Telefilm Canada announced on Tuesday (August 18) the 16 filmmaker teams and first feature and narrative web projects selected for 2020-21 Talent To Watch programme.
Telefilm and Talent Fund will invest more than USD $1663,000 (C$2.2m) in the English- and French-language work. Thirteen of the 16 teams are culturally diverse, with one who self-identifies as gender diverse. Fifty percent of the stories are directed by women.
For the first time, feature film projects will receive USD $113,389 (C$150,000), up from USD $94,490 (C$125,000) in support. Talent Fund is backed by private donations and launched in 2012 and to date has raised C$17m and funded close to 150 feature films and web series.
Projects selected for 2020-2021:
Alter Boys
Director and Writer: Jonathan Lawrence
Producer: Ryan Cooper
Province/Territory: Manitoba
Partner organisation: On Screen Manitoba
Language: English
Bitter Sweat
Director: D.W. Waterson
Writer: Caitlin English
Producer: Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Canadian Film Centre
Language: English
Blokus
Director and Writer: Josiane Blanc
Producer: Ania Jamila
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Le Laboratoire d’art - Le Labo Inc.
Language: French
Compulsus
Director and Writer: Tara Thorne
Producer: Nicole Steeves
Province/Territory: Nova Scotia
Partner organisation: Women In Film and Television - Atlantic
Language: English
Doug Find Rose
Director and Writer: Grace Glowicki
Producer: Harry Cepka
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Festival Selection Stream
Language: English
Fred l’handicapé
Director: Emmanuelle Landry
Writer: Frédéric Mallet
Producer: André Roy
Province/Territory: New Brunswick
Partner organisation: New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative
Language: French
Golden Delicious
Director: Jason Karman
Writer: Gorrman Lee
Producer: Kristyn Stilling
Province/Territory: British Columbia
Partner organisation: Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society
Language: English
Jour De merde
Director and Writer: Kevin T. Landry
Producer: Kélyna N. Lauzier
Province/Territory: Quebec
Partner organisation: Institut national de l’image et du son
Language: French
Les quintessences
Director, Writer and Producer: Philippe David Gagné
Province/Territory: Quebec
Partner organisation: Festival Selection Stream
Language: French
Mariam
Director and Writer: Hamza Bangash
Producer: Anam Abbas
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Festival Selection Stream
Language: English
Mongrels
Director and Writer: Jerome Yoo
Producer: Nach Dudsdeemaytha
Province/Territory: British Columbia
Partner organisation: Telus Storyhive
Language: English
Querencia
Director and Writer: Mary Galloway
Producer: Jessie Anthony
Province/Territory: British Columbia
Partner organisation: Academy of Canadian Cinema And Television - Canadian Academy Directors Program For Women
Language: English
The Chinatown Diner
Director and Co-writer: Lawrence Le Lam
Co-writer: Tesh Guttikonda
Producer: Thomas Affolter
Province/Territory: British Columbia
Partner organisation: Crazy8s Film Society
Language: English
The Good Guise
Director and Writer: Chrisann Hessing
Producer: Tanya Hoshi
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Festival Selection Stream
Language: English
The Green Waterways
Director and Writer: Kennlin Barlow
Producer: Corrina Merasty
Province/Territory: New Brunswick
Partner organisation: New Brunswick Filmmakers Co-operative
Language: English
When Morning Comes
Director and Writer: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall
Producer: Tamar Bird
Province/Territory: Ontario
Partner organisation: Festival Selection Stream
Language: English.
This year’s selection committee included filmmakers Sharon Lewis (director, Brown Girl Begins), Yonah Lewis (co-director, White Lie), Lori Lozinski (producer, The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open), Allison White (Talent to Watch alumna, producer, Cast No Shadow), and Heather Young (Talent to Watch alumna, director, Murmur).
The external jury for the Indigenous selections has asked to remain anonymous. This year, French-language projects were evaluated by an internal jury at Telefilm due to limitations caused by Covid-19.
As part of the Talent to Watch selection process, creative teams from across Canada submitted potential projects to one of the programme’s 60 designated partners. Each partner then submitted projects to Telefilm for consideration by the decision juries.
The Festival Selection Stream allows emerging filmmakers whose short films have been selected at key festivals to submit a project directly to Telefilm for jury consideration.
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