Preview at BookExpo June 15
May 22, 2008
Curator Paul Quarrington & Founder Judith Keenan
Present Moving Stories Preview June 15 @ 2:00pm
BookShorts, the seminal producer / distributor of media inspired by books, is excited to announce Moving Stories Film Festival, a 90-minute curated program of short films celebrating the written word. The films are being selected by Festival Programmer Paul Quarrington in consultation with prestigious Film Advisors, and have been submitted by artists around the world. From September to December 2008, Moving Stories will screen at public events hosted by film and literature festivals across North America. Confirmed hosts include St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Ottawa International Writers Festival; Winnipeg International Writers Festival; WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival; Vancouver International Writers Festival and Toronto First Canadian Place. More host venues will be announced in July, along with details of special presentations organized by each venue in conjunction with their local screening. A preview of Moving Stories films will take place in the BookShorts Lounge at BookExpo Canada on Sunday, June 15 at 2:00pm. The event will be presented by Quarrington with Festival Founder Judith Keenan, and include authors and directors whose work is represented in the program. Programmers from host venues will be in attendance. Moving Stories will announce the final selection of films in July 2008.
Moving Stories Film Advisors include: the highly successful Canadian film producer Robert Lantos; award-winning filmmaker Sarah Polley; author Nino Ricci whose award-winning books have been adapted for the screen; top literary publisher and media champion Anne Collins, and director / animator Gary Thomas, who is now winning major industry and public acclaim for his work in adapting books to screen. Film submission guidelines, and information for producers interested in hosting Moving Stories, are available now at www.movingstoriesfilmfest.com.
In an era of media convergence, the Moving Stories program amplifies the natural affinities between film and literature, creating a forum, live and virtual, that allows audiences to appreciate the art of story through its presentation in more than one media. BookShorts’ objective in creating the screening program is to set a standard of excellence, for artists and for audiences. It looks to provide artists with meaningful opportunities to create and deliver exciting, original work, and have it seen by a public whose desire for entertainment is not constrained by platform.
Sherry Naylor
Publicity Director
Meisner, de Groot & Associates
Tel: 416-368-8253
E-mail: sherry@mdgassociates.com
Invitation For Emily Carr Students/Alumni To Make A Film On Our Dime
May 9, 2008
Are you a current student or recent graduate of the University formerly-known-as the Emily Carr Institute? Here’s your chance to apply what you’ve learned about art and design and make it shine on screen. All on our dime!
BookShorts Moving Stories invites you to submit a creative treatment for an up to 2-minute short film. Your entry must be inspired by one of three specially selected literary works in a range of genres: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry.
Our jury will review all submissions and award the winner with $1,500 and professional mentorship to help bring their treatment up to 2-minute life! The film will be screened at the Moving Stories Film Festival and at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design Theatre as part of the Vancouver International Writers Festival (VIWF).
Hal Wake, Artistic Director of the VIWF is delighted about this new initiative. “Presenting short films about books is an exciting new departure for the Vancouver International Writers Festival”, says Wake. “The opportunity to engage young, talented students and alumni from Emily Carr to produce BookShorts is an added bonus. We can’t wait to see what they come up with.”
The deadline to submit a treatment is 30 May 2008. Get reading and writing today so you can start shooting your short! For eligibility requirements and entry guidelines click here.
For more information, contact Judith Keenan at (416) 855-2425 or judith@bookshorts.com.
Make A Film On Our Dime 2008 is a collaboration of the Vancouver International Writers Festival, Emily Carr University and the BookShorts Literacy Program.
Moving Stories Screening At Festivals Near You
May 5, 2008
2008 Confirmed Event Dates
Sep 28
Winnipeg, MB
THIN AIR 2008: Winnipeg International Writers Festival
http://www.winnipegwords.com
Oct 17-18
St. John’s, NL
St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival
http://www.womensfilmfestival.com
Oct 22
Ottawa, ON
Ottawa International Writers Festival Fall Edition
http://www.writersfestival.org
Oct 14
Banff 5nd Calgary, AB
WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival
http://www.wordfest.com
Oct 25
Vancouver, BC
Vancouver International Writers Festival
http://www.writersfest.bc.ca
November 26
Toronto, ON
Pages Books & Music “This IS Not A Reading Series”
http://pagesbooks.ca/events.php?type=event&id=250
More Canadian and US host venues to be announced. Contact judith@bookshorts.com to request preview DVD and to enquire about hosting an event in your area, your library or bookstore!
Anne Collins
May 5, 2008
An award-winning non-fiction writer and former magazine editor, Anne Collins is the publisher and vice-president of Random House Canada. Writers she publishes include Douglas Coupland, Richard Gwyn, Richard Florida, Graham Swift, Peter Carey, Julian Barnes, Robert Hough, Giles Blunt, Shaena Lambert, Paul Quarrington, Alissa York, Karen Connelly, Carol Off, Paul Anderson, Kenneth J. Harvey, Bonnie Stern, Kevin Patterson, Bret Hart, LGen. Romeo Dallaire and Irshad Manji.
Robert Lantos
May 5, 2008
Robert has produced some 30 films including Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominated Being Julia, Golden Globe nominated Sunshine, the Cannes Grand Prix winner and Academy Award nominated The Sweet Hereafter; Berlin Silver Bear winner eXistenZ, Cannes Special Jury Prize winner Crash, Cannes International Critics Prize winner Exotica, Genie Award winners, Where The Truth Lies, Black Robe, and In Praise of Older Women and Canadian domestic box office phenomenon Men With Brooms. Another five of his films have been a part of the Cannes Official Selection: Night Magic (1985), Joshua Then and Now (1985, In Competition), Felicia’s Journey (1999, In Competition), Stardom (2000, Closing Night), Ararat (2002), Where The Truth Lies (2005, In Competition).
Mr. Lantos founded and built Canada’s leading film and television company Alliance Communications which he took public in 1993 and sold in 1998. Since then he has concentrated exclusively on producing motion pictures.
Nino Ricci
May 5, 2008
NINO RICCI’s The Origin of Species has just won the 2008 Governor General’s Award for Fiction, his second GG! Lives of the Saints (1990) won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the F.G. Bressani Prize. The novel was also a long-time national bestseller, and was followed by the highly acclaimed In a Glass House (1993) and Where She Has Gone (1997), which was a finalist for the Giller Prize. This trio of novels was adapted into a miniseries directed by Jerry Ciccoritti and starring Sophia Loren, Nick Mancuso, Fab Fillipo, Jessica Paré, and Kris Kristofferson. Watch Nino’s excellent review of the films included in this year’s program.
Sarah Polley
May 5, 2008
Sarah Polley is Genie Award-winning film director and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (Away From Her ). As a director, she is renowned internationally as well as in her native Canada. As an actress, Polley has become a favorite of critics for her sensitive portraits of wounded and conflicted young women in independent films. She has starred in such films as The Sweet Hereafter, Guinevere, Go, The Weight of Water, My Life Without Me, and Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
She has said that her choice of film roles, eschewing mainstream Hollywood movies for chancier, non-commercial independent fare, was the result of an ethical decision on her part to make films with social importance. Polley is a cinema artist. This woman wants to make, and will make films. Thus, we can understand her career choices as a desire to work with and understand the technique of some of the best directors in film, including David Cronenberg, Michael Winterbottom, and Hal Hartley.
Pavane Featured in Master Classes
May 4, 2008
Director Paul Quarrington will present his new short film, PAVANE, in person along with producer Judith Keenan, in a series of Master Classes programmed in conjunction with host festivals across the country. “It will be a wonderful way in which to get immediate feedback,” states Quarrington, whose credentials range from small to big screens, “much more personal than its broadcast on Bravo!FACT and CBC later in the year.”
For more about this intriguing hybrid live-action and animated film, and details on the dates and venues for screenings, visit the PAVANE film page right here on the site.
Gary Thomas
May 4, 2008
Gary Thomas returned to Toronto in 1998 and opened Crush, one of Canada’s foremost motion graphics and effects studios, now also producing original content and live action. He began his career in animation and computer graphics, working in television commercials. He was a creative director at Centro Digital Pictures in Hong Kong, where he oversaw the development of one of Asia’s leading animation and special effects houses. After directing Cannes and Clio award winning commercials for Carlsberg, Shell, Nike and more, he moved to Sydney for Garner McLennan Design.
Gary’s work for Moby’s Play DVD was a Grammy finalist, and he and his Crush team have just garnered 2008’s One Show award recognizing their innovative series of shorts for Douglas Coupland’s The Gum Thief. He has directed several short films for BookShorts, including A Life’s Passion, based on the novel Renaldo by James McCreath and licensed for national television broadcast in 2008; and The Upside of Down based on the work of Thomas Homer-Dixon.
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