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Summer 2011GTA Film Festival Newsmag

• Contact Us:Our Location:110 The Esplanade #323Toronto, Ontario Canada M5E 1X9

Our Web Address:www.newsmagtv.tv

To purchase advertisingor for further enquiries:

Sandie de FreitasPublisher, Sales and Marketing e-mail: telemark@rogers.com Telephone: 416 362 5570

Norm Hart Sales and Marketing e-mail: normhart@bell.net telephone: 416 886 5465

Dan Ridout Production Design and Layout

Writers/Contributors:Anna lee OrrMargot RoessleinNorman HartMonty Driver

Summer Contents

• Youth Short Film Festival 4• Macedonian Film Festival 5• Toronto Singapore Film Festival 6• Toronto After Dark Film Festival 6• Showbiz with Humiliation 8• COMMFFEST - Global Community Film Festival 9• ReelWorld 10• Human Rights Film Festival 13• aluCine 13• Toronto Film Festival group meeting 15• Floyd Norman: 16 Animation & Story Artist • Popcorn and Drink With Geri 19• Commffest’s Monthly Film Club 19• A Farewell to Gerald Pratley - The Godfather of Cinematheque 20• Toronto Urban Film Festival 21• Top 27 Canadian Film Festivals 22 for 2011 • Vancouver Film Festival 23• The History of The Film Festival 25• Edinburgh Film Festival 26• GTA Festival Listings 29

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•To assist in the forming of partnerships with those in the industry

•To offer audiences a high quality alternative to commercial workTo check us out on the web go to:www.torontoyouthshorts.com/ To contact us by email:torontoyouthshorts@gmail.com

Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival

The Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival is a volunteer not-for-profit initiative that works to bring a series of events for young filmmakers and independent film lovers in the Greater Toronto Area, offering audiences an opportunity to enjoy films made by local filmmakers and video artists.

The volunteers at the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival strives to accomplish four goals:

•To present opportunities for local youth to showcase their work in a professional setting

•To create a network of young film, video and media artists in the Greater Toronto Area

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Macedonian Film Festival

Do you have a tale to tell? Submit your film to the MFF Mobile Film contest. We’re looking for your stories: Immigration to Canada, family traditions, or just a story you would like to tell.

Specifications: Film must be created by your mobile phone, you must have a Macedonian background, OR your film is about Macedonians or Macedonia. No age limit. Open worldwide. Special category for winners 18 years of age and under.

Length: Must be at least 33 seconds, no longer than 3 minutes and 33 seconds. Any film longer than the maximum will be disqualified.

Top three winners will be announced by our selection committee by Octo-ber 15, 2011. All qualified mobile film entries will appear on our website with the three winners being screened at this year’s film festival, in October. Rules and regulations:

http://www.macedonianfilmfestival.com and click on Contact.

Mobile Film Contest

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has been forging friendships and uniting film making interests between the two dynamic multicultural cities of Singapore and Toronto since 2006. During that time, the festival has grown from a one-day short film festival to a successful three-day event where its films have enjoyed

full house attendance at Innis Town Hall (U of T) and the Revue cinema.This year, TSFF partners with Harbour-front Centre’s Fortune Cooking Festival to bring you Rice Rhapsody on August 12th. The owner of a successful chicken rice restaurant Jen Fan (Sylvia Chang), is a single mom with traditional values. Her two older sons are gay and Jen is determined that her youngest son Leo will not follow his brothers’ orientation. Jen arranges to take in a female French exchange student in her grand“salvation” plot for Leo, and there begins many humorous twists and turns in this heart- warming drama about an Asian world not commonly seen in Asian cinema, - a world where values between generations and cultures collide, but also where understanding meets.

Don’t forget to also stop by on August 13th for a cooking demonstration of Singaporean cuisine!

Toronto After Dark Film Festival is one of the world’s leading showcases of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult

films. The critically acclaimed annual event, now in its 6th Year, brings attention to thrilling new short and feature films from around the world. Last year’s festival was attended by a record 9,300 enthusiastic film fans and over 100 members of press and industry. In a poll of local filmgoers, Toronto After Dark was also voted Runner-Up for Best Film Festival in the City. For this year’s edition, responding to popular fan demand, the festival returns to its original place in the calendar just before Halloween.

The event will run for eight thrilling nights, October 20–27, 2011 at the Bloor Cinema, Toronto’s legendary cult movie theatre, revered by visiting filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and Edgar Wright.

Complete details are available at the festival website: torontoafterdark.com

AFTER DARK Film Festival

The Singapore Film Festival

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The performer in question received a call from her agency offering her a film gig in Hamilton consisting of two scenes. She was partnered with a performer, a retired professor of the arts, who did his best to impress her with his knowledge while they were being filmed strolling through the Hamilton Art Gallery viewing paintings.Later in the day during the shoot of a book launching, the camera crew seemed to be zooming in on her, more specifically on her hands. She was baffled. After, during

the author’s book signing, the professor and she toasted each other with a non-alcoholic substance simulating white wine when the professor’s glance fell upon her hands. His brows furrowed and he became overtly uncomfortable. And then she saw it and got it: during the filming of the author’s acceptance speech, absentmindedly she had been kneading her black purse—and the black dye of the purse had blackened the rim of her fingernails which had become black, disgustingly black, captured by the cheeky camera crew and seen by that professor! Shock at her tarnished image rendered her speechless.Then again, if nothing else, having been shamed in such manner added a little drama to the otherwise uneventful film shoot, she rationalized.

Showbiz with Humiliation

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September 22-25Now in it’s 6th year COMMFFEST GLOBAL COMMUNITY FILM FESTIVAL continues to offer a unique platform for independent filmmakers, in today’s media-explosive world, to engage in a dialogue of social issues and cultural exchange through the powerful language of film in all genres. Commffest presents a broad program that represents current affairs and relevant issues, and provides an opportunity for filmmakers to express themselves freely and connect more personally with audiences.This collective mix of film, filmmakers, and audiences creates a dynamic atmosphere to provoke thought and stimulate understanding, as well as the exploration of ideas, attitudes, and emotions that can foster change starting with the communities in which we live. The year’s best films will be honored with a Making A Difference (MADA) Award, for the

best films tackling social and cultural issues.Important connections are forged at COMMFFEST, between filmmakers and fans, and among organizations. The winner of the 2010 “Making A Difference Award,” IN MY HANDS, gained important press coverage for Marfan Syndrome, and ultimately prompted the merging of the U.S. and Canadian Marfan Associations. The television and press coverage garnered by the Festival not only boosted awareness of the disease, but elevated the film’s profile as well – a true success for all involved…and success stories like this abound. If your film explores social and cultural issues, submit now!

Commffest Global Community Film Festival

Submissions 2011Final deadline for submissions Jun 30 go to www.commffest.comCOMMFFEST Global Community Film festival110 The Esplanade #323Toronto, OntarioM5E 1X9 Tel. 416 362 5570

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The ReelWorld Film Festival success-fully wrapped it’s 11th season. With the support of longtime sponsors, CityTV, TD Bank, Cineplex, Kodak, CBC, Global Toronto, Shaw Media, Telefilm Canada and OMDC, the festival made strides in it’s work to promote films, by filmmakers of diversity. ReelWorld was also honored to add new sponsors to it’s festival family, Chevrolet, Chrys-ler and Universal Music Canada. Our sponsors and festival friends not only allow ReelWorld to sustain, but to grow. The screening of our films, the indus-try panels and introductions, serve as a stepping stone for first time filmmakersto showcase their talents.

Festival Founder and President, Tonya Lee Williams’ vision was to bring films to the big screen that represent the ra-cial and cultural diversity that lives and breathes around us, every day. Realizing the unique challenges diverse filmmakers face making their stories and having them seen, ReelWorld put into place initiatives such as the Indie Film Lounge (IFL). IFL is a two day forum, created specifically to help our Canadian diverse filmmakers, meet and learn from experts in the industry who come to Toronto in September. The event hosts industry profession-als, sponsors, and our “Emerging 20.” These individuals are given the oppor-tunity to meet and network with estab-lished members of the Canadian and International entertainment community. This years event will take place, Sep-tember 14th & 15th at the Empire Lounge in Yorkville.

For more information:• www.reelworld.ca• http://www.facebook.com/pages/ReelWorld-Film-Festival/109983872346997?ref=ts• http://twitter.com/#!/ReelWorldFilm

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The 8th Annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival (February 22 – March 4, 2011) came to a close on Friday, March 4th with a sold-out screening of the film Illégal at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Barbara Jackman, a Canadian lawyer specializing in immigration and refugee law, introduced Illégal, a psychological thriller with a social commentary background. Over 2,200 people attended the 11-day festival and many of the films were sold-out or nearly so. As in previous years, the Festival featured 10 documentary and feature films, which address human rights issues and fundamental matters of social injustice from around the world. This year’s guest speakers included award-winning documentary filmmaker Shelley Saywell, novelist Kim Echlin and HRW’s own researchers Andrea Prasow and Bill Van Esveld. The 9th Annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival will screen in late-February/early March 2012.

SOLD OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS!

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Toronto Latin Media Arts FestivalNovember 16–19, 2011aluCine’s mandate is to showcase excellence and innovation in contemporary in-dependent short film/video and new media. To promote and nurture works made by emerging and established Latin artists living in Canada, Latin America, and the Diaspora. To provide a vital outlet to have their works disseminated to a broader public both nationally and internationally. To transcend pre-established notions of representation and to cross borders; aesthetically, ideologically and geographically with the screening of Canadian works in Latin America and elsewhere.http://www.alucinefestival.com

aluCine

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Toronto Film Festival Group Meeting

Notes of Meeting May 10, 2011The ‘TorontoFilmFestivals.com’ work-ing group recently met at City Hall to discuss ways to help the over 75 film festivals the City hosts each year. In attendance was City Film & TV Commis-sioner Peter Finestone, who chaired the meeting, George Brown College School of Design educator Paul Royes, Moe Jiwan from Reelworld Film Festival, Virginia Evans director of the Macedonian Film Festival, and Geo Pal, founder/director of Giggleshorts Film Festival. Other festivals that attended were TIFF, Toronto Urban Film Festi-val, aluCine Festival, Image, Reel Asian, Brazil, COMMFFEST, CineFranco European Union, ReelWorld, Toronto Latin, Toronto Palastine, Toronto Urban and Imanine Native. Moe Jiwan from Reelworld Film Festival spoke first on ways to manage better as a team by taking

advantage of efficient and cost effec-tive group ticketing. We continued with conversation on ways to promote further the Web Portal and keep it cur-rent and accurate. The big challenge has been to get updates from festivals. With-out current information the web portal will become irrelevant and suffer. We need all festivals to respond to requests for updates even if it’s just your festival logo, locations, and dates. After several other topics the meeting ended with Paul Royes from George Brown offering to have his students prepare a trailer for any festival that would like to have one—now that’s the kind of co-operation be-fitting the world film festival capital.

Norman Hart - Staff Reporter

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Animation & Story ArtistIn the late ‘70s, I was hired by Hanna-Barbera Productions; the home of the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, and other Saturday morning cartoon series popular at that time. It was owned by the legendary team of animators, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, famous for the ‘Tom & Jerry’ cartoons. I soon realized the top talents in animation and the comic book world were working at Hanna-Barbera. Marvel Comics in New York had downsized and their comic book artists were hired by H&B to develop new series. Disney and other animation studios were in hiatus and their artists were also working there. It was a great time to be at H&B!One of the many folks at H&B who made a lasting impression on me was Floyd Norman. Floyd is a master of quick sketches that catch the movement and emotions of his characters. His daily

cartoons of events at H&B were posted outside his cubicle for all to enjoy. His cartoons were the focal point of the studio…our daily giggle. It was an honor to be the subject of Floyd’s gentle humor. Floyd was born in 1936, started his long career in animation as the first young African-American artist to be hired by Disney Studios.

Floyd Norman

His cartoons were the focal point of the studio… our daily giggle. It was an honor to be the subject of

Floyd’s gentle humor.

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He contributed to the design, story and animation of many of Disney’s feature films. He worked on The Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred & One Dalmatians, Winnie the Pooh, Robin Hood and others.

In the ‘70s he formed a company with a fellow animator and created inserts for Sesame Street, and a Black History series to teach children about their roots.Floyd was hired by Hanna-Barbera to be the creative director of the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and later the Smurfs series. He was always a kind, inspiring person to oversee all aspects of the projects. He also did some free-lance story development and animation for the Charlie Brown series and other feature films.He returned to Disney in the mid ‘80s and contributed to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alladin and Mulan. He joined Pixar Inc. to work on Toy Story and Monsters, both cutting edge CGI animation. Now semi-retired, Floyd is called to assist projects being developed

for major studios. Now he is at Disney working on the design for a “secret” CGI film to be released in a few years. He is in contact with fans, friends and animators all over the world on Facebook and Twitter. He posts a cartoon a day…on relevant subjects in the news…on his FB wall. Floyd and his partners maintain a web-site to educate African-American kids about their history. His stories of his experiences and talks with artists in many fields, give the children encouragement to reach their goals. He also teaches animation to aspiring young filmmakers at local colleges and in seminars for Disney.I have great respect for Floyd Norman and his contributions to film animation over the years. It is an honor to be one of his many friends.

Writer: Annalee Orr

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Popcorn and a Drink with Geri

I recently went with my mum to see the 3D movie ‘Hoodwink 2’, an animated film that put a new spin on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Director Corey Edwards used most of the same actors as in the first Hoodwink movie that came out in 2005. Glenn Close is still Granny, Patrick Warburton remains the Wolf, Nicky Flippers once again played by David Ogden Stiers. This time around Hayden Panettiere, the “super cheerleader” from Heroes, played Red and not Anne Hathaway. Other characters in the movie include Martin Short, Joan Cusack, Brad Garrett, Wayne Newton, with Amy Poehler and Bill Hader playing the voices of Hansel & Gretel. The movie is in brilliant color with excellent 3D effects and lovable characters, funny, lively with a little of everything for all, and is ok for adults as well as us kids. I give it 5 out of 5.

Commffest’sMonthly Film ClubBefore the Kings Speech there was Voices To Remember by Gemini award-winning filmmaker Vladimir Bondarenko, an Old Town Toronto resident, who screened and hosted to a full house March 26th at the monthly St Lawrence Film Club at C’est What? 67 Front St Toronto. Once a stutterer himself Vladimir felt the need to document the plight of others who suffered the same social difficulty. The 60 minute film tells the heart-warming stories of four adults who stutter, as seen through the eyes of an eleven year old girl named Alyssa. Several members of the cast were on hand and joined in at question and answer time.

“A great way to spend a couple of hours!” says Don Owen, Canadian icon filmmaker.

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It is with great sadness we report the passing, at age 87, of Gerald Pratley a true cinema pioneer. He was born in London UK and moved to Canada in the late 40’s. Working for CBC he became an important element in the cinema industry first as a reviewer then hosting several programs between 1948 and 1975. He was the CBC’s man at the Cannes Film Festival for 30 years. In 1968 to founded the Ontario Film Institute which in 1990 became TIFF Cinematheque, one of his greatest accomplishments. He spent 5 years as director of the Stratford Film Festival from 1970 to 1975 then went on to become chairman of the Toronto Film Society and the Toronto and District Film Council. He wrote for Variety, Canadian Film Weekly, Canadian Film Digest, Hollywood Quarterly and Film In Review. He will be greatly missed.

Reported by Monty Driver

A Farewell to Gerald PratleyThe Godfather of Cinematheque

Gerald Pratley standing with friends famed opera star Maureen Forrester and Newsmag president Sandie de Freitas

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Toronto Urban Film FestivalThe Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) is North America’s only true “underground” film festival, reaching over 1.3 million daily commuters who ride the Toronto subway system. Now in its fifth year, the festival shows one-minute silent shorts with an urban theme. All films screen every 10 minutes on 300 screens in 60 subways stations across the city. A guest judge -- this year it is Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan -- selects the top three films of the festival as well as the winner of the “Naish McHugh Award”, an annual cash award from the City of Toronto to an emerging GTA filmmaker. TUFF is open to both Canadian and international submissions with the annual “call for

entries” scheduled for July 15th. The festival itself takes place September 9 - 18, 2011 concurrent with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “20 Coolest Film Festivals” for 2010! For more information, visit http://www.torontourbanfilmfestival.com

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Both in terms of admissions and number of films screened (148,000 and 373 respectively in 2010) VIFF is among the five largest film festivals in North America. We screen films from 80 countries on 10 screens. The international line-up includes the pick of the world’s top film fests and many undiscovered gems.

Three main programming platforms make our festival unique: we screen the largest selection of East Asian films outside of that region, we are one of the biggest showcases of Canadian film in the world and we have a large and important nonfiction program.

Attracting a large, attentive and enthusiastic audience of film lovers, the festival remains accessible, friendly and culturally diverse. As the critics say, VIFF is very much a festival “designed for the benefit of people who love films and people who make them.”

MandateFounded in 1982, VIFF is a charitable not-for-profit cultural organization whose mission is:

A. To encourage understanding of the world’s cultures through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world, and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia.

B. To operate an annual Vancouver International Film Festival, a festive public celebration bringing to British Columbia the best in contemporary Canadian and international cinema and retrospective programs.

C. To operate the Vancouver International Film Centre, providing the public and film community with an excellent facility for the appreciation of cinema and related art forms throughout the year.

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The first major film festival was held in Venice in 1932; the other major and oldest film festivals of the world are: Festival del film Locarno 1946, Karlovy Vary 1946, Edinburgh International Film Festival 1947, Cannes Film Festival 1947 and Berlin International Film Festival 1951.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival in the UK was established in 1947 and is the longest continually running film festival in the world.

The largest festival, in terms of the number of features shown, is the Seattle International Film Festival, screening 270 features, and approximately 150 short films. Meanwhile, the New York Film Festival only shows a few films each year, but it still has big impact in the United States. The Sundance film festival is a major festival for inde-pendent film. The Tribeca Film Festival and Montreal World Film Festival are also major festivals in North America. The biggest European festival is the Cannes film festival in France along with Berlin, Warsaw and Venice.

The Toronto International Film Festival, begun in 1976, and is regarded as North America’s most major and prestigious film festival, and the most widely attended worldwide. Toronto’s Hot Docs is the leading North American documentary film festival.

Fast becoming a major festival is COMMFFEST Film Festival held in Old Town Toronto in Sept. NOW magazine declares that there are few festivals with the “grassroots & gumption” of COMMFFEST.

With more than 75 film festivals in the GTA showing a range of cultural, independent, animated and historic films that contribute over 11 million tourism dollars (excluding TIFF) Toronto has become the World ‘s Film Festival Capital.

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EIFF started life in 1947 as one of the world’s first international film festivals, and helped to define the type of event that has since become so pivotal to film culture in nations all over the world. Taking place over 12 days in June (15th -26th), the Edinburgh International Film Festival will this year focus on the creation of film experiences for all in Edinburgh, with pioneering new strands and innovative events set to capture the imagination of film lovers of all ages. James Mullighan is the Director of the 65th EIFF, managing all aspects of programming for this year’s festival with a number of collaborators from the global creative industries. With a documentary program the 65th edition celebrates those roots, with a third of the program paying tribute to the genre, including ten joint UK premieres presented in a new collaboration with the Sheffield International Documentary Festival

In the 70’s and 80’s, the festival consolidated its reputation as a pioneering force for UK audiences, screening films from the New German Cinema, the new wave of American independents, homage’s to the masters of Japan Cinema, and the pioneering studies of black and feminist filmmakers. Festival audiences were able to witness masterpieces from across the whole spectrum of film culture, from the UK premiere of Spielberg’s ET: The Extraterrestrial,

EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL

STRONGER THAN EVER

June 15-26 2011

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to Abel Gance’s silent classic Napoleon complete with a full orchestral score.

Organizers believe that bringing the EIFF’s historic role as a pioneer to the fore and driving a re-think of its format and program are essential to

assure Edinburgh’s place as a leading festival over time. Over 60 International, European and UK feature premieres continue EIFF’s commitment to showcasing the best new cinema, kicking off on opening night with the UK premiere of John Michael McDonagh’s brilliant Irish comedy-thriller The Guard (starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle) at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Other international features include the UK premieres of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s much anticipated directorial debut Jack Goes Boating; and the UK premiere of David MacKenzie’s Glasgow-set sci-fi thriller love story Perfect Sense (starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green). EIFF is looking forward to be the strongest and best ever 2011.

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