi D (Fashion Dis) as a winner of “Little in Public Bingo,” setting a record for most ableist experiences in a day.

Additionally, AMI’s own Kelly MacDonald, co-host of Kelly & Ramya, appears in two Season 1 sketches. In the first, he appears in an action film trailer spoof—alongside stand-up comedian and writer Daniel Barra-Berger—as one of two men who cross paths, and canes, as white cane users. In the second, Kelly puts his voice skills to use as a home buyer in a sketch that pokes fun at adding described video to adult movies.

As previously announced, the series is presented by Canada’s top writers and performers from the disability community. The Squeaky Wheel: Canada’s irreverent perspective flips tropes and clichés upside down by showcasing disability in a humorous way. Its clever blend of social commentary and provocative humour will leave audiences laughing hysterically and feeling pleasurably guilty about it.

The eight-episode series introduces a fresh perspective to the entertainment landscape with its disability-led creative team, fronted by series producer Michelle Asgarali.

The writing team includes D. Cole, Daniel Barra-Berger, Jenny Lee-Gilmore and Sierra Haynes, and many story contributors with diverse perspectives across the disability community.

The Squeaky Wheel: Canada debuts Monday, June 24, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv and available for streaming on AMI+.

Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Season 2 of honest, unflinching, doc series Push debuts on AMI-tv

March 18, 2024 Greg David

Bean Gill is no stranger to AMI-tv. She has been featured in an episode of the network’s runaway hit, You Can’t Ask That, which features members of the disability community answering questions about their lives honestly. The network’s flagship magazine series, AMI This Week, spoke to Bean about her life and business, ReYu Paralysis Recovery Centre. Bean and her friends were the focus of the AMI original documentary Wheel Girl Stories, a community of women in the Edmonton area who talk openly about their experiences as wheelchair users.

Now Bean is back with Season 2 of Push.

Airing Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv and available on demand on AMI+, Push is a genuine, unflinching look at life for wheelchair users and friends. From the logistics and stigmas of sex with a fellow wheelchair user, to navigating new motherhood as a “quad mom,” to facing the people and places who knew them pre-injury, Season 2 follows Bean and her friends as they confront their past, facing their demons and supporting new members of the group through the early days of wheelchair life.

We spoke to Bean while she was in Toronto recently.

What has it been like having the chance to meet with the media and talk about you talk your life and talk about Push?
Bean Gill: Honestly, super surreal. I don’t even have the words. I don’t have the words. Mostly I say it’s bonkers. I don’t think I’m anything special. I think I’m just a regular human doing regular things, but having these opportunities to talk to big media outlets, I am just so grateful for it because my goal has been to change the world, and now I get to do it on such a broader scale at a faster rate. So yeah, man, I’m here for it.

How did Push come along and how did it end up going to CBC and AMI?
BG: I’ve been blessed with a lot of opportunities that have come after having my spinal cord injury. And one of the things was I opened ReYu Paralysis Recovery Center in Edmonton. After doing that, I won a couple of awards and when I won Top 40 under 40, Kaitlin [Stewart], our executive producer, was flipping through the magazine and she said when she saw my picture that I jumped off the page to her and she said, ‘This woman has a story to tell.’ So she cold-called, sent me an email, asked me to go for coffee, and I jump at every opportunity. So I was like, ‘Yep, let’s do it.’ We talked and we didn’t really know what this was going to look like at all. And she also brought [executive producer] Sean De Vries into the fold. And then we had a bunch more meetings and Sean just asked me, ‘What do you want out of this?’ And I said, ‘I want a reality TV show.’ I’ve always wanted one for so long. I watched the show Push Girls, and that really inspired me and showed me that, wait a minute, I can be healthy. People will date me. What, you can have a job? Because I just didn’t think of these things. I had a stigma towards people with disabilities even though I was that person.

But one thing Push Girls missed was the transfers. I wanted to know the nitty gritty. Do you have bowel control? Do you have bladder control? Everything about living life with a spinal cord injury. That’s what I wanted to know, and that’s what I needed to know in the beginning. That’s what I really wanted for Push, is to show all those things. Because I’m thinking about somebody who’s newly injured, who’s Googling information and Push comes up and then they watch it and they say, ‘Wow, I can have friends. I can do all these things. I can have a family.’ I wanted to show people that your life can be such a beautiful, successful thing. It’s not the sad, depressed notion of what disability is or what people think is.

One of the most interesting and engaging conversations in Season 2 was about having sex when you are a wheelchair user. It was an honest and funny conversation as well as being educational.
BG: You just push yourself out of this comfort zone. And when you are talking to your friends, you kind of forget about the cameras. That’s just our natural behaviour with each other. We need to teach people. So this is how we get rid of the stigma is through education. So we’re happy to do it.

Are you seeing a big change about representation of the disability community in primetime television?
BG: Yeah, I think we are. It’s at a snail’s pace, but at least it’s happening. Is there room for more? Yes, always. Because there was a show a couple years ago where they had an able-bodied man portraying somebody with a disability. People with disabilities are the biggest minority in the world. There are billions of us, guaranteed. There are actors in the disability community.

Find the people who have the lived experience who want to do these things because they’re out there and not only do they deserve to get paid, they deserve to get paid well, and then also get that recognition and be able to have that kind of social change that we see. A lot of people get their stigmas and stereotypes and what they think disability is from media, and media is using the medical model of disability, which is archaic and nonexistent anymore. That’s not us. We don’t want your sympathy and we don’t want your pity. Let me tell you that very clearly. If you don’t understand me, get a translator. We don’t.

We don’t want it. We want to be treated with respect and dignity. That’s it. We are regular people just like you. And so why should we be treated any differently?

Season 2 of Push airs Mondays at 8 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv and AMI+.

Image courtesy of AMI.

Featured, Push, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Push Season 2 to premiere on CBC and CBC Gem

January 15, 2024 Greg David

From a media release:

Produced by Fenix Film & Television and Small Army Entertainment in association with CBC and Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), PUSH Season 2 will premiere on Sunday, January 14th at 7:30 PM on CBC and the free-streaming service CBC Gem. PUSH Season 2 features eight, 30-minute episodes.

The ground-breaking CBC original docu-series, PUSH, is back for a second season. Pulling back the veil on life as a wheelchair user, PUSH once again takes audiences into the inner world of the ‘Wheelie Peeps’, an unlikely group of friends bonded by their shared experience of life on wheels. Season 2 features returning favourites including the group’s fearless and unfiltered leader, Bean Gill; Canada’s favourite potty-mouthed and self-proclaimed redneck, Brian McPherson; concert pianist, entrepreneur and adventure-seeker, Riccardo Baldini; and more! Nothing is off the table as this bold group of friends tackle everything life throws their way. From the logistics and stigmas of sex with a fellow wheelchair user, to navigating new motherhood as a “quad mom”, to facing the people and places who knew them pre-injury, Season 2 has The Peeps confronting their past, facing their demons and supporting new members of the group through the early days of wheelchair life.

Benveet “Bean” Gill is the “mother hen” and unofficial ringleader of the Wheelie Peeps. Bean shares, “After I was paralyzed, I made it my mission to go find my homies, my fellow friends in wheelchairs. After a while, there was a big group of us and we called ourselves the Wheelie Peeps. I believe in having a strong support system around you, and I’m grateful to have one. I went through so many dark days alone and after seeing the power of community, I vowed to never let anyone have a dark day alone again. The Wheelie Peeps have lifted each other up. We help each other when equipment breaks. We laugh with each other, and we have cried many tears together. We learn so much from each other.”

PUSH Season 2 premieres on Sunday, January 14th at 7:30 PM on CBC and the free-streaming service CBC Gem. AMI-tv will additionally air PUSH Season 1 on Monday, January 15^th, and Season 2 on Monday, March 18^th.

Shot from May to October 2023 in Edmonton, Alberta, Fano, Italy, and Salt Lake City Utah, PUSH Season 2 is executive produced by Sean De Vries and Kaitlan Stewart and produced by Kaitlan Stewart with Benveet “Bean” Gill acting as consulting producer. Dylan Wertz is series showrunner, Frederick Kroetsch and Rebecca Campbell are at the helm as directors and Daniel Ennett as story producer and co-director.

Featured, The Squeaky Wheel: Canada

AMI and Hitsby Entertainment announce casting, writing and producing teams for The Squeaky Wheel: Canada

November 29, 2023 Greg David

From a media release:

Be Loud. Be Disabled. Be Squeaky. AMI is pleased to announce the cast, writing and producing teams for The Squeaky Wheel: Canada.

Based on Steven Verdile’s popular web publication The Squeaky Wheel and produced by Hitsby Entertainment, The Squeaky Wheel: Canada is a satirical, half-hour news format which pokes fun at the ableist society people with disabilities face every day.

Presented by Canada’s top writers and performers from the disability community, The Squeaky Wheel: Canada‘s irreverent perspective flips tropes and clichés upside down by showcasing disability in a humorous way. Its clever blend of social commentary and provocative humour will leave audiences laughing hysterically and feeling pleasurably guilty about it.

The eight-episode series introduces a fresh perspective to the entertainment landscape with its disability-led creative team, fronted by series producer Michelle Asgarali.

Directed by Lucy Belgum and Tobi Abdul, production is slated to begin filming in Hamilton, Ontario, in December. The series stars Graham Kent and Gaitrie Persaud as its lead anchors, and an ensemble cast featuring Margaret Rose, Samantha Wyss, Sivert Gorachand Das, Wesley Magee-Saxton and Yousef Abdullah Kadoura. The writing team includes D. Cole, Daniel Barra-Berger, Jenny Lee-Gilmore and Sierra Haynes, and many story contributors with diverse perspectives across the disability community.

“I am honoured that AMI and Hitsby Entertainment are taking The Squeaky Wheel in this exciting new direction,” says Steven Verdile. “I look forward to seeing where this talented group of performers, writers and producers from the disability community takes us.”

“I look forward to bringing my directing skills to this unique show,” says director Lucy Belgum. “It’s rare to get such a well-written comedy about disabilities, and I am proud to be one of the first trans women to direct Canadian TV.”

“Being on a disabled-led project is a dream,” says director Tobi Abdul. “I’m thrilled to bring a disruptive internet publication to life and shake up the media landscape.”

The first season of The Squeaky Wheel: Canada will be broadcast on AMI-tv in 2024 and available for streaming on AMI+.