The trailer for ‘Argo’ piqued my interest because I remember the drama of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis and the later revelation of the Canadian ambassador’s actions to smuggle out six Americans.
Kudos to Ben Affleck for stepping up and rewriting the closing postscript after complaints by Ken Taylor, as reported in Macleans. What do they say about history being written by the victors? Here’s a case of history being rewritten by Hollywood (and then corrected by the real actors).
The National Film Board of Canada reports that Roman Kroitor has died: Death of Roman Kroitor: Canada and the Film World Lose a Pioneer.
One of Mr. Kroitor’s many achievements was co-invenitng IMAX over 40 years ago. Something approaching a monopoly, IMAX pretty well cornered the large-format production and exhibition space, owning cameras, films and theatres. Its business model has diversified somewhat lately, expanding into 3D TV and laser lamps.
My favourite IMAX film is Van Gogh: Brush with Genius. I saw this in Victoria one early evening and, leaving the theatre, was rewarded with the magical orange light of the soon-to-set sun bathing the harbour. For the next half hour, it was as if I was continuing to see the world through Van Gogh’s eyes. Wonderful!
Thank you, Roman.
In 2009, the Ateliers du Cinéma Européen opened its doors to non-EU independent producers by launching a new training session that this year will take place from April 1-8, 2013 in Paris, France and in Finland.
Telefilm Canada will facilitate the participation of one English market and one French market producer, covering these costs: tuition, travel from Paris to Finland and back, accommodation and subsistence expenses in Europe. Your Canada/Paris round-trip airfare will be covered by ACE.
To qualify, you must be an experienced independent producer with a fiction feature film currently in development and must have produced, as the main producer, either:
The deadline to communicate your interest in applying to ACE MUNDUS is October 15, 2012.
See the Call for Candidates for more information.
This past week I had the pleasure of attending Ian MacKenzie’s Crowdfunding 101 seminar at the Victoria Event Centre.
I particularly liked how Ian positioned crowdfunding as part of a shift from the traditional economy to the ‘gift’ economy.
Scarcity -> Interdependence
Copyright -> Creative Commons
Closed -> Open
Ian believes we have to stop asking ourselves, “How can I make money?” and instead ask, “In a time of transition — how can I be of service?”
Pre-Launch
Get ready and build your fan base:
Determine your goal, realizing 30% will come from your direct network.
Choose five to ten rewards; be creative and personal.
Create your Pitch Video.
Launch
Spread the word!
Add weekly update videos to the campaign.
Get excited as the deadline approaches.
Post-Campaign
Do what you said you would.
Fulfill the rewards.
Continue to post updates.
See Ian’s list of three dozen crowdfunding platforms at www.ianmack.com/crowdfunding-web/crowdfunding-platforms/
The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds have announced a submission window for Canadian documentaries:
$3,000,000 available: The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Completion Fund is a grant program that will provide financial support of up to $100,000 (limited to a maximum of 20% of a project’s budget) for production companies to complete specific projects.
$1,000,000 available: The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Development Fund is a loan program designed to help producers get specific projects developed, researched, written and/or packaged and ready for market.
Ever since 2004, I’ve pictured the mediascape as a brick wall.
A brick wall falling apart.
In slow motion.
Brick by brick.
Movies and TV first began appearing on the Internet in 2004. No one quite knew how to make money with media on the web but no one could deny that people were spending more and more time there. And less and less time on traditional media.
Since then, this trend has accelerated. More channels and fragmented audiences have meant smaller budgets and increased competition. How is the independent filmmaker to finance their work?
The bricks continue to fall.
As the dust begins to settle,
is that a glimmer of blue sky I see?