Congratulations to Victoria’s Leo Award Winners

Congratulations to Victoria’s Leo Award Winners: 

• Martin de Valk, Chiaro Productions  for ‘Back in the Day’ - Leo Award for Best Documentary Series

• Maureen Bradley and team for ‘Freshman’s Wharf’ - Leo Award for Best Web Series

• Hilary Pryor and Irene Green for Best Screenwriting in Children and Youth Programming for 'Tiga Talk'

Go Victoria CineMedia-Makers GO!

DOWN 2 EARTH WINS CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA AWARD

Aarrow Productions, an Aboriginal-owned television production company based in Victoria, BC, has been selected to receive a Canadian Environmental Media Award for its documentary series, Down2Earth. Producer Barbara Hager will accept the award at a ceremony in Toronto on April 16.

 

 

The Canadian Environmental Media Awards are sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Environmental Media Association (EMA) and Toronto-based Green Living Enterprises. The award recipients were chosen by a jury of Canadian and American media professionals to honour documentaries and TV series that raise awareness of environmental issues.

 

Down2Earth is a 13-part HD environmental series broadcast by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) in Canada. The series is also available for viewing on youtube at Channel Down2Earth.

The series is directed by Barbara Hager (Metis/Cree) and hosted by Steve Sxwithul'txw (Coast Salish) and Art Napoleon (Cree). Down2Earth features indigenous communities and individuals who use their traditional knowledge and science to find solutions to man-made environmental issues. The series inspires viewers to take responsibility for preserving and restoring the earth for future generations.

Hager said, "receiving a Canadian Environmental Media Award is not only recognition for the series, Down2Earth, it also acknowledges Indigenous people from throughout Canada and around the world who are committed to preserving and caring for the natural environment."

 

In its first season, Down2Earth featured environmental success stories in more than a dozen Aboriginal communities, including Vancouver, Deep Cove, Sooke, Port Alberni, Bamfield, Victoria, Osoyoos, Port Renfrew, Victoria, Arizona and Belize. The series also profiled Indigenous environmentalists who attended the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

 

Down2Earth will receive its Canadian Environmental Media Award in the Television Series category. Other productions selected to receive an award on April 16 include Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie (International Award of Excellence) and  Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands and Land of Destiny (Documentary Category).

 

Information about the Canadian Environmental Media Awards is available at:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2011/07/c2209.html

Episodes of Down2Earth can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/channeldown2earth.

The Down2Earth blog site is at: http://www.projectdown2earth.com

New Board of Directors

Dear VIFPA members and friends,
 
Following an enthusiastic and relatively well attended first Annual General Meeting for the Victoria Independent Film Professionals Association, I am pleased to announce the new Board of Directors for 2011:
 
Co-Chairs: Kara Flanagan and David Springbett
Vice-Chair: Kal Jones
Treasurer: Martin De Valk
Co-Recording Secretaries: April Butler-Parry and Ratch Wallace
Directors: Brian Paisley, Mandy Leith, Peter Campbell, Art Holbrook, Sandy Mayzell, Karen Davies, David Malysheff, Susan Smitten
 
Your new executive will be contacting members soon about the first business meeting, plus other exciting events like the development of a VIFPA hour on CHEK.  As well, there is a new fee structure to reflect VIFPA’s change in structure, which includes a $20 membership for emerging artists/students and affiliated groups like Cinevic, and corporate memberships of $100 for 3-7 members and $250 for 8+ members.  
 
I would encourage you, if you are not already a member, to join now.  And if you are a current member, please ensure that your membership is paid up-to-date in order to continue receiving email updates and notices of events.  
 
And – to reiterate what I wrote for my outgoing President’s Report – I would like to thank everyone for their presence and time over the past year. We are all busy and that makes your contribution even more valuable.  I look forward to participating in a different capacity as VIFPA continues to thrive and be a voice for local filmmaking.
 
Wishing you all the best,
Susan Smitten
VIFPA Past-President

The Great Night of Shiva

Latest Technology Meets Ancient

MythologyThe Great Night of Shiva 
World Premier Broadcast on VisionTV 
Feb 23/11, 7 PM Local Pacific time (10 PM ET)

 

Victoria, BC, February 7, 2011...The Great Night of Shiva is a breathtakingly beautiful documentary that juxtaposes ancient dance mythology against NASA cosmology to tell the story of the annual, night-long celebration of the Hindu deity, Shiva the Destroyer.  The world premier broadcast is on February 23, 2011, at 7 PM local Pacific Time (10 PM ET), onVisionTV.

Who is Shiva?  On his ‘Great Night’, why is this Lord of the Cosmic Dance, given such love, exultation and honour?  The answers lie in the stars. On that night in mid-February, according to Hindi mystics, yogis and priests, the galaxies align to form a cosmic pathway of energy. 

“Directing The Great Night of Shiva was an opportunity to explore the world's oldest and most complex organized religion”, says director/cinematographer, Peter Campbell.  The film, produced by Hilary Pryor and Peter Campbell, and written by Brian Paisley, details devotees at a Vancouver Temple, as they engage in Mahashivratri celebrating the myth: ‘How Lord Shiva Became Known as The One with Blue Throat’.  Celebrants gather for 24 hours to seek reassurance from their most destructive god that universal good will prevail and life will be reborn. 
 
Intimate sequences of the priest’s rituals and devotee worship are woven together by an exquisite traditional Bharata Natyam dance, choreographed by Jai Govinda, well-renowned for his expertise in this centuries-old genre.  Govinda guides dancer, Kiruthika Rathanaswami, through sinuous moves and an emotional palette to conjure the story – its beauty and power further heightened by the filmmaker’s use of special effects.
“To be able to recreate ancient Shiva mythology with one of the best dancers and choreographers in Canada, using the visual magic of green-screen technology and imagery from the Hubble telescope, was my idea of cinema heaven", Campbell says. This combination of technology meeting ancient mythology gives a fresh perspective to the story of how Shiva saved heaven and earth from total annihilation. 
This year’s Maha Shivarati celebration falls on March 3, 2011. 
 
Intimate sequences of the priest’s rituals and devotee worship are woven together by an exquisite traditional Bharata Natyam dance, choreographed by Jai Govinda, well-renowned for his expertise in this centuries-old genre.  Govinda guides dancer, Kiruthika Rathanaswami, through sinuous moves and an emotional palette to conjure the story – its beauty and power further heightened by the filmmaker’s use of special effects.

“To be able to recreate ancient Shiva mythology with one of the best dancers and choreographers in Canada, using the visual magic of green-screen technology and imagery from the Hubble telescope, was my idea of cinema heaven", Campbell says. This combination of technology meeting ancient mythology gives a fresh perspective to the story of how Shiva saved heaven and earth from total annihilation. 
This year’s Maha Shivarati celebration falls on March 3, 2011. 
The Great Night of Shiva is Produced by May Street Productions Ltd, with the assistance of Joytv 10 CHNU-TV, the Canada Media Fund, with the participation of the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC and the Government of Canada - Canadian Film and Video Production Tax Credit Program. Produced in Association with VisionTV and Gumboot Productions.

Hope you can tune in!

Big VIFPA Thank You!

Dear VIFPA members, colleagues, supporters and new friends,
 
Thank you very much for being part of the entertaining and exciting “VIFPA Night at the VFF”!   Our two featured screenings –Down to the Sea on Drugs and Cascadia- played to an enthusiastic sold-out house.   And many of those in the audience joined us for the after party at the Victoria Event Centre, where they enjoyed delicious food from Ambrosia Catering  as well as wine donated by Averill Creek.  
 
Once again, VIFPA would like to thank our sponsor, the Pacific Film and New Media Academy.  Thanks to all the volunteers who helped to set up and clean up for the party.  Thanks to Gamut Productions for putting together a great reel of recent productions by VIFPA’s members.   And thanks to all those new to VIFPA for coming out and supporting local film-making. 
 
In the spirit of encouraging a broader membership under our new name (Victoria Independent Film Professionals Association), I would like to invite you to join us Monday, February 14th for our next meeting and mixer.  It will also be our last Take Two screening at the VEC.   The meeting starts at 5pm, mixer with cash bar begins at 6 and screening at 7pm.   Again, it’s all at the Victoria Event Centre on Broad Street.
 
And VIFPA’s Annual General Meeting will take place on March 7th starting at 6pm at the Bard & Banker (upstairs area).  Please join us – we will be electing a new slate of directors, including the four positions of President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary.    And with the new name, we will also be voting on some new bylaws, including a new fee structure for membership.  
 
In a small city and island like ours, we are stronger when we work together.   The reel shown last night demonstrates the talent and energy in this thriving community.  VIFPA hopes to continue that momentum.  We hope you will be part of it. 
 
Thanks again,
Susan Smitten
VIFPA President