On Screen Manitoba's Blog | Deep Focus - OSM's deeper focus into Film, Video, Media, People, Technology, Strategies and Forms of Medium.

The following post was written by Creative Communications student, Joel Nickel, about his Independent Professional Project at Red River College.

Ouroboros is a web series whose first episode aired last Friday, January 6 2012. Filming for Season One of the series wrapped in early December and the rest of the month was spent editing and getting ready for the January 6th premiere.

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This past weekend On Screen Manitoba partnered with WNDX to present a panel discussion on programming for festivals that featured TIFF Short Cuts Canada programmer Alex Rogalski and Executive Director of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC), Lauren Howes.

On Friday afternoon, WNDX and OSM offered industry members an opportunity to sit down with Alex and Lauren for some one-on-one time before the next day’s panel.

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Jeremy Torrie says this is a difficult time for feature filmmakers, but that hasn’t stopped the Ojibway filmmaker from nearing completion of shooting his latest feature, Path of Souls.

Despite the financial uncertainties of making an independent feature film, Torrie has forged ahead with conviction and taken his cast and crew all over North America and such Manitoba locales as Seven Sisters, Bannock Point and Fort Alexander to tell the story.

Torrie, who also wrote the film, describes it as P.S. I Love You meets Donnie Darko. He recently spoke with On Screen Manitoba’s Trevor Suffield on a rare day off to talk about how the shooting is going and the path to get it to this point.

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Three days spent at the Cannes International Film Festival were more education than vacation for Winnipeg filmmaker Hersh Seth. The On Screen Manitoba member showed his short film, The Lost Dreams of Narcissus and Echo, at the festival’s Short Film Corner. The Short Film Corner is designed to allow filmmakers the opportunity to network and [...]

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Farpoint Films’ John Barnard admits his latest project, The Book of Vaudeville, is a story that has been almost a century in the making.

Barnard’s documentary, produced by MTS Winnipeg On Demand, has its roots in a scrapbook that is more than 90 years old, was hidden in the walls of the Orpheum Theatre and survived a demolition of the building.

Now, Barnard is taking to the stage of The Pantages Playhouse Theatre on April 14 to recreate the book live with a free show that will be included in his film.

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The month of March brings with it a rejuvenation of spirits, a frenzied anticipation of spring and a release for the built up cabin fever that we experience. We start to pack up our winter boots and our parkas; we nervously put away our trusted extension cords and we start to get ready for a new season of street repairs.

This year, On Screen Manitoba brought its members a welcomed surprise to cap off the season. OSM proudly presented the CLOSE UP Speaker Series: a three part speaking event that brought industry experts to Winnipeg to share their experiences, information and helpful tips to current and future filmmakers.

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Filmmaker Shawn Linden has been chomping at the bit to get back in the director’s chair after an almost four year hiatus.

After spending many years learning the ropes on local film productions as a set dresser, Linden made a big splash on the filmmaking scene in 2007. His self-financed film Nobody garnered great reviews, awards and played in festivals around the world.

His latest project, Rose By Name, which he will direct from his own script, is being produced by Suki Films and has just begun preproduction in Quebec. It will shoot in both Quebec and Manitoba this summer.

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Actor, writer, singer/songwriter Ernesto Griffith grew up in some what of a fairy tale setting, full of castles and rolling hillsides in Surrey, England. At the age of 11, he found himself living in the drastically different prairie landscape of Brandon, Manitoba. It was this massive change in environment that started to shape Griffith’s storytelling [...]

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You could say that filmmaker Alf Kollinger did more than ten years of research for his latest documentary.

Kollinger was a male model in Winnipeg in the late 90’s, but has since turned his attention behind the camera as a documentarian, along with partner Adriana O’Neil.

Kollinger and O’Neil’s latest film, The Glory Days of Modeling in Winnipeg, produced by MTS TV Winnipeg On Demand, will premiere at Cinematheque on March 18. The film documents a period in the city’s past when the modeling industry hit its stride in the 1970’s and 80’s.

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Quid pro quo: I’ve been on sets before. Be it the small, independent short films where the director’s mother is the caterer, to the larger feature films where assistants have assistants.

And because of the long hours and close working conditions, a film set can feel like a surrogate family.

Earlier this week I got to visit the Less Than Kind set where they are busy filming episodes for the third season. Less Than Kind follows the quirky, unpredictable trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional Jewish family trying to get by in Winnipeg’s fading North End, and recently the show won three Gemini Awards.

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