Filmmaker Workshops/Round Table

Industry Programs

Registration required for workshops and roundtable

Friday, October 23, Bata Shoe Museum

$20 per workshop; $30 for two
Pre-register for sessions 416-531-4689 (limited seating)

Workshop #1: An Earth Friendly Lighting Kit (and how to use it)

Co-presented by Green Screen Toronto
10:00am – 12:00pm (Registration 9:30am)

Workshop Leader: Lance Carlson, CSC

Filmmakers can now consider treading a smaller environmental footprint; such as shooting on compact flash cards (rather than film or videotape), effectively utilizing portable notebooks to reduce the consumption of paper and using lighting fixtures that draw lower wattage (LED and Flouro). This workshop will explore new innovative lighting fixtures and a portable lighting kit comprised of just such fixtures. Lance Carlson will also demonstrate how to use the fixtures in innovative and creative ways to accomplish professional results. He will show several new LED products as well as demonstrate how to light an interview or small set with these fixtures assembled in the kit.

Lance Carlson, CSC
Lance Carlson is an award winning cinematographer and filmmaker. He was Executive Vice President of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for over nine years during which he initiated numerous innovative programs. As Department Head for Film, Television and Post Production at Trebas Institute for four years he was Executive Producer on over 25 student and faculty films. He has personally mentored many of his students into film industry jobs. Lance currently teaches at George Brown College and Centennial College and continues to produce independent film and interactive projects.

Round Table: Biting The Hand That Feeds You 

10:30am – 12:00 pm (Registration: 10:00am)

Canadian filmmakers are largely funded by the public purse through government agencies. Does such funding shape the way filmmakers tell their stories? What is the place of public funding in the creation of strong yet critical Canadian environmental stories? Do filmmakers feel constraints in creative expression? Is there fear of biting the hand that feeds you? Do filmmakers seek alternative ways to finance critical films?

Filmmakers, Arts Officers and Broadcasters will participate in this important and timely discussion.

Facilitators: Festival Co-Programmers
Participants: Mark Haslam, Visual & Media Arts Officer, Ontario Arts Council; Lawrence Carota- Producer & Director; Sylvie Van Brabant and other participating festival filmmakers.

Mark Haslam is the Media and Visual Arts Officer at the Ontario Arts Council. Previously, he was the founder and Executive Director of the Planet in Focus: International Environmental Film and Video Festival. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, and a Master of Environmental Studies degree, both from York University. For eight years he wrote, directed and produced documentary programming on human affairs, arts, and the environment at Vision TV. He is a Fellow of the UK-based LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development) International organization.

Lawrence Carota directed Crude Sacrifice and has produced and directed award winning documentaries such as, A Nurses Opinion; Recognition And Respect, A Time For Change and This Business Of Living, and Keepers Of The Light for 35 years. As a seasoned filmmaker, Lawrence is experienced in dealing with complex issues and controversy, covering news from around the world, investigating and documenting our changing world and how it affects out lives. Crude Sacrifice took over two years to produce.

Sylvie Van Brabant originally hails from Alberta. In 1981 she directed Depuis que le monde est monde, an in depth study of birthing practices in Quebec. In 1984 Sylvie founded her own company Les Productions du Rapide-Blanc in Quebec, with partners director/D.O.P. Serge Giguère and television writer Francine Tougas which produces point of view documentaries rooted in Quebec culture and society. In the 1990’s she directed for the CBC The Last Trip (1995): she produced for TV Ontario, Judy Jackson’s Baby Business (1995); and her award-winning feature Seul dans mon putain d’univers (1997). Eve Lamont’s Squat! (2002) won both Best Direction for a feature documentary and the Humanitarian award at the Hot Docs in Toronto. Her company has been instrumental in the development of the Green Code project, focused on a green code of ethics for film production.

Workshop #2: Green Pitch

Green Pitch Registration 12:30pm 1:00 - 3:00pm

Five filmmakers selected from a pool of competitors will pitch their green film ideas to a panel of industry professionals made up of broadcasters, producers and filmmakers. This is a chance for you to hear what works, what doesn't, and to mingle with key industry players.

Moderator: Candida Paltiel, Artistic Director/CEO Planet in Focus Participants: Michael Allder, Executive Producer, of CBC’s Science & Natural History Unit Bruce Glawson, Executive Producer Programming, Discovery Channel; Christine Lee, Programmer TVO; and others TBA.

Biographies
Candida Paltiel – Artistic Director & CEO

Candida has been the Artistic Director/CEO of Planet in Focus since 2005 overseeing the artistic programming and expansion of its year round national and international programs as well as the creation of Green Screen Toronto. She has worked on a number of award-winning television documentary series CBC, TVO, CTV and Vision TV, specializing in social and political issues (Up at Dawn, To Tell a Story, Acts of War, Heart of the System etc.). She has filmed and resided in a variety of international settings in addition to having taught in the film program at the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University. In 2002 she was invited to launch the first screenwriting workshop in Honduras, where she also co-wrote the feature screenplay “Manati” with Honduran producer Marisela Bustillo , based on the murder of an environmental activist there. She received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Film from Columbia University, NYC and her BA in Political Science and East Asian Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Michael Allder

Michael Allder is the Executive Producer of CBC’s Science & Natural History Unit. Its popular flagship programme, the multi-award-winning The Nature of Things, is an award-winning series broadcast across Canada and many countries around the world. Allder has had extensive experience as a Producer and Director of both television and cinematic productions in both the public and private sectors. He previously worked with the National Film Board of Canada, where he directed and produced the feature length documentary The Lucky Ones, as well as the feature drama City of Dark, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He also produced the feature documentaries Drowning in Dreams and the cult hit Project Grizzly, both of which played at the Toronto Intl Film Festival . Since joining The Nature of Things, the series has garnered numerous prestigious awards in national and international competitions. Over the past five years, The Nature of Things has four times been nominated for the Gemini as Canada's Best Documentary Series, an award that it received most recently in 2004. Mr. Allder was also Series and Executive Producer for the epic “Geologic Journey”, a five-part HD series about the geologic history of North America.

Bruce Glawson

Bruce Glawson has been an Executive Producer, Programming at Discovery Channel Canada since June 2005. In this role he manages many hours of factual programming simultaneously, guiding the content of commissioned specials and series from development through to broadcast. He works closely with independent producers to deliver high-quality, viewer-friendly television shows.

Bruce has over 25 years television experience in such diverse positions as the former co-owner and president of the successful indie company Cambium Productions, VP of Programming at PrideVision and a Telefilm Canada TV Investment analyst. He has an impressive portfolio of award-winning and highly popular programs with worldwide distribution. Recent credits include: Production Executive, Discovery Channel Canada for the following productions: Mayday, How It's Made, Guinea Pig, Cash Cab, Doctor*ology, How Do They Do It, Mean Machines, Fireball of Tutankhamun, What's That About, Real Vampires, Forensic Factor, Against All Odds, Earthshocks.

Christine Lee

Christine Lee has eight years of experience as a programmer at TVO, Ontario’s public educational media organization. She is responsible for acquisitions and pre-buys in several areas of the prime time schedule including environmental and social issue strands as well as programming science, history and drama. Before joining TVO, Christine spent five years at the National Film Board of Canada’s Ontario Centre working with the Centre’s Executive Director on a variety of administrative and organizational projects, and was a Manager in the sponsorship department at Save the Children Canada.