US 

FILM DIARY - RYAN GROOM, HANWELL, NB

Just signed my first contract with CBC to produce a documentary called “Maritimes from Above” about landscape aerial videography, the techniques, and regulations behind getting grand vistas with the film industry’s hottest tool, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), or what many call drones.

On Saturday, my filming companions (Paul Archer & Jacob Groom) are picking up our international travel buddy Rodney McAffee from the Halifax Airport then driving to Nova Scotia to start filming. After Nova Scotia we head to a few amazing places in New Brunswick in the Sussex area, then to Grand Manan Island. We are just not taking regular aerial shots but flying through gorges, caves, and between massive trees to get unique video with our pair of UAVs.

The documentary will be shot this summer, edited this fall, and will be shown on CBC next summer (2017).

Personality I am nervous and excited (pumped!). I have been learning about broadcast TV thanks to the generous support of Bell Aliant TV1 the last 4 years and now I got a chance to expand the reach and tell a story on CBC taking all the lessons learned from past adventures and wrapping them into an educating and entertaining 45 minutes!

Special thanks to the Silver Wave Film Festival (and ultimately the NB Film Co-op who hosts the festival) in facilitating the first meeting with CBC last fall which lead to the full bloom of this project.

Well … almost time to pack the truck with cameras, drones, coffee, candy, cables, and computers to start an unforgettable road trip with some of my best friends in the whole world — to bring you, Maritimes from Above.

Ryan Groom on location somewhere in the world. 

FILM DIARY - PETER EVANCHUCK & HELENE LACELLE, CHIPMAN, NB

PigGirl is a new short drama by Peter Evanchuck and Helene Lacelle.

Marshall McCluhan always seemed to be laying down on his leather couch in his office at University of Toronto when I dropped by back in time. He was always looking for an audience to reveal his latest thoughts on pop media. 

Of course his concept of the Global Village has come true with the saturation of digital technology and all it's offspring like youtube, facebook, etc., etc., and the mightiest of all the selfie; that pathetic need we all have to show our stuff, flourished when digital gave it freedom of exposure.

Those of us who use digital to make movies are married to a heavenly SD card - 'because it costs next to nothing, one can learn all they have to learn to make selfie movies - i.e. learn to do all the jobs that used to take ten, now takes one. Well not exactly but, if you really want to make a selfie movie drama or doc. it's now possible and, in fact, rather popular.

I joined that bandwagon quickly when I returned to making movies after a decade hiatus. At first, I went back to the technology I knew and the equipment I had purchased over the years to make feature fiction movies: Arriflex, CP16, Nagra, Senni mics,  Steinbecks, etc. (the CP16 was a layover from my days shooting for the Wide World of Sports. A great simple camera that never fails weights a ton but never fails). That old technology is excellent but tedious for someone prolific and renegade It's just too expensive and, too cumbersome and too slow. Digital is the opposite, it's cheap, light and fast.

Being a solo type guy whose partner is an actor/artist (Helene), it was made for me and, others like me so, buying the new equipment was mandatory.

Armed with relatively good pro/semi pro equipment, I can make all the short docs i want for next to nothing compared to film costs. I still use/hire an excellent editor for the important docs but, for the fun ones I do all the jobs myself with my partner's invaluable assistance.

Cancer having overtaken my extreme lifestyle and made it quieter and more sober, digital's advantages have fallen right into my weakened condition; so cheap, light, fast - despite my cancer allows me to continue to make movies albeit mostly docs which take so little to make. Compared to dramas, they and digital are a perfect match. 

So, PigGirl comes along because our neighbour in Chipman had this pig on his front lawn for years. Helene bought it from him for a pack of smokes. Now I don't need much of a muse to get creating new ideas, scripts, projects. The pig was all I needed and, with Helene's marvelous help PIGGIRL was born and is now in pre-producton.

This will be Helene's entry into drama directing.

MEMBERSHIPS

It's time to renew your membership if you have not already folks. Memberships are due each year in Jan/Feb.

Renewed Members: Jeremy Murray (Fredericton), Darrell Bainbridge (Saint John), Nishant Dhotekar (Fredericton)

THANK YOU TO THE MEMBERS FOR HELPING THE NBFC

Thank you to all the members who helped out Tony and Cat on the different co-op activities each year, you all rock! Also, thank you to all the people from the larger community who help out in any way, we appreciate your help.

HELP NEEDED!

Members, here is your chance to get your volunteer hours in. Email Cat at info@nbfilmcoop.com if you would like to volunteer on a member production or on any co-op activity. Lots to do, don't be shy! You can help out in any area your live in, in NB.

BUZZ

NB FILM CO-OP MEMBER WINS MAJOR DOCUMENTARY AWARD

Congratulations to NBFC member producer Victoria Clowater who was just awarded the Errol Williams Documentary Grant for a new project she is working on!

"I'm thrilled to have been granted this award. As a producer I am looking to create exciting new content, and I am passionate about learning new things and shining a spotlight on New Brunswick. I am looking forward to creating a documentary that is informative and which highlights the great research being done in our province. Thanks to the New Brunswick Filmmaker's Co-op and the Errol Williams Fund for this opportunity!"

This nine-minute film hopes to introduce research on municipal wastewater effluents and how they affect water ecosystems. It will specifically examine the impact of birth control on fish populations -- the cause, the effect, and the long term impact of oral contraceptives on fish and their habitat, and what can and should be done to minimize the damage by consumers, municipalities, and other stakeholders."

ABOUT THE GRANT: 

Errol Williams was a pioneer filmmaker who was introduced to filmmaking at the NB Film Co-op in the late 1980’s. His dramatic and documentary films were screened at festivals around the world, and his international success helped shine a spotlight on the NB Film Co-op. He had a particular gift for documentary filmmaking and after his successful production of Echoes in the Rink: The Willie O’Ree Story (1997), he went on to produce two successful and influential documentary feature films in Bermuda When Voices Rise and Walking on a Sea of Glass. After his untimely death in 2007, a special award was set up in his honour and was presented to the winner of the Best low-budget NB Documentary film at the Silver Wave Film Festival. After the 2011 Silver Wave Awards, it was decided to use the award to help fund a short documentary project and hence the creation of this award. Sponsors: New Brunswick Filmmaker’s Co-op & Errol Williams Fund.

NBFC member filmmaker Errol Williams

MONCTON NBFC MEMBER TO SCREEN FEATURE FILM AT CAPITOL THEATRE 

Youtube Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDOTxCI8Lbg&feature=youtu.be

STRIPPED

A film by Colleen Furlotte

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 2016, 7:30pm

WHERE: Capitol Theatre, Moncton, NB

To purchase tickets: http://capitol.nb.ca/en/tickets-events/item/507-stripped-2016

MY DOG MOLLY PRODUCTIONS

What if a film broke the cardinal rule of cinema? What if this was never done before in the history of film? What if the person behind this was relatively unknown in the industry? What if she was from a small city in a small province in Canada? What if this was your city?

Fully produced in our very own Moncton, New Brunswick - "Stripped" is an independent feature film that takes viewers on an unusual journey to the dark spaces of shared human experience; the shadowed places we avoid for fear of discomfort and pain. Guided by the voices of Darkness and Light - loneliness, lust, shame, despair, secret and heartbreak unfold through the stories of six characters whose portrayals of vulnerability are set against a backdrop that doesn't just play with the conventions of filmmaking, but rocks the very foundation of cinematic art.

"What John Cage brought to the world of music, Colleen Furlotte brings to the world of film. What she proposes is just as revelatory, and just as revolutionary." (Ed Lemond)

Starring: Elaine Amyot, Denis Arsenault, Colleen Furlotte, Laney Furlotte

Kimberly Gautreau, Ed Lemond, Douglas Romkey & Lee Thompson

Rated R - sexual content, nudity and coarse language

Under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian

About the filmmaker

NBFC member Colleen Furlotte is an award-winning indie filmmaker, writer and singer/songwriter from the Moncton area of New Brunswick, Canada. A latecomer to the world of film, Colleen unexpectedly found herself falling in love with the medium which marries a number of her favorite forms of artistic expression.

Perhaps part reflection of her lack of background, perhaps part reflection of her personality, when it comes to making movies - Colleen doesn't easily fit into a box. She prefers a loosely scripted, organic approach to filmmaking, her style having been referred to as having shades of "cinema vérité". She likes to work outside of convention, to keep things fluid and honest, as she attempts to capture, not necessarily create, moments of magic on screen.

Colleen is a recipient of the Errol Williams Documentary Award and has been recognized by the YWCA as a Woman of Distinction for Arts and Culture. Her most recent project is a feature length experimental drama entitled "Stripped". She is currently working on a new screenplay with a keen eye on summer 2017 for production.

NB FILM CO-OP SWFF SCREENING TOUR HITS THE ROAD AGAIN!

 Outside the Box: New Brunswick Film Tour - NEXT STOP - BATHURST! 

nbfc_film_tour2016_bathurst.pdf(CHECK OUT THE SCREENING PROGRAMME!)

Outside the Box: New Brunswick Film Tour: A selection of outstanding films screened at the Silver Wave Film Festival

Origin of the Silver Wave Film Festival

Due to a lack of exhibition opportunities for local media artists to showcase their work, the New Brunswick Filmmakersʼ Co-op launched a provincial film screening event in 2001 called the Silver Wave Film Festival. The initiative received universal acclaim from participants delighted at the audience engagement with their work and the collegial nature of the gathering of filmmakers from around the province.

Call for Submissions process

The programming for the festival takes place in several phases. A call for submissions is sent out 8 months prior to the event. In addition to the submitted films, programmers also invite films to be part of the festival. The mission of the festival is to showcase the best New Brunswick films, and at least 50% of the films screened each year are produced within the province. Although it might be more advantageous to invite celebrated films from away and build an audience from films that already “sell themselves”, the Silver Wave takes pride in celebrating our own local stars, and nurturing a culture of “local films first”. This strategy has taken hold, as the most popular films at the festival are not the films from away, but rather the locally made works. The programming for the past few Silver Wave Film Festivals has included a diverse selection of films from across the Province including short dramas, comedies, documentaries, animations and experimental films.

Film Tour Project

Outside the Box is a provincial film tour comprised of the best films screened at the Silver Wave Film Festival over the past 5 years. The tour has been made possible by a grant from the Province of New Brunswickʼs Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture and through the generous support of local sponsors in the communities hosting these screenings with us. 

New Brunswick Filmmakersʼ Co-op

Besides undertaking the annual Silver Wave Film Festival, the Film Co-op is also involved in many other filmic activities. It offers film-training workshops in Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton. It houses a full range of professional filmmaking equipment available to its membership base, which spans the entire province. It carries out several production programs including a 48 hour film competition and provides cash grants and equipment deferrals to projects year-round. Based in Fredericton, the Co-op is eager to help emerging and established filmmakers produce locally-based films, and see the development of thriving communities in all corners of the province.