28 documentaries are tapped for funding from Telefilm Canada’s Theatrical Documentary Program. The list includes 20 docs in the English-language market announced today, along with eight titles for the French market announced earlier this week. Among the films on the ticket is Saigon Story from Oscar-nominee Kim Nguyen (War Witch). The NFB production tells the story of a family whose history is captured, tragically, in American photojournalist Eddie Adams’ iconic 1968 photo of a prisoner at the moment of his execution during the Vietnam War. Nguyen previously directed the documentary feature Le nez.
Also on the ticket is Alan Zweig’s latest, Ending at All, also with the NFB. The film explores the tough questions posed by suicide amid a growing mental health crisis and considers the ripple effects for those left behind. Joining several veterans on the list is Montreal-based filmmaker Carol Nguyen, who will make her feature directorial debut with The Visitors. Nguyen won this year’s Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize for an Emerging Artist from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Other newcomers on the list include Maya Després-Bedward, whose Black Zombie will offer a provocative study of an iconic horror figure and the legacy of slavery and cultural appropriation of which it is a part.
Titles for the English language market represent five provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Quebec. Among the BC productions are new films from Trish Dolman, John Bolton, and Patrick Shannon. In Manitoba, Crime Wave veteran John Paizs joins Halya Kuchmij and Cordell Barker for The Passion of Kurelek, while Deanne Foley’s I Will Not Forget You reps the East Coast. Additional Ontario projects include The Art of Adventure from Alison Reid, Disco’s Revenge from Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara, Monkey on a Stick from Jason Lapeyre, Plastic People from Ben Addelman and Ziya Tang, Say It Loud by Graeme Mathieson, Taste of Longing by Noura Kevorkian, Under Duress: Max Stern and the Nazi Art War by Jamie Kastner, and PostNatural directed by Brett Story and Ben Travers.
Stephan Peterson and Sonya Ballantyne’s Death Tour, meanwhile, rounds out the English-language Quebec docs, along with The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman, directed by Bart Simpson, and Shifting Baselines, directed by Julien Elie. Quebec titles funded on the French side include new works directed by Félix Rose, Michel LaVeau, André-Line Beauparlant, Pascale Ferland, Oksana Karpovych, Frédérick Pelletier, Catherine Hébert and Elric Robichon, and Nadia Louis-Desmarchais.
The list of funded films is as follows:
English Market
The Art of Adventure
Director and screenwriter: Alison Reid
Production: Free Spirit Films Inc.
Distributor: Game Theory Films
Province: Ontario
Language: English
Black Zombie
Director and screenwriter: Maya Després-Bedward
Production: Black Zombie Productions Inc.
Distributor: Raven Banner
Province: Ontario
Languages: English and French
The Death Tour
Directors: Stephan Peterson and Sonya Ballantyne
Screenwriter: Stephan Peterson
Production: H2LShiners Inc.
Distributor: Raven Banner
Province: Quebec
Languages: English, French, and Cree
Disco’s Revenge
Directors and screenwriters: Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara
Production: Disco Movie Canada Inc., 86 Media House Inc., and Elevation Pictures Corp.
Distributor: Elevation Pictures Corp.
Province: Ontario
Language: English
Dress for Excess
Director and screenwriter: Trish Dolman
Production: SILO Entertainment Inc. and Screen Siren Pictures Inc.
Distributor: Photon Films and Media Inc.
Province: British Columbia
Language: English
Ending it All
Director and screenwriter: Alan Zweig
Production: 52 Media Inc.
Distributor: National Film Board
Province: Ontario
Language: English
I Will Not Forget You (working title)
Director and screenwriter: Deanne Foley
Production: Odd Sock Films Inc. and Pearl Productions Inc.
Distributor: National Film Board
Province: Newfoundland/Labrador
Language: English
King Arthur’s Night
Director: John Bolton
Production: Let’s Get the Grail Productions Inc.
Distributor: levelFILM
Province: British Columbia
Language: English
The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman
Director and screenwriter: Bart Simpson
Production: Intuitive Pictures Productions Inc.
Distributor: levelFILM
Province: Quebec
Language: English
Monkey on a Stick
Director and screenwriter: Jason Lapeyre
Production: Sphere Media Toronto Inc.
Distributor: Sphere Films
Province: Ontario
Language: English
The Passion of Kurelek
Directors: Halya Kuchmij, Cordell Barker and John Paizs
Screenwriter: Halya Kuchmij
Production: Merit Motion Pictures Inc.
Distributor: Northern Banner
Province: Manitoba
Language: English
Plastic People
Directors: Ben Addelman and Ziya Tang
Screenwriter: Ben Addelman
Production: Plastic People Documentary Productions Inc.
Distributor: White Pine Pictures
Province: Ontario
Language: English
PostNatural
Directors: Brett Story and Ben Travers
Screenwriter: Ben Travers
Production: 90th Parallel Productions Ltd.
Distributor: Photon Films and Media Inc.
Province: Ontario
Language: English
Saigon Story
Director: Kim Nguyen
Screenwriter: Dimitri Katadotis
Production: Noble Television Inc.
Distributor: National Film Board
Province: Quebec
Languages: English, French, and Vietnamese
Saints and Warriors
Director and screenwriter: Patrick Shannon
Production: Ball Is Life Entertainment Inc., First Take Entertainment Ltd., and Grand Old Time Productions Inc.
Distributor: Game Theory Films
Province: British Columbia
Languages: English and Haida
Say it Loud
Director and screenwriter: Graeme Mathieson
Production: 1000374247 Ontario Inc.
Distributor: levelFILM
Province: Ontario
Language: English
Shifting Baselines
Director and screenwriter: Julien Elie
Production: Greenground Productions Inc.
Distributor: Acéphale
Province: Quebec
Languages: English, French, and Spanish
Taste of Longing
Director and screenwriter: Noura Kevorkian
Production: Saaren Films Inc.
Distributor: Game Theory Films
Province: Ontario
Language: English
The Visitors
Director and screenwriter: Carol Nguyen
Production: Metafilms Inc. and Portage Films inc.
Distributor: National Film Board
Province: Quebec
Languages: English and Vietnamese
Under Duress: Max Stern and the Nazi Art War
Director and screenwriter: Jamie Kastner
Production: C7 Galerie Productions Inc.
Distributor: Vortex Media
Province: Ontario
Languages: English and German
French Market
La bataille de Saint-Léonard
Director and screenwriter: Félix Rose
Production: 9249-7189 Québec Inc. (Picbois Productions)
Distributor: Maison 4 :3
Province: Quebec
Language: French
Deleau : le cinéma en liberté
Director and screenwriter: Michel LaVeaux
Production: Item 7 Inc.
Coproduction: Les Films d’ici S.A.S. Coproduction (France)
Distributor: Sphère Films
Province: Quebec
Language: French
Mon amour : c’est pour le restant de mes jours
Director and screenwriter: André-Line Beauparlant
Production: 9174-5018 Québec Inc.
Distributor: Maison 4 :3
Province: Quebec
Language: French
Dans la forêt
Director and screenwriter: Pascale Ferland
Production: Les Productions des Films de l’Autre Inc.
Distributor: Les Films du 3 mars
Province: Quebec
Languages: French and Anishinabe
Intercepted
Director and screenwriter: Oksana Karpovych
Production: Les Films Cosmos inc./ Cosmos films inc.
Coproduction: Hutong Productions (France) and Moon Man Productions (Ukraine)
Distributor: Les Films du 3 mars
Province: Quebec
Language: Russian
Michel Brault : l’instinct de vue
Director and screenwriter: Frédérick Pelletier
Production: Corporation de développement et de production ACPAV Inc.
Distributor: National Film Board
Province: Quebec
Language: French
Que le silence ne l’emporte pas
Director and co-director: Catherine Hébert and Elric Robichon
Screenwriter: Catherine Hébert
Production: 9097-4767 Québec Inc. (Films Camera Oscura)
Distributor: Les Films du 3 mars
Province: Quebec
Languages: French, English, Bengali, Arabic and Mandarin
Composées
Director and screenwriter: Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
Production: Pimiento médias Inc.
Distributor: Noble Arts Inc.
Province: Quebec
Language: French
