Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Demonetized

Posted: 08 Feb 2019 12:21 PM PST

A disillusioned internet creator from Alberta embarks on a journey to discover what it takes to make it on YouTube.

Creative team

Writer: Sarah Jones
Director: Patrick O’Connor
Producer: Rew Jones

Filmmaker’s statement

In early 2018, YouTube removed the ability to make money for countless users creating free content for their platform. I was despondent at this news, as I had poured years of my life into films and educational content on the website. But I was also curious as to how other creators in Alberta were reacting.

So, I rounded up a small group of Alberta-based filmmakers and set out for answers, looking to find out why this is important, how it affects us, the love for the craft of making video, and the struggles inherent in trying to make it as a content creator in the province.

About Patrick O’Connor

Patrick Michael O’Connor is a Canadian filmmaker with a background in technology and education.

Born and raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta, he has worked for over a decade in central and northern Alberta in positions related to technology and video production, returning to Grande Prairie in 2016 to study film and video production at Grande Prairie Regional College.

An active member of the Peace Region film community, he has served on the board of the Peace Region Media Arts Association (PRIMAA), assisting in local productions, and runs a full-service video production and motion graphics studio Jimber Jam Studios.

Patrick has also served on the provincial board of the Alberta Media Arts Alliance (AMAAS). His passions and specialties include editing, directing and documentaries.

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My Name Was January

Posted: 08 Feb 2019 12:16 PM PST

When a trans sister, January Marie Lapuz, is brutally murdered in her own home, her community reacts and her friends and other trans women of colour come to share and voice their issues, concerns and challenges.

Creative team

Directors: Elina Gress, Lenée Son
Producers: Alex Sangha, Ash Brar

Filmmakers’ statements

I didn’t know January and I never heard about her murder. This made me cringe. Why was January murdered? Why did I not hear of this? Why was her murder not covered as strongly as other news items?

These are all concerns I had when Lenée and I were approached to do this film. This is why I am doing this. January was a person; a human being. Her life was just as valuable as yours and mine.

The purpose of this film is not to generate fame or profit, but to educate our population about transgender rights and lives. There is no script, just real people. This film is a platform for trans* women of colour to share their voices in a safe environment. The lives of trans* women of colour are important and that’s something I want to make clear in this film. This is for January.

– Elina Gress

Her name was January. She was loved by her friends and family. She was fearless and compassionate. When I interviewed people who knew her, they described her as a “bright light” whose energy and personality radiated in a crowded room.

At just 26 years old, she was lost too soon. I wanted to tell January’s story because I was saddened to learn of the loss of another transgender woman at the hands of gender violence. Trans women are being murdered at an unprecedented rate. For racialized trans girls living in poverty like January, transphobic violence is also inherently connected to race, gender and class.

As an immigrant from the Philippines, a sex worker and trans girl, January navigated through these multiple structures of oppression. My Name Was January is a memorial of January’s life and light. It is a call for justice for January and for all our sisters who have lost their lives to transmisogyny. It is a refusal to lose another sister to gender violence.

– Lenée Son

About Elina Gress and Lenée Son

Elina Gress is a freelance multimedia journalist, primarily photojournalist, in the search for a greater understanding of our world.

She has a deep interest in the complexities of the human population, telling people’s stories from their perspective and not her own, and telling stories that can change people’s hearts and minds through photography and documentary.

That said, Elina has a passion for wildlife conservation and preservation, with the determination to protect our one and only home, Earth.

Lenée Son is a Khmer Krom settler who grew up in Surrey on unceded Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo and Kwikwetlem territories.

She has a bachelors degree in journalism and minor in sociology from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Her work as a freelance multimedia journalist has appeared in publications such as Rabble, Multimedia Photojournale, The Volcano, Westcoast Food and Inside Vancouver.

When she’s not working on multimedia projects, Lenée is committed to anti-poverty community organizing in Surrey and Vancouver’s downtown east side.

The post My Name Was January appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Posted: 08 Feb 2019 12:09 PM PST

A man attempts to reconnect with his estranged mother but has to pass along some bad news in the process.

Creative team

Writer: Clara Altimas
Director: Reza Dahya
Producers: Ali Mashayehki, Al Magee, Neil Huber

Filmmaker’s statement

I loved working on this piece with two phenomenal actors and an amazing crew.

Tuesdays & Thursdays is a film that says a lot about the importance of self-love and self-respect in an impossibly complex family situation. Not only a short film, Tuesdays & Thursdays is also a small piece of a larger body of work – an anthology of short films called Samanthology produced by Without a Flock Films.

About Reza Dahya

Reza Dahya is known for his work as host and producer of OTA Live on FLOW 93.5FM in Toronto. He transitioned into filmmaking with his first short film, Esha (2011), and the crowd-funded Five Dollars (2013), which premiered at the TIFF Kids International Film Festival, screened internationally and aired on CBC’s Canadian Reflections.

A 2014 alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Cineplex Entertainment Film Program Directors’ Lab, Dahya completed his CFC short dramatic film Chameleon (2015) with writer Chris Cromie and producer Josh Ary, and is developing a slate of feature films.

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