Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and Shaw Media has announced that 11 projects have been chosen to receive a total of $198,000 in grants and no-interest loans from the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Documentary Funds in its eighth round of disbursements. The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds consist of a $3-million completion fund and a $1-million development fund that aim to provide Canadian documentary filmmakers with much needed financial support at critical stages in their projects.
With these 11 projects, a total of 84 projects have received $2,002,000 in grants and no-interest loans via the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds. The application process for the first round of 2012 funding will open in April, with an application deadline of May 16, 2012. For further information on the application process, eligibility requirements and deadlines, please visit www.hotdocs.ca/shawmedia.
Shaw Media-Hot Docs Completion Fund
Eligible projects were considered by the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Completion Fund Selection Committee, which included Andrew Johnson, Production Executive Factual Content, Shaw Media Inc; Robin Smith, Owner / President, KinoSmith Inc.; and Elizabeth Radshaw, Hot Docs Forum and Market Director, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Six completion grants totalling $142,000 were awarded to the following projects:
ARIEL
Producer: Sarah Spring
Director: Laura Bari
Production Company: Parabola Films
Ariel lost his legs 10 years ago while repairing an industrial bread machine. Now approaching 40, he is using his genius as a mechanical engineer to revolutionize prosthetics to bend and flex in-line with the human body.
UNTITLED CALGARY DOC
Producer: Tom Powers
Director: Paul Taylor
Production Company: Open Door Co.
In Calgary, Alberta, a vicious war is raging between a group of neo-Nazi skinheads and a family of determined anti-racism protestors.
THE DEFECTOR: ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA
Producer: Ann Shin, Heidi Tao Yang
Director: Ann Shin
Production Company: FathomFilm Group
THE DEFECTOR follows several defectors and aid workers who risk their own lives to take North Korean fugitives across China through Southeast Asia and into Europe and North America.
GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE
Producer: Mila Aung-Thwin, Nina Beveridge, Liz Marshall
Director: Liz Marshall
Production Company: Ghosts Media Inc.
A cross-platform documentary, GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE seeks to uncover the dark recesses of our anthropocentric society and to illuminate the lives of individual animals used for human profit and consumption.
SEMISWEET
Producer: Lalita Krishna
Director: Michael Allcock
Production Company: In Sync Video
Jump into the rich world of chocolate – a world of delicious sweets, dark secrets, and chocolate freedom fighters.
THIS TOUR HAS 22 CITIES
Producer: Rob Blackie
Executive Producers: John Vatcher, Allan Hawco, Michael Levine, Lewisport Productions Inc.
Director: Peter Esteves
Production Company: Take The Shot Productions Inc.
A personal journey through the life and career of Canadian comedian Shaun Majumder, told in part through his personal standup performance, which highlights his family roots and upbringing in Burlington, Newfoundland.
Shaw Media-Hot Docs Development Fund
Eligible projects were considered by the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Development Fund Selection Committee, which included Michael Kot, SVP Factual Entertainment, Entertainment One Television; Barbara Shearer, Production Executive Factual Content, Shaw Media Inc.; and Elizabeth Radshaw, Hot Docs Forum and Market Director, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Five no-interest loans totalling $56,000 were awarded to the following projects:
ADAM COHEN: THE FAMILY BUSINESS
Producer and Director: George Tsioutsioulas
Production Company: Entertainment Business Affairs (Film and TV) Inc.
The journey a musician goes through to find his own voice while attempting to step out from the enormous shadow that his famous father – Leonard Cohen – has cast over him his entire life.
THE ADVENTURES OF DR. CRACKHEAD
Producer: Michael Savoie
Director: Jennifer DiCresce
Peter Ferentzy juggles his sober, restrained life as an addictions professional with his fantasy-filled addicted life. What makes this enigmatic man tick? Will success change this divided life he leads?
FRACTURED LAND
Producer: Tara Mahoney
Executive Producer: Daniel Conrad
Directors: Fiona Rayher, Damien Gillis
Production Company: Gen Why Media
FRACTURED LAND tells of a global struggle between the multi-billion-dollar shale gas “fracking” industry and an embattled First Nations culture, amidst the beautiful wilderness of northeastern British Columbia.
REASONABLE DOUBT
Producer: Michael McNamara
Executive Producer: Judy Holm
Directors: Marc Lamy, Ray Klonsky
Production Company: Markham Street Films
When troubled teen Ray Klonsky began writing letters to prison inmate David McCallum, both of their lives changed forever. Hundreds of letters later, Ray graduated from university determined to set his friend free.
SHADOW GIRL
Producer: Lisa Valencia-Svensson
Executive Producer: Ed Barreveld
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Director: Maria Teresa Larrain
Production Company: Storyline Entertainment
Filmmaker Maria Teresa Larrain bravely opens up her journey into darkness, leading the audience into the unknown as she fights to keep her dignity and her voice as an artist, searching for a new way to see the world.