May 20th – 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm ZOOM – Workshop -The Genre Game- Andrew Hunt, Ravenbanner Entertainment.
In this one-hour workshop, Andrew will run through the intricate process of developing & producing your genre film for the worldwide marketplace. Andrew is one of the founding partners of Raven Banner Entertainment, a worldwide sales company specializing in cutting-edge genre films. Raven Banner has distributed such films as The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Turbo Kid, Deathgasm, Bloodthirsty, Psycho Goreman, and the Academy-award nominated Embrace of the Serpent. Andrew, a Sheridan College Media Arts grad, has over 30 years of industry experience, having produced such films as Slamdance Award winner Shoot To Marry and the upcoming V/H/S reboot, and is the director/editor of the upcoming film Spare Parts, and the Craig Davidson (Rust and Bone) penned The Fight Machine, slated for release in 2022.
May 27th 8:30 – 9:30 pm – ZOOM – Master Class. The Art of Creative Producing- with Daniel Bekerman (Scythia Films)
Producers have to know the business and organizational side of production inside out. But the industry is currently moving towards Creative Producers, who are able to work within both the operational process of a project (the business of film and TV), as well as involve themselves intimately in the creative process of filmmaking. The Canadian Human Resources Council has listed Creative Producing as a key requirement for working in today’s fast-paced, competitive film and TV Industry. The creative producer shapes the way that meaning is taken from the work, and works alongside the Director creating a tour de force production team. An expert in the art of Creative Producing, Daniel Bekerman, founder and president of Scythia Films, is one of Canada’s most prolific feature film producers, with broad experience in creative producing, financing, international co-productions and service productions having completed over 25 films in the last 5 years. Recent credits include Falling, Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, which had its World Premiere at Sundance 2020 and was an Official Selection at the 73rd Edition of the Cannes Film Festival as well as TIFF 2020 and OFFA and Sheridan Alumni’s 2021 Winter screening series. Also part of the same series is Percy, starring Academy award-winner Christopher Walken and Christina Ricci, which is also screening as part of a special event for Earth Day 2021. And Come to Daddy, starring Elijah Wood which released theatrically in February of this year.
Sunday 6 June @ 1pm Panel: Local Goes Global: Coproducing with Ukraine.
Moderator: Olffi coproduction specialist and French filmmaker Ilann Girard (Cunningham, A Final Portrait).
Panelists include award-winning Canadian Filmmaker Ryan Boyko (That Never Happened). Ryan hopes to be one of the first to use the new coproduction treaty, Ukrainian Producer Philip Illienko (former head of The Ukrainian state film agency, also wrote the treaty on behalf of Ukraine and working with Ryan Boyko on a new project), and Telefilm Canada Senior Coproduction Analyst, Susan King.
For Canadian producers, engaging in the global marketplace has become increasingly popular, more viable, and essential to a properly monetized business and funding plan. Telefilm Canada encourages Canadian producers to take local and national stories to a world audience by engaging in international treaty coproductions. In December 2020, Telefilm Canada added Ukraine to the list of just under sixty coproduction partner countries. The Audiovisual Coproduction Treaty between the Government of Canada and the cabinet of ministers of Ukraine signed on July 2, 2019 entered into effect on January 1, 2021, attracting interest from the production community. Canadian filmmaker Ryan Boyko, along with Philip Illienko, hopes to be one of the first to engage in a Canada-Ukraine Treaty coproduction. This panel is designed to help intermediate to experienced producers who are new to the coproduction process, or experienced producers who want to co-produce with Ukraine.
June 10th 7:30 pm. Panel – #Metoo: Workplace Culture and Power Dynamics.
Moderator is Patricia Scarlett (Founder The Media Business Institute, Instructor/ Producer (RasTa: a Soul’s Journey 2011, Rastafari Then and Now 2007). Panelists include: Kitty Green, Writer/Director of The Assistant (Australia). Kathleen Cummins (Film Professor and PHD, Sheridan College, Oakville) and seasoned Canadian film and TV Director/photographer Gail Harvey (Looking is the Original Sin (2014),Virgin River (TV series 2019-2020). This workshop will deal with conversations engendered within the film/tv community both in the film and TV Production world, and in college communities with regards to power dynamics in the workplace.
Registrants will also have access to a complimentary screening of Green’s film “The Assistant,” which will be available to screen for six days from 4th June to 10th June at 7:30 pm EDT. Once you register, you will receive information on how to screen the film. The film features a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer (Julie Garner), who has recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. The panel will examine women’s progress in the industry.
June 17th –7:30 pm Master Class – Casey MQ – “The Score” with Casey MQ
This one-hour Master Class will help to reveal the creative process behind Casey MQ’s innovative sound. Casey MQ is an artist, producer, and composer from Toronto, Canada. Growing up as a classically trained musician. Casey has devoted his craft to scoring film. Over the last five years, he has worked on over 20 features and shorts, which
Premiered at TIFF, SXSQ, Sundance, Rotterdam, and TIFF. In 2016, Casey was also an artist in residence at the Canadian Film Centre where he has composed original music for a number of award-winning Canadian films, including Firecrackers, Easy Land, and Tito. As a recording artist, Casey has collaborated with the likes of Oklou, Jeremy Dutcher, Christine and the Queens, and Suicideyear. His debut album “Babycasey” was released globally last year via Halocline Trance.
This one-hour Master Class will help to reveal the creative process behind classical pianist/vocalist/guitarist, and composer Casey MQ’s innovative sound in the music he has composed for films, which is influenced by his diverse musical background. Toronto composer and musician Casey MQ – real name Casey Manierka-Quaile – switches between melancholic soul and neo-orchestral movements, groove-laden electronic pop and piano-based ballads dripping with sadness and drama. Casey has been composer/ and songwriter-in-residence at the Canadian Film Center, where he has composed original music for a number of award-winning Canadian films, including: Firecrackers, Easy Land, and Tito. Beyond his solo work, Casey MQ is also in a Toronto band called Unbuttoned. A classically-trained pianist, he began learning his craft at the age of eight. Casey is currently a participant for this year’s Red Bull Music Academy in Montreal.
June 24th – 7:30 pm. Workshop 2 – Producing with Impact: A Workshop with writer-director-producer Liz Marshall. This event includes a complimentary screening of Marshall’s multi award-wining 2013 impact documentary, The Ghosts in Our Machine. (Note: the screening of The Ghosts in Our Machine will be available on Tuesday 22 June at 7:30 pm EDT and will be available to screen, free, for 48 hours, or until the Master Class begins Thursday 24th June at 7:30 pm EDT)
Award-wining filmmaker Liz Marshall’s workshop focuses on the key elements of impact producing in this one-hour workshop. Impact Producing (a term coined by acclaimed documentary filmmaker, author and speaker Jon Reiss) is essential for filmmakers who want to make an impact and inspire real change. It is crucial for filmmakers that want to deliver both a mission, and a message, and for those that want to raise awareness, and inspire action, that can often lead to major changes in both policy and in how people think about issues. Marshall’s visionary feature-length films explore social justice and environmental themes through strong characters. Since the 1990s, Marshall has written, directed, produced, and filmed diverse international and socially conscious documentaries. Her work has been released theatrically, been broadcast globally, made available digitally, and has screened for hundreds of grassroots communities around the globe.
Longer Bio:
The impact of Liz’s critically acclaimed documentary The Ghosts In Our Machine (2013) is reflected in an extensive global evaluation report funded by the Doc Society. Marshall’s current feature documentary Meat The Future (2020), chronicles the birth of the “clean” “cultured” “cell-based” meat industry in America through the eyes of pioneer Dr. Uma Valeti. Previous titles include Midian Farm (2018), Water On The Table (2010), the HIV/AIDS trilogy for the Stephen Lewis Foundation (2007), the War Child Canada/MuchMusic special Musicians in the Warzone (2001), and the 1995 music documentary archive of folk-icon Ani DiFranco.
