Film 4Ward Program Winners Announced – $80,000 in funding distributed to Island Filmmakers
Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Chris Palmer (fourth from left) today joined Film PEI Executive Director Renee Laprise (fifth from left) to announce the recipients of Film 4Ward funding for 2018. The successful applicants include (from left to right) Millefiore Clarkes (and her son Henry), Emma Fugate, Harmony Wagner, Jason Rogerson, John Ross Fitzpatrick, Matt Sherman and Ryan McCarvill. Full details of the Film 4Ward funding can be found at www.filmpei.com . Missing from photo are recipients Jenna MacMillan and Jason Arsenault.
The Film 4Ward Program is pleased to announce the selected projects of its 2018 competition.
The Emerging selection is:
“Hot or Not” – Matt Sherman (producer), Ryan McCarvill (director), Katie Mac/ John-Ross Fitzpatrick (writers).
Logline – Hayley and Jake are best friends stumbling through modern dating, with endless hook-up options and very little hope for real love.
This team has been developing a script for a web series version of this project in the PEI Screenwriters’ Bootcamp and this past year their pitch won the Audience Choice Award in the ‘Pitch for Your Life’ competition.
The Mid-Career selections are:
‘Song of Forgiveness and Farewell’ – Emma Fugate (producer), Millefiore Clarkes (director), Millefiore Clarkes/Tanya Davis (writers)
Logline – When the panic over global crisis threatens to engulf her, Ava embarks on a vision-quest to put things in perspective.
Millefiore Clarkes is an award-winning filmmaker who’s most recent NFB documentary ‘The Song and the Sorrow’ is currently on the festival circuit. Emma Fugate is very active in the PEI film industry and will be adding producing to her repertoire of talents.
‘Furball’ – Harmony Wagner (producer), Jason Rogerson (director,writer)
Logline – Some sages have beards. Other have whiskers. Furball follows a day in the life of a cat as he reflects on the current state of the world, offers advice on how to best survive it, and reminds us about what’s truly important – love and respect.
This team has been the creative force behind several short films including Queen of the Crows and have two feature films under their belts, Kooperman and Singing to Myself.
‘The Weekend’ – Jason Arsenault (producer), Jenna MacMillan (director), Blaine Watters (writer)
Logline – After a group home is evacuated for repairs to a gas leak, a young social worker in a failing marriage is forced to take the most troubled kid in care with her on a much needed “couples getaway” with her husband.
The creative team of Jason Arsenault and Jenna MacMillan are currently in post-production with their webseries, Wharf Rats, the winner of the Telefilm Micro-budget Production Program Grant, The BellFund Grant and the Independent Production Fund.
Film 4Ward grew out of the PEI Culture Action Plan consultations with local filmmakers who identified the need for content and skill development in order for PEI filmmakers to access national and global film and TV markets. In response to this, the Province of PEI worked collaboratively with FilmPEI and a committee of several filmmakers to develop the Film 4Ward program.
Over the last 6 months FilmPEI hosted more than a dozen skills workshops designed to build capacity in the film and media community. Many of those workshops were also specifically focused on developing applications for the Film 4Ward program. Professionals with national and international success were brought in to teach and give notes on scripts. Ultimately, the program had fifteen teams apply for funding.
A jury of four film industry professionals, three from off-Island and one from PEI, read through all the applications and deliberated for several hours to come to a consensus on the top four projects. This year the jury chose one emerging project and three mid-career projects. The emerging team will be working directly with the Film 4Ward committee to ensure the team is properly trained and mentored. The mid-career winners will be working with the committee to build action plans that will engage PEI crew participate in on-the-job training on these projects.
“Our province’s film community is growing, not only in size, but in the experience and capabilities it possesses,” Economic Development and Tourism Minister Chris Palmer said. “The funding awarded today will give Island filmmakers even greater opportunity to hone their craft and bring their stories to life. I offer sincere congratulations to all the winners.”
The Film 4Ward committee is pleased with the number and quality of applicants who submitted to the program and encourage everyone to continue to develop their projects and skills in the upcoming workshops. “We have a lot of talent on this mighty island and we are excited to give creative teams the resources and training they need in order to create calling card films to forward their creative careers on a national and international stage”, notes Renee Laprise, Executive Director of Film PEI.
The Film 4Ward program is funded by Innovation PEI through the PEI Culture Action Plan, with additional funding provided by Telefilm Canada and CBC, and led by FilmPEI.
Alex is handing over the reigns to well-respected member of the tech community, Thomas Mears. Thomas has more than a decade of experience working in the pro audio department at Long & McQuade Musical Instruments. He enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter, photography, and repairing vintage electronics. Over the coming years he’s looking forward to growing with the film industry on PEI.