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Exclusive: Avi Federgreen’s Canadian distribution company Indiecan Entertainment has launched an international sales division that will make its debut at the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Bannered Indiecan International, the division’s first lineup features three films by directors hailing from Canada’s First Nations communities and a UK documentary about a man living with cerebral palsy.

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The creation of Indiecan International comes hot on the heels of Indiecan Entertainment’s creation last May of Red Water Entertainment, a new distribution arm focused on genre films.

“Indiecan International is a natural extension of what I started with Indiecan Entertainment,” said Federgreen, who will be at the EFM with his team.

“My goal with Indiecan International, as with Red Water Entertainment, is to help independent filmmakers and marginalized voices get as much exposure and eyeballs on their stories as possible,” he explained.

The first titles on...

In L’Inhumain, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg member Jason Brennan crafts a film about the Anishinaabe’s perspective of the Wendigo and his personal connection to the creature. Brennan fuses oral histories into a film that explores the difficult choices, temptations, identity issues, and financial pressures that arise when someone decides to leave their reservation land and live in a big city. The horror film focuses on a neurosurgeon named Mathieu, portrayed by First Nation hip-hop artist Samian, struggling with substance abuse, and a failing marriage. After his father dies, he returns to his ancestral land but soon crosses paths with the ravenous Wendigo.

I spoke with Brennan about what it was like to tell this story, his experience as an Indigenous filmmaker, and his company Nish Media – a production studio prioritizing finding and supporting Indigenous talent.

L’Inhumain revolves around the Anishinaabe’s oral history of the Wendigo. Do you...

Projects participating in the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s two-day co-financing market include Eddie Marsan’s feature directorial debut.

The International Financing Forum (Iff 2016, Sept 11-12) is organised in association with the Toronto International Film Festival and will host 20 Canadian and 20 international English-language features.

The iff 2016 Canadian producers and projects include: Robert Budreau (Ontario) of Lumanity Productions with political thriller In The Flames, and Media Goes Here’s Jeff Rogers and Tim Martin (Ontario) with horror project The Sandman, which Dario Argento wrote and will direct starring Iggy Pop.

Sonia Boileau and Jason Brennan (Quebec) of Nish Media represent Vanished, while Mad Samurai Productions’ Matthew Cervi (British Columbia) attends with Zed. Mary Anne Waterhouse and Andrew Currie (Ontario) of Quadrant Motion Pictures represent The Invisibles, which Currie will direct.

Among the international participants are: Coded Pictures’ Karen Katz (UK) with the social drama Hammer ‘Til I Die, which marks Marsan’s (pictured) writing and directorial debut.

Also...

Projects participating in the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s two-day co-financing market include Eddie Marsan’s feature directorial debut.

The International Financing Forum (Iff 2016, Sept 11-12) is organised in association with the Toronto International Film Festival and will host 20 Canadian and 20 international English-language features.

The iff 2016 Canadian producers and projects include: Robert Budreau (Ontario) of Lumanity Productions with political thriller In The Flames, and Media Goes Here’s Jeff Rogers and Tim Martin (Ontario) with horror project The Sandman, which Dario Argento wrote and will direct starring Iggy Pop.

Sonia Boileau and Jason Brennan (Quebec) of Nish Media represent Vanished, while Mad Samurai Productions’ Matthew Cervi (British Columbia) attends with Zed. Mary Anne Whitehouse and Andrew Currie (Ontario) of Quadrant Motion Pictures represent The Invisibles, which Currie will direct.

Among the international participants are: Coded Pictures’ Karen Katz (UK) with the social drama Hammer ‘Til I Die, which marks Marsan’s (pictured) writing and directorial debut.

Also...

Forty producer teams and their projects including Eddie Marsan’s feature directorial debut will participate in the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s two-day co-financing market from September 11-12.

The International Financing Forum (iff 2016) is organised in association with the Toronto International Film Festival and will host 20 Canadian and 20 international English-language features.

The iff 2016 Canadian producers and projects include: Robert Budreau (Ontario) of Lumanity Productions with political thriller In The Flames, and Media Goes Here’s Jeff Rogers and Tim Martin (Ontario) with horror project The Sandman, which Dario Argento wrote and will direct starring Iggy Pop.

Sonia Boileau and Jason Brennan (Quebec) of Nish Media represent Vanished, while Mad Samurai Productions’ Matthew Cervi (British Columbia) attends with Zed. Mary Anne Whitehouse and Andrew Currie (Ontario) of Quadrant Motion Pictures represent The Invisibles, which Currie will direct.

Among the international participants are: Coded Pictures’ Karen Katz (UK) with the social drama Hammer ‘Til I Die, which marks Marsan...

Alumni on film and TV programme include producers of The Lunchbox, Bullhead and The Book Of Negroes.

Film and TV drama co-production training programme Trans Atlantic Partners (Tap) has revelaed its 2016 line-up of 25 producers from across Europe, Canada, and the USA as well as India and South Africa.

Experts taking part in the scheme include producer René Bastian (Cold In July), Matthias Nitschke, senior vice president of business & legal affairs, Studiocanal, Germany, and producer Ilann Girard (Lebanon).

Tap provides case studies of successful trans-Atlantic projects, market intelligence, legal framework and information on sales and distribution. The programme is directed at producers at career mid-level who have produced at least one feature film or TV series.

The two training modules take place in Munich (June 24 – 29) and Halifax, Canada (September 12– 18) where Tap producers will also participate in the Atlantic Film Festival’s Strategic Partners international co-production market.

Previous alumni of the scheme include Guneet Monga (The Lunchbox), [link...

Director Sonia Bonspille Boileau digs into her First Nation roots for her new film "Le Dep," which heads to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic this weekend. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Boileau's feature debut offers timely reflection on aboriginal struggle in Canada, where natives struggle to wrest their autonomy. For this psychological drama set in a small First Nations community in rural Quebec, Boileau cast relatively unknown actors and real Innu tribe members Eve Ringuette and Charles Buckell to tell the story of a young native woman (Ringuette) who recognizes her attacker when she's robbed at gunpoint in her father's convenience store. The encounter unearths secrets buried in her family. Read More: Karlovy Vary Film Fest Lineup Lures Adventurous Cinephiles, Young Directors Produced by Nish Media, whose Jason Brennan is also native, "Le Dep" is the inaugural First Nation production to come out of Telefilm...