Sad Goodbyes - Wallace Brown: Nov 20, 1933 - Feb 18, 2022

The Good Life of Wallace Brown By Peter C. Kent

After Wallace Brown retired from his 30-year teaching career at the University of New Brunswick, he started a newsletter entitled “Sergeant Brown’s Tips for Better Living,” linking back to his British National Service days as a sergeant in Hong Kong in the early 1950s. He sent this amusing newsletter to his friends worldwide in his retirement years. The newsletter promoted good food, good drink, and good companionship, which represented the good life as Wallace had lived and enjoyed it. As he wrote of himself, “he liked mystery novels, fly fishing, beer, hiking, curries, wine, jazz, theatre, pubs, alcohol, the films of Jean Renoir, the poems of Thomas Hardy, and the company of women.”

Wallace could best be described as “mid-Atlantic,” with the accent to prove it. He was born in Alberta, raised and educated in England from the age of 5 to his graduation from Oxford. Then, graduate studies in the United States for an MA at the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Despite his familiarity with all sides of the Atlantic world, his favored corner was Scotland, and, in Fredericton, he helped to keep the Scottish tradition alive as an active member and promoter of the St. Andrew’s Society and as a founding member of the Frederiction Whisky Tasting Society.

After short stints of teaching at the University of Alberta and Brown University, Wallace arrived at the University of New Brunswick in 1967 as one of three American historians in an expanding department. He was a very agreeable colleague, charming and easygoing with a fine sense of humour.

For Wallace, an essential aspect of his good life was the writing and teaching of history. He enjoyed research, was a comfortable writer and was an excellent teacher. He came to UNB as a published scholar on the United Empire Loyalists. His 1964 dissertation at Berkeley had made use of the Loyalist claims for compensation from the British government after the American Revolution. Wallace sought to determine through his research what kind of people had remained loyal to Britain. In 1965, he published his dissertation The King’s Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants. This publication landed him in the middle of a historiographical controversy with scholars such as William H. Nelson (The American Tory) and Esther Clark Wright (The Loyalists of New Brunswick) over whether the Loyalists represented a social elite, as Wallace claimed, or a broader cross-section of society. By1969, when he wrote a more general history of the Loyalists, The Good Americans: The Loyalists in the American Revolution, he was more nuanced in his description of the social background of the Loyalists.

Throughout his career, Wallace’s scholarship remained focused on the Loyalists. At UNB, he played a role with others in securing an extensive collection of documents relating to the Loyalist experience. Initially, it was intended that this joint American-British-Canadian Loyalist Papers Project would result in repositories of microfilmed Loyalist documents residing in New York, London, and Fredericton. However, the American and British parts of the project fell through, and only Fredericton stepped up to house a sizeable distinguished collection of Loyalist source material, which ensured that UNB became an important international centre for Loyalist studies.

Wallace extended his studies into the Loyalist diaspora, first in Canada, through the publication in 1984, in conjunction with Hereward Senior, of Victorious in Defeat: The Loyalists in Canada. His research took him farther afield, to the West Indies for studies on the Loyalists in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, and Belize. He also went to Africa to study the Loyalists of Sierra Leone. He has authored over 40 articles in scholarly journals and was recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, while UNB designated him Professor Emeritus of History on his retirement.

In addition to his scholarship as a professional academic, Wallace also saw himself as a public historian, presenting and explaining history to a broader audience. He did this through his teaching and public talks. He also published in newspapers and magazines read by a wider public, such as History Today, American History Illustrated, The Loyalist Gazette, and the newsletter of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada.

For Wallace, another component of the good life were movies. Wallace loved movies. He introduced a course on “American History through Film” at UNB, and for five years, he was the movie reviewer for CBC Radio in Fredericton. He also acted in films made in the Fredericton area. In 1998, he appeared in A Midwife’s Tale shot at the King’s Landing Historical Settlement, and, in the same year, At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story, a television movie about Rodriguez’s search for an assisted death. Wallace performed off-screen as the “Doctor of Death” when only his voice was recognizable.

Wallace was an active member of the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-op for many years.

In the final edition of “Sergeant Brown’s Tips for Better Living,” Wallace wrote about chocolate, and this led him to the culinary delicacy of deep-fried Mars Bars, which had been created in 1995 by a Scottish Chip Bar near Aberdeen “and soon gained controversial newspaper, then other media attention, as a symbol and prime example of Scotland’s notoriously poor diet. A chocolate bar deep fried in fish batter is not essential for a healthy diet, nor is it instant death. Think of it”, he quipped, “as Scottish tempura.”

Wallace also enjoyed the occasional bit of fun. I have just learned, while writing this reflection, that one summer, Wallace took on a promotional tour of New Brunswick as Colonel Harland Saunders to promote Kentucky Fried Chicken, dressed in costume, with the mustache, goatee, and southern accent to match. Somehow, that did not appear in his curriculum vitae.

Wallace Brown

Ty Giffin is Passionate about Filmmaking

By Jeremy Brubacher

When speaking to Ty Giffin, I find him experienced, passionate, and heartfelt about his film career. There is much to glean from him in terms of the art of filmmaking, and I believe the things that he has to say will resonate with many.

Like many who fall in love with film and filmmaking, for Ty, it all started when he was a child. He enjoyed watching films and was fascinated by the 'making of' featurettes and documentaries included on most DVDs. Ty's movie-watching spurred him to make silly videos with his friends, homemade Star Wars films, and skate videos here and there. However, the film Goodfellas in 1990, directed by Martin Scorsese, took his deep curiosity and turned it into an unbridled passion for filmmaking.

That passion grew as Ty sought out Martin Scorsese's filmography, firmly planting the seeds of his desire to make filmmaking a path in his life. Next, Ty looked for film schools, and that search ultimately landed him at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, where he completed an honours in Media Arts and Culture with a minor in Film Production. He was also introduced to the filmmaking community in New Brunswick through the NB Film Co-op, and he has been working on member's projects ever since. Some of the film roles Ty has taken on film projects are script supervisor and assistant camera or grip, but he feels fortunate to have had the chance to be director of photography on several projects.

Director of photography is a creative role well suited for Ty as any moving images he produces have a strong artistic flair and mood. The cinematographers who inspire his visual style and taste include some greats like; Roger Deakins, Sven Nykvist, Robby Müller, Sean Bobbitt, Robert Yeoman, Steven Soderbergh, and Gordon Willis. Some of the creative techniques that Ty loves in cinematography are deep shadows, high contrast, rich colours, dark blue evenings, and the quality of sodium vapor lights.

A recent film project that Ty had the privilege to work on was Ryan O'Toole's feature film Further Than The Eye Can See. While he was not the director of photography on Ryan's project, he did take on the crucial role of script supervisor. Ty formed strong bonds and friendships with many of the crew as being script supervisor put him in a position where he was in direct contact with all departments on the project. He also was the colourist, working closely with Ryan to create a look that Ty describes as, unlike anything he and Ryan have seen before. 

Ryan O'Toole is known for films that have been described as having an experimental quality that often seems to reach the metaphysical realm. This magic, combined with Ty's colour grading skills, should make Further Than The Eye Can See something exceptional.

Speaking of Ty's colour grading, he has gone through training to strengthen his skills. This involved him taking two intermediate courses, which certified him as an end-user for Da Vinci Resolve, a professional-grade film editor and colour grade software used on Hollywood films. Some recent films are Dune, The Green Knight, Godzilla vs Kong, and Black Widow. With these skills, Ty has created his own company for colour grading called Bison ColourWorks, where he has had the opportunity to grade music videos, short films, documentaries, and Ryan's feature film. In conjunction with Bison ColourWorks, Ty also created his production company called Bison FilmWorks. Hopefully, you will see his production company logo on many more film projects, as Ty will be producing all future film projects under this company banner. 

Ty is a very talented up-and-coming director and writer. With a good number of short films under his belt. One short that caught my attention is his film Roles which he produced in 2017. The film displays his ability to create atmosphere and mood. And then, there is his other film, and even though the budget was tiny, the film was not. Ty made a Neo-Western called Sister's Dirge in 2018. It is an extremely intimate short film with a surprising scope that deals with loss, vengeance, and the deep bond between sisters. The story centers around the dark and relevant topic of the kidnapping and murder of indigenous women. Ty found the film challenging to research, and he was often in tears during the process. However, even with the difficult subject matter, he gathered many collaborators for the project professionally that he still keeps in contact with today. The film went on to win a major award at the New Brunswick Silver Wave Film Festival. An important lesson that Ty learned on this film project is that is you have to be careful how many hats you wear on a project as the art can suffer in the end, but at the same time, because of doing many of the roles himself, he was able to learn so much more. Ultimately, the project was immensely gratifying for him.

The lessons learned on Sister's Dirge are ones he took to heart and applied to his next short film Cicerone, which is currently nearing the end of the post-production phase. Ty gives special mention to his producers, script supervisor, and 1st AD as invaluable, highlighting the advantage of not taking on too much and having a good support network to help see things through. Without them, he could not have done it. 

Cicerone went through many script rewrites; in fact, the film initially started as a mockumentary, but by the end of the writing process had turned into a dramatic narrative short film. The film ended up with a much higher budget, as Ty was awarded the Short Film Venture Grant and an artsnb grant. Thanks to the additional funding, he was able to make a film that his younger self could only have dreamed of making. Ty describes Cicerone as a meta-text of writing and the gangster genre, bringing things full circle to the kinds of films that inspired him to make them in the first place. Though the film was his dream to make, it was not necessarily a cakewalk to produce. 

The initial shooting schedule in spring 2020 to make the film was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and then when they finally were shooting the film in September 2021, he and his cast and crew narrowly missed another lockdown due to the pandemic. Ty also had setups and plans fall apart on set, but that is part of the process and can happen. These experiences showed him that you must adapt and be creative. A couple of scenes required re-shoots, which can occur sometimes. The film is now in a place that Ty is happy with, and he is looking forward to submitting it to festivals soon. He also told me to keep my eyes peeled as a trailer for the film will be released soon.

I will leave you with Ty's philosophy for the filmmaking process, "filmmaking is a collaborative medium, and you are only as good as your collaborators."

If you want to see Ty's previous work, including Roles and Sister's Dirge, you can check out his Vimeo page: vimeo.com/tygiffin

If you would like to reach out to Ty for advice or to collaborate with him, you can reach out to him on Facebook, Instagram, and Instagram for Bison FilmWorks and Bison ColourWorks.

Ty Giffin

Ty Giffin

Participants Announced for New Regional Training Initiative

NSI Business For Producers – Atlantic Women’s Edition

Top row from left: Maja Jacob, Erica Meus-Saunders, NB Film Co-op member Gia Milani; middle: Lynn Matheson, Renée Hackett, Jessica Brown; bottom row: NB Film Co-op member Arianna Martinez, Jeana MacIsaac, Ruth Lawrence.

Today, through NSI Business for Producers – Atlantic Women’s Edition, nine Atlantic women set off on a new producing path as the first cohort of this regional training initiative.

The program, run by the National Screen Institute – Canada and program partner Canada Media Fund (CMF), is designed to foster the growth of women producing professionals in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The program aims to enrich the region’s production community, and its position across Canada and globally.

This part-time, six week program will build on participants’ essential producing skills, including preparing a pitch package for a current project in development. The program is customized to the needs of each participant, and includes expert training from women in the industry including Joan Jenkinson (Black Screen Office), Gloria Ui Young Kim (writer/director, Queen of the Morning Calm) and Anne-Marie Gélinas (producer, Beans).

The National Screen Institute is proud to introduce the nine participants and their projects:

Arianna Martinez (NB), Do I Know You From Somewhere?
Erica Meus-Saunders (NS), Not Worthy
Gia Milani (NB), Spychics
Jeana MacIsaac (PEI), Please, Return to My Father
Jessica Brown (NS), Above Snakes
Lynn Matheson (NS), An Rèiteach
Maja Jacob (NB), Motherland
Renée Hackett (NFLD), Birthday Balloon
Ruth Lawrence (NFLD), Party Pirate

“Creating training and mentorship opportunities for women in the screen-based industry is part of CMF’s commitment to gender balance,” said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “We’re thrilled to partner with the National Screen Institute to support nine talented women producers from Atlantic Canada. This program will help broaden their skillset, as they take their stories to the next level and reach new audiences.”

Over the next six weeks, participants will take part in masterclasses and one-on-one consultations on topics including pitching and packaging a project; incorporation strategy and business affairs; budgets and financing; legal contracts / agreements; distribution / festival strategy; working with union / non-union and guilds; managing productions; case studies and more.

Participants will work with a content development consultant to prepare their pitch. The program will culminate in an online forum where participants will pitch their projects to a panel of industry experts for their feedback.

Program faculty includes National Screen Institute co-founder Jan Miller as program advisor and Amy Reitsma as program manager, both of whom are based in the Atlantic region.

• • •
NSI Business for Producers – Atlantic Women’s Edition is funded by Program Partner Canada Media Fund (CMF); Strategic Sponsor Telefilm Canada; Provincial Sponsors Newfoundland & Labrador Film Development Corporation, FilmPEI, Province of New Brunswick; Industry Sponsor Nova Scotia Business Inc (NSBI) / Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). NSI Core Funders are Manitoba Sport, Culture & Heritage and the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council. More sponsors will be added as confirmed.

About the National Screen Institute – Canada
Propelled by a visionary network of donors, private and public organizations, board and staff, the National Screen Institute supports creators from across Canada to tell unforgettable stories. Through industry-informed training and mentoring in film, television and digital media, students and alumni find their voice and place on the global stage, inspiring us to shape a better world.

The National Screen Institute is committed to training participants from a diverse community of voices including Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S+), people with disabilities, those outside large urban centres, those from regional and remote areas and various religious groups.

Pay Attention to the Things that you are Naturally Drawn To - Vu Pham

By Brenda Malley

Pay attention to the things that you are naturally drawn to. They are often connected to your path, passion, and purpose in life. Have the courage to follow them. Ruben Chavez

This quotation poignantly describes New Brunswick Film Co-op member Vu Pham.

Born and raised in Saigon, Vietnam, he was in his mid-teens when he moved to Orange County, California, to experience the western culture. Despite his young age, no family, and only a few friends he made despite his shyness, Vu says he appreciated the experience. He learned some essential life skills from which he continues to draw today: independence, self-sufficiency, critical thinking, and problem-solving. 

Vu attended and graduated from high school in California. Then, his parents immigrated to Fredericton, New Brunswick, from Vietnam, and Vu joined them. He transferred to the University of New Brunswick, where he pursued a degree in Psychology. However, after one semester, he changed to Business and graduated in 2020 with a concentration in Marketing.

In 2016 while in the Business program, Vu discovered the filmmaking program at UNB. He decided to take a film production course as an interesting elective. His instructors were Toronto-based filmmaker Cam Woykin & NB Film Co-op film pioneer, Tony Merzetti. Little did Vu know that this one course would instantly unleash a passion in him that changed his life trajectory forever.

He continued taking film courses as electives throughout his time in University and participated in a number of film shoots around Fredericton. During this time, Vu worked in various roles ranging from production assistant to sound but discovered cinematography and editing to be his specific interest.

Vu is appreciative of every opportunity that has come his way, describing everything as a learning experience, each one another step on the road to perfecting his craft. For example, in 2017, the UNB Student Union hired him to make an orientation video, which resulted in more opportunities.

Vu was fortunate to work part-time for UNB Media Services for three years while studying Business. In early 2018, he secured a 4-month paid internship with Sabian Cymbals in Meductic, New Brunswick. This was followed by a contract with the Government of New Brunswick in Communications. In both positions, he was tasked to produce social media videos to promote the products & services of each organization. Through these jobs, he learned the importance of precision in words used to tell stories and the impact of words when communicating with the public. He stresses that it forced him to think critically and communicate in the most neutral way possible, thereby improving his storytelling craft.

Since graduating two years ago, Vu has been working full-time as a freelance cinematographer, focusing on commercial and training videos, as well as short films. He has produced videos for Loblaws, CBC, Symbodi (a massage product that receives funding from Dragon Den), and The Football Academy.

As well, Vu was involved in making a music video that was released in March 2022. He says it came about after realizing that the music scene in Fredericton is vibrant and filled with undiscovered talent; however, sometimes artists lack a platform to visually showcase their talent. In a bid to challenge himself, he and his long-time collaborator, director MacKenzie Kierstead, became acquainted with a Nigerian rapper (living in Fredericton since 2017) whose stage name is Josh the Killer or JTK. 

Sharing a similar work ethic and passion, they decided to support him by making a music video for him. Though disappointed in their failed attempt to secure government funding, they decided to go ahead and invest their own money. It has received excellent reviews, and they have garnered public exposure, including newspaper and magazine articles.

https://youtu.be/-ZK5COguQGQ

Check Out this cool article in Grid City about the music video!

The Artist: Formally named Chijioke Okorie, Josh the Killer (JTK) is the musical moniker for the emerging rapper currently based in Canada whose name plays off an alternate meaning of the word "kill", which is to overwhelm someone with emotions. He strongly ties its meaning to his intentions whenever making music. The rapper who is an iron-ring holder and graduate of the University of New Brunswick moved to Canada in 2013 for university and has since then released a steady stream of singles, covers and EPs, keeping his listeners engaged and excited with his raw and authentic sound. His slogan goes as follows; I paint pictures with words and sounds.

Vu acknowledges that the last two years have been hard on everyone given the global pandemic, and it has resulted in him reassessing his future career plans. While he is confident that he could secure employment in marketing, Vu knows he is happiest when making films.

If anyone wants to see some of his work or to contact Vu, visit his website at www.vuspectrum.com

Josh the Killer (JTK)

Member of the Week - Zachary Greer

Zachary Greer is a multi-instrumentalist and Music Composer for film, television and digital media from New Brunswick, Canada. Pursuing his lifelong passion for film and music, Zachary achieved his BA with a concentration in Music from St. Thomas University, where he developed his skills in composition under the tutelage of notable composer and professor Martin Kutnowski. During his time at St Thomas University, Zachary won the NBRMTA Student Composer Competition in 2016, and had various composition pieces performed by the university's chamber ensemble, as well as premieres by the Saint John String Quartet. While attending St. Thomas University he scored his first feature film Alice in the Attic at age 20

Following his final year of studies, Zachary was selected to participate in the prestigious ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop at NYU where he composed original work under the critique of prominent composers like Sean Callery (Jessica Jones) and Mark Snow (X-Files). Zachary also spent a year studying Music Composition at Memorial University in St. John's Newfoundland, where he was one of three composers selected in the Gower Band Competition in 2018.

Since graduating, he has gone on to compose music for multiple projects including two theatre productions, The Trickster of Seville and his Stone Guest and No White Picket Fence. In 2018 Zachary received the Excellence in Music Composition award at the Silver Wave Film Festival for the short film, The Nashwaak.

Recently, Zachary has scored the documentary series Never Say Die on Bell Fibe 1, The award winning short doc Fighter directed by Meagan Brown and the feature documentary Meet and Eat at Lee's Garden on CBC Gem. You can also hear his music featured in the 2021 documentary series Yukon Harvest on APTN.

Zachary also remains active as a solo artist producing instrumental albums that experiment with different genres and ensemble styles. His most recent release, The Duel, follows the historical duel between George Street and George Wetmore in 1821, New Brunswick. Working with folk-pop duo "Pallmer" and violinist Ali Johnson, the album plays as a dark, acoustic-folk soundtrack to the historic event. Currently, Zachary is working on his second album Partridge Island, which is also based on New Brunswick history, as well as the Great Famine in Ireland.

Soulful Cinephile Jeremy Bouchard

You would have to travel far and wide to find someone that genuinely loves movies more than Jeremy Bouchard.

One of his favorite phrases comes from CS Lewis, the writer of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; that is, that we read to know that we’re not alone. Jeremy goes further, adding that he believes that films are the literature of our time. He believes that we watch movies for many reasons, and for him, it is a powerful way for his feelings to be validated and reinforced as a human being.

In fact, in his view, there is no other medium with the scope and range movies have since they reinforce the idea that we are not alone in our feelings. Moreover, films can’t be made by one person. In making films, creative people become a film family of sorts. Jeremy hopes to find his own film family through the film community in New Brunswick, and more specifically, Moncton, his hometown.

Choosing his favorite genre of films or even specific films is not an easy task for Jeremy as he loves many different ones. Currently, he is watching a lot of Douglas Sirk, a German filmmaker, on the Criterion Channel. Jeremy describes his style of films as “expressionist melodramas” from the 1950s.

Jeremy is naturally drawn to older international films as they tend to be less formulaic. They incorporate an element of surprise into an unfamiliar world where the storytelling itself is appealing. In addition, he wants to watch movies that make him feel things, like Film Noire, a style that came about in the 1930s and 1940s in Hollywood dealing with the greedy underbelly of society. One of his favorite Film Noire movies is Orsen Wells’ Touch of Evil. Jeremy describes the film’s cinematography as amazing.

Growing up with five brothers in Moncton, Jeremy, and his brothers would watch movies and then deconstruct them, building sets from wood, acting out the stories, and performing for their parents. The idea that they could make films never occurred to him back then, as it was a different time when film equipment was not readily available or accessible. He believes that growing up in current times would probably have resulted in him getting into filmmaking at a much younger age because of his passion for movies.

Instead, Jeremy’s creative outlet was writing and directing school plays, beginning in grade 6 with his play, The King’s Scepter, followed by several more over subsequent years, all well received at school festivals around the province.

After high school, he studied theatre specializing in playwriting at Concordia University in Montreal. During his time there, he continued to write and direct for theatre. This form of artistry in front of a live audience was both validating and energizing for him in that it gave him the fuel he needed to keep going.

After finishing university, while still living in Montreal, his newly written feature screenplay, Black Eyed Dog, was picked up and co-produced by producers in NB and Quebec. Jeremy looks back fondly at that time in filmmaking. There were many opportunities in New Brunswick for filmmakers, including an office in the New Brunswick government devoted solely to film, and tax credits made it ripe for producers.

Jeremy found this experience to be very positive. Around the same time, he toured with his one-person play, The Idiot Boy, at fringe festivals from Halifax to Vancouver, describing this experience in equally glowing terms.

Fresh off the making of his first feature play, Jeremy spent the next ten years employed as a professional screenwriter and story editor, something he looks back on with mixed emotions. He wrote ten feature screenplays over that decade with heartbreaking results. While the gigs paid the bills, it was painful to see his scripts undergo significant changes making them unrecognizable to him, or they would disappear and never get made.

Jeremy’s preference was always to direct his screenplays, explaining that while writing is hard work, directing is fun. However, opportunities were never there to do that. He is pleased that, at least now, the options for these screenplays have expired and returned to him.

While a tough decision, Jeremy quit the screenwriting profession altogether, and it became somewhat of an emotional scar. He compares it to the break-up of a relationship and something one never gets over. Unsure what to do next, he moved to Korea for four years, where he taught English as a second language, and although he continued to write, he did it for himself.

Jeremy has since written, directed, and produced two short films; his first, The Contrarian, set in Saint John, New Brunswick, is a comedy about what it means to be a grown-up. His second, a thriller called Trophy, played at festivals around Singapore. Given the lack of funding opportunities, Jeremy financed both short films himself. He says he hasn’t done more, in part, because of costs, but also because he tends to hold himself back at times.

Around 2019, Jeremy and his partner returned to Moncton, where he has most of his family nearby. He has been employed in Communications for the Multicultural Association of New Brunswick since November 2021.

Through his experiences in Korea and with his current employment, he became familiar with a story that inspired him to write his latest short screenplay. His story, Two Angels, sheds light on Canada’s refugee and asylum-seeking process. The reason why a person may apply are many, including sexual orientation, but for any of these reasons, one must be able to prove it. Two Angels explores how one proves sexual orientation, something invisible, a feeling. He hopes to direct and produce the short this Spring in Moncton and is looking for film crew in the area to help him.

A member of the NB Film Co-op for more than a year, Jeremy is inspired by the American actor, writer, and director John Cassavetes. Cassavetes and his actress wife brought together people from all backgrounds into their home to create independent films that he would finance from his work on big studio projects. This film family idea is exciting to Jeremy and is a dream he would like to emulate. His mantra is that everyone has something to contribute.

If you are like-minded and would like to get involved in the making of Two Angels, contact Jeremy by email at jeremyjohnbouchard@gmail.com.

Member of the Week - Jeremy Brubacher

Bathurst-based NB Film Co-op member Jeremy Brubacher started making films with his brothers at a very young age. This creative passion led to him studying filmmaking at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.

Jeremy is an active member of the NB Film Co-op. He has also competed in the Fredericton 48 Hour Film Competition for many years and continually learns and works on different projects.

Jeremy's style of filmmaking and cinematography has been described as haunting, moody, and melancholy. His short film Goblin won for Best Genre film at the 2021 Silver Wave Film Festival. It was nominated for several awards and snapped up an Excellence in Music Composition Award.

Email info@nbfilmcoop.com to reach out to Jeremy.

Member of the Week - Becky Parsons

Becky Parsons is an award winning cinematographer (Rhonda’s Party), fine art photographer (Kodak Achievement Award) and nominated director (Le Coeur Qui Bat – best music video – Music NB). A graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, she has 20+ years experience in the photographic and motion picture arts.

She is Director of Photography and/or camera operator on a number of well known productions. For example – Bruce McDonald’s feature film ‘Weirdos’, feature music documentary ‘Carmine Street Guitars’ and the popular new CBC TV series ‘Son of a Critch’.

Her fine art photography has exhibited in Halifax and other cities in Nova Scotia, Moncton, New Brunswick, Toronto, Ontario and London, England and has entered private collections throughout Canada and the UK.

In 2018 Becky Parsons created her production company No Fear Films and as a producer she is in development with writer Sarah Gignac and executive producer Terry Greenlaw with horror feature film ‘The Apartment’.

Becky is based in Atlantic Canada.

BECKY’S CINEMATOGRAPHER REEL: CLICK HERE

The Wonders of “Hurry Up and Wait.”

By Kaitlyn Adair

I decided that 2022 would be the year I make a short film every month. I had a feeling that January would be a rough covid month, so I decided to go with an idea I could shoot all on my own. I wanted to shoot an ultra-short film about an influencer who, while on live, catches a radioactive snowflake on her tongue. I intended to shoot it found-footage style using my iPhone and playing with slow-motion effects.

Last year a large branch from a tree fell through my deck. I saw this as an opportunity for some eclectic natural decor and decorated it with lights. The lights created a soft, warm light at night—my ideal shooting scenario. Despite January being a fairly snowy month, not once did it snow at night. Patiently, I waited with everything prepared. Fake blood made. Faux prosthetic tongue made. Finally, a significant snowstorm was scheduled for January 25th. During the day, while big fluffy snowflakes fell, I thought I should take precautions and do a practice shoot just in case.

My first practice went OK but being too familiar with social media shooting; I still held my phone in portrait. Oops. So I went out again and shot it in landscape mode. I knew I wanted a slow-motion shot to kick off the film, so I set my frame rate to 60/fps. Unfortunately, I never changed it back for the regular shots and accidentally didn’t record the final shot. So again, I went back out. Again I screwed up. This time I got the perfect shot; everything worked, except my frame didn’t match the previous shot, so I had to wash the fake blood out of my hair and reshoot one final time. All this just for a test shot!

I watched the footage back and really liked it. Thank goodness, because didn’t it literally stop snowing when the darkness finally came. I learned several lessons on this small project, but the biggest one was not to wait for the perfect moment because the snow may never come.

In February, the short film will be released on my Youtube channel: CLICK HERE. Subscribe to my Instagram, CLICK HERE, to stay up to date with my journey!

Jane LeBlanc Legacy Fund Updates: Dale Wonderboy Strickland

By Dale Strickland

  • Landed my first paid audiobook gig! I'll be working with Renaissance Press to help narrate Shifting Trust by Madona Skaff-Koren. Funding for this project was graciously provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.

  • I met with Jennifer Sims for a brief consultation to talk about the logistics of getting coaching and a VO demo professionally produced, the state of the industry, and what my options are as a part-time voice actor working remotely.

  • I attended Hubcity Theatre's Voice Acting Level 2 with Liana Bdewi; a group of us got some live coaching, discussed areas of improvement, and learned more about the VO industry from Liana's perspective.

  • The bass traps for my home studio are in progress; an NBFC member very generously offered their woodworking expertise to help me build DIY Rockwool bass traps once COVID-19 restrictions let up.

  • I've been cast as several characters for an animation project led by Brenda Malley; I'm recording from my home studio and many of the other voice actors for the first episode will be recorded by Horace Williams Junior of Little Castle Studios.

    Dale was awarded the Jane LeBlanc Acting Support Award in 2021. To find out more about his award and the JL Legacy Fund: CLICK HERE

Animator Dreams Become Reality - Brian Finlay

By Brenda Malley

What comes to mind when you hear Disney Studios? California? World-class? What about the name Brian Finlay, our newest member of the New Brunswick Film Co-op?!

This quiet, thoughtful, and humble man has been working in animation for 20 years at production studios in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, as well as remote locations around the world.

Born and raised in Saint John, New Brunswick, Brian's fascination and love for the Micky Mouse cartoons at age five resulted in a lifelong love of the craft of animation and a personal reverence for the world of Disney. 

Although he barely graduated from high school and had no specific goals in mind in the 1990s, Brian was freelancing as a Cartoonist when he read an inspirational article about Miramichi animator Ricky Knowles, who Disney Studios had hired. 

Brian had considered his dream of working for Disney impossible to achieve until that point. To this day, he attributes Mr. Knowles' employment at Disney as what made him realize that his dream might be attainable after all.

Call it serendipity! Within weeks of that article, NBCC Miramichi advertised their inaugural 2D Animation program. Brian immediately applied and was accepted. That was in 1997. There, he was trained under a prolific instructor, the late Harold Duckett, an Alumni of Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. When Mr. Dunkett left the program, Brian decided to go too even though he had another six months to completion, a decision he characterizes as misguided and foolhardy at that time.

He also revealed that his past obsession with Sheridan College, and the belief that all the best animators studied there, was another of his misguided beliefs. He now thinks differently, stressing the steady application of one's craft as the basis for a good animator.  

Brian describes the time he spent at Sheridan as highly intimidating. Sheridan is selective in who is accepted and attracts the most talented people. Because of that, students were constantly in fear of being cut from the program, which was done without hesitation. Having accepted one of many job offers during his second year at Sheridan, Brian left the program with only six months left to complete to avoid incurring any further debt.

Brian's first job was at Collideascope Digital Productions in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he worked two seasons developing one of the first digitally animated television series in Atlantic Canada.

He then opened his own animation studio, a decision that would prove detrimental to him and his family's financial security, not because they were lacking work but because they had grown so quickly, and he lacked the necessary business skills to anticipate and avoid pitfalls. Brian describes the demise of his studio business, which operated for 3- 4 years, as one of the lowest points of his life. Nevertheless, he is philosophical about that experience, pointing out that the best way to learn is to fail. He stresses that he learned a great deal and resolved to never make the same mistakes again. 

For the next eight years, Brian operated as a freelance animator at various locations, describing it as fun work, and met many interesting people in the process. His only disappointment was the fact that, though he produced some quality artwork, over 80 percent of his work was developmental and never made the "finish line." Therefore, it has never been seen by others.

In 2011, Brian reached the point that he was considering leaving the animation business when his sister in Kelowna, British Columbia, managed to persuade him to apply for a job with Disney there, despite his concerns that his portfolio was not good enough. To his surprise, he was screened in from a pool of 150 applicants. An 8-week interview process that included animation tests ensued. He credits his wife for getting him through this stressful experience as she was consistently supportive and encouraging. He cannot express in words how excited he was that his dreams of being a Disney animator as a 5-year-old child were being realized, just as it had years earlier for that other New Brunswick animator, Ricky Knowles, his inspiration.

He moved to British Columbia and worked at Disney for the next four years as a Senior Storyboard Artist, as well as directing and animating commercials. One of his highlights was receiving a guided tour of Disneyland, the Disney Studio Lots, and Disney Vault in Los Angeles. During that time, he was made to storyboard in front of many executives at Disney Records for a music video that they wanted to make. Though a stressful experience for him, the video was approved and made.

While he describes behind the scenes at Disney as "awesome," when faced with the opportunity to work on a feature film, The Henchmen, at BRON Studios in Vancouver, he decided to do it. He had reasoned leaving Disney would be a temporary measure, and he would eventually return with even more experience and skills, possibly resulting in him becoming a full-time Director. Unbeknown to him, however, Disney Studios shut their Kelowna office within six months of his departure. After one year at BRON Studios, Brian worked for a couple of television studios and remotely for a client in Montreal. The following 4-5 years were a struggle to get freelance work, and, given the enormous cost of living, it was impossible to get ahead in Vancouver. Brian and his family decided it was time to return to their native Saint John for a better quality of life and to be close to family. 

Since returning to New Brunswick, he has taught 3D animation at Eastern College in Saint John (2017). Also, freelance remote opportunities have increased for him since the pandemic due to the loosening of restrictions associated with tax credits.

Brian has produced a guided, behind-the-scenes tour of the 2D process through his company, Drawn to it Studios, for Bell Fibe TV.

Currently, he is in pre-production for a 7-episode show (each 10 minutes in duration, also for Bell Fibe TV) called Ug-Wug, about a legendary 30-meter-long part seal/part monster that resides in Reversing Falls. It is said that Ug-Wug has a big appetite, and with a full moon and a quart of moonshine, one can summon it. Ug-Wug is a somewhat complicated production involving both 3D Animation and visuals to bring to life a friendly, adorable version of Ug-Wug (akin to a happy puppy). It stars Brian's eight-year-old daughter, whose character is on a girls' summer vacation with her mother (played by her real mother/Brian's wife). 

As the story goes, while beachcombing one day, the girl stumbles on Ug-Wug, and they form a deep connection. When Ug-Wug faces the possibility of being exploited by the antagonist, Mr. Green (played by Comedian James Mullinger), the girl ends up having to save him. Principal photography is scheduled for April 2022, with completion set for November 2022. They've already done a few teaser releases and an interview with his daughter.

Brian stresses that Ug-Wug is the type of production never done before in the province as it will be 3D with live actors produced at a broadcast level quality. If not for corporate sponsorship, including Ivan's Camera Limited in Moncton, he would never have been able to do it. Brian hopes that more corporate sponsors will invest, which will improve the quality of the production further.

Brian is excited and appreciative to be a part of the NB Film Co-op, something he wishes he had done a long time ago. He considers it to be a fantastic source of support, assistance, and mentorship for which he has already benefitted. He also is excited to be a part of the creative community and hopes to contribute to it in some way in the future.

website: www.dtistudios.ca

For the Love of Film - Ian Estey

By Jeremy Brubacher

When he was a young lad, Saint John-based member filmmaker Ian Estey's parents took him to see Star Wars, which was the catalyst for his enduring love for film and filmmaking. That early experience really ignited his imagination, and he and his cousins would record Star Wars radio plays that he assured me have great cringe value, but they were all part of that creative passion that Star Wars stirred up inside of him. What inspires him now is not so much what comes out of the Hollywood system, but more so the films coming from local talent made right here in New Brunswick.

As a child, Ian also did sketch comedies and put together a KISS airband with his cousins in his grandparent's garage. He shot 8mm films on his cousin's camera, which transitioned into him shooting many music videos later, which he still does today. He won a Saint John Music Award in 2013 for the music video he made for the local band Rock Cliff Overview. Ian has also done documentaries, the first of which showed at the Silver Wave Film Festival. The film was about people who use bodybuilding as a way of healing. The story went against the stereotype that people only participated in competitions for vanity and showed that everyone has a deeper story.

On the more narrative film side of things, Ian has done many short films, and he also did an episodic project called Hard Times in Maritimes, which was shot over two years, with each season having 6 to 7 episodes. He also has done feature films; the most recent is Larry Strange, a comedic film about a paranormal investigator. In all these different projects, Ian has taken on different roles, which has strengthened his experience in all aspects of filmmaking. Name a role; Ian has probably done it.

Recently things have changed for Ian. Due to creative differences, he has more free time to help out with Film Co-op member projects. Over the course of our conversation, I realized that because of all the experience that Ian has gained, he has a wealth of great advice to tap into, be it shooting a scene, how to run a healthy set, marketing your film, and finding locations to shoot your projects. Ian has a lot of wisdom to share with his community. He is also willing to take on different roles on set; some to highlight would be Director of Photography and Producing. Ultimately, he is willing to help out in any capacity, so definitely reach out to him, even if it's just for sound film advice, as this article is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Ian can bring to the table experience-wise.

See below for previous work Ian has done. He can be emailed at: iestey@nbnet.nb.ca.

IMDB:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6059500/

Youtube Page (Groove Hill Studio)

https://www.youtube.com/user/GrooveHillStudio

"Reprobate Road: A Hard Times Movie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2X98Kxt2ks

Reboot: Rebuild

https://youtu.be/xGZ4fFeEX8o

Larry Strange Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9jYVkQ98eM

Ian Estey - Shaken and Stirred by Film

Bright Star: Christine McLean

By Brenda Malley

If you are fortunate enough to meet and talk to long-time NB Film Co-op member Christine McLean, it becomes immediately apparent that her staying power as a Canadian journalist and filmmaker over the last two decades is primarily the result of her tenacity, hard work, and ability to recognize interesting stories from her natural surroundings. 

This sweetheart of the Maritimes hails from Nova Scotia, where she currently resides. However, she spent years early in her career living and working in New Brunswick, a time and place she recalls with fondness and gratitude.

As a young child, Christine was not thinking about pursuing one of the more traditional career choices. Instead, because of her love of literature, storytelling, and visual arts, by the age of 10, she knew that she wanted to become a photojournalist someday.

Following high school graduation, Christine obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Dalhousie University, followed by an honours degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa. She returned to school in 2008, earning a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.

Though she had initially expected that her career would involve journalism in print form, little did she know that she would diversify into other mediums, specifically radio and television. 

Christine was a feature presenter at CBC Radio for more than a decade. She regularly filled in for Terry Seguin, the former host of Information AM, CBC Fredericton, while also occasionally filling in for the hosts of Information AM in Saint John and Moncton. She was also a guest host for Shift New Brunswick for several years.

From 2007-2010, Christine was a panelist on CBC’s Short Film Face Off, showcasing films from across Canada. For four months the following year, she wrote and presented a bi-weekly CBC radio column called Just Sayin’ about the use of slang. In 2013, she conceived and conducted panel discussions for Canada Reads, and in 2015 she conducted a series of feature interviews on masterworks at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Christine revealed that a series of unforeseen circumstances and associations with some amazing creatives, as well as her involvement with some phenomenal creative organizations (e.g., artsnb, WIFT- Atlantic, Women in the Director’s Chair), gave her the confidence to “talk business” and to “think big,” leading to her foray into filmmaking. 

She has written, story edited, and/or directed more than thirty documentaries to date. Most of these documentaries have been nationally televised, appearing on CBC’s Land and Sea and The Nature of Things. Her work has also been televised on APTN, Discovery Canada, and National Geographic.

Some of the “one-off” documentaries that she wrote include The Paramount (2012), The Boy Who Was Bullied (2013), At the Dance (2013), and Code Kids (2014). Also, Christine directed The Girls of St. Mary’s (2016).

As well, she contributed to many documentary series including, Stones of Fate and Fortune (2003, one episode as director, consultant for three others), Frontiers of Construction (2004, wrote and directed five episodes), CBC’s Opening Night (wrote and directed two episodes), Keeping Canada Alive (2015, director of two online stories), Mega Marine Machines (2020, head writer and story editor, TV series documentary), If We Built It Today (2020, story editor and producer).

One of her most memorable documentary episodes, Wild at Heart (for Land and Sea), had a large viewing audience. It told the story of people who brought wildlife into their homes, like Ellie the Moose from Giberson Settlement, NB. Christine also contributed to other episodes that focused on urban foxes in PEI, black bears in NS, bald eagles, and bats in the Maritimes with white-nose syndrome. Christine’s most inspirational documentary was The Power of Play for The Nature of Things that can still be viewed on CBC Gem. This show examined research on the benefits of free, risky play in nature and its impact on children’s mental and emotional development. She and her crew visited a daycare program in Norway where children between 2 and 4 years old spent their entire day outdoors where they ate, played, and slept. 

For the last year, Christine and Tim Hogan (an Emmy award-winning producer whom she enjoyed collaborating with on past projects) co-produced a “visually rich” and fun documentary, The New Human, for The Nature of Things. It aired on November 26, 2021, and is still running on CBC Gem. The New Human explores how the human body will biologically develop in the near and far future. This is because of evolution, technology, and changes in our culture. Some examples of these changes are our hair colour, height, and physical strength. 

Christine hosts and presents at various venues and events within the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia artistic communities if all this filmmaking is not enough. These include In Conversation, a public interview series presented by the Fredericton Playhouse, keynote conversations for Women Making Waves, public interviews with Canadian authors at Fry Literary Festival, discussion panels at Silver Wave Film festival, and Lunch and Learn events through Doc Talks (2015). 

She also taught senior television workshops at the University of King’s College in 2011-12 and was a full-time assistant professor at St. Thomas University from July 2009 until May 2011 in the journalism program. 

What does Christine plan to do next? She and Tim Hogan hope to work on another episode of the Nature of Things that could involve filming in Africa, Western Europe, and/or the Canadian North. Also, given that she has significantly benefitted from other females and female organizations throughout her career, she intends to continue supporting women in film whenever she can, including employment and mentorship opportunities.

Her significant contribution to film and television was recognized by WIFT Atlantic in 2017 when she was one of three women that year selected for the WAVE Award. 

Christine and her film team in Berlin.