Prime Video has unveiled seven new projects greenlit for Canada, including three to be directed and executive produced by comedian Tom Green. They include an untitled comedy special capturing his recent 40+ city comedy tour across North America, a documentary following his career, and Tom Green Country, a reality series following his move from Hollywood to a farm outside Ottawa. Other titles announced include Canadian true crime docuseries In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, looking into the 2010 drowning death of small-town Alberta school teacher Laura Letts-Beckett, which her husband Peter Beckett has claimed was a tragic accident, despite the assertions of police and prosecutors. Read more here.
Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) have handed out the 2024 CCE Awards. Mary Stephen and Gordon McClellan were this year’s Lifetime Achievement honourees. Stephen was French New Wave master Eric Rohmer’s chief editor for more than 30 years, while McClellan has been a Picture Editor in Drama and Documentary for over 50 years. Select credits include the first five seasons of The Fifth Estate, music documentary Tears Are Not Enough, and six seasons of Road to Avonlea. Don Thompson, Founding Director and now Chair of the Vancouver Post Alliance (VPA), received the Career Achievement Award.
The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) has announced the winners of the Rockie Awards International Program Competition. Among the Canadian winners was The Fades of Papineau (Ça prend pas la tchas à Papineau), which captured Short Form Fiction Series (Trio Orange) and the Emerging Talent Prize for Emilie Mannering. Séries Plus dramatic comedy Les Bombes won the Prix Francophone, while the Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content went to the documentary Satan Wants You (Nootka Street Film Company, Grand Scheme Productions, 666 Films). HBO’s The Last of Us was recognized with the Grand Jury Prize and the award for Drama Series: English Language.
TIFF has announced the first honourees of this year’s Tribute Awards: Oscar-nominated actor Amy Adams, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Performer Award; and iconic Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter David Cronenberg, who’ll be recognized with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award. Sandra Oh will serve as the inaugural Tribute Awards Honorary Chair. The sixth annual Tribute Awards will take place Sept. 8 at Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The gala is TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser, with this year’s proceeds going towards its Every Story Fund, which champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film.
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced its first six official selections for the 2024 festival, Sept. 5–15. Making their World Premieres at the 49th edition of the festival are: R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s Elton John: Never Too Late; Woo Min-ho’s Harbin; Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck, starring Tom Hiddleston; dark comedy Nightbitch featuring Amy Adams; Rez Ball, a coming-of-age film about Indigenous basketball produced by LeBron James; and The Wild Robot, an animated film featuring an ensemble cast led by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as Roz, a robot shipwrecked on an island that must adapt to its surroundings.
CBC is recognizing National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day with a broadcast, streaming, audio and digital lineup of original and special programming that showcases First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives. CBC TV and CBC Gem will broadcast and stream the Indspire Awards on Friday, June 21, recognizing Indigenous peoples across the country in a variety of fields. Other featured programming includes Marie Clements’ award-winning Bones of Crows, which will start streaming starting June 22. CBC Radio and CBC Listen will also air a 10th anniversary special of UNRESERVED, a live taping with host Rosanna Deerchild, featuring comedy by Sherry McKay, music by Douzie and the return of the “Aunties Circle” featuring Vida Lamour, Sonya Ballantyne and Shelagh Rogers.
AMI is currently in production on new scripted and docuseries for 2024-25 from Big Time Decent Productions, Canadian Content Studios, Flow Video, Summerhill Media, Border2Border Entertainment, Prairie Cat Productions, Bone Vault and Catapult Pictures. They include digital docuseries After Dark (working title), exploring sex, love, dating and relationships relevant to people with disabilities; Collar of Duty Kids, a children’s docuseries taking young viewers into the lives of kids who’ve been matched with service animals; The Crip Trip, a punk-rock, road trip docu-comedy following the misadventures of artist, filmmaker, and quadruple amputee Daniel Ennett and his producer/friend/caregiver Frederick Kroetsch; Get Hooked (in partnership with OutTV), exploring how members of the queer, Black, Indigenous and disability community capitalize on the mental health benefits of fishing; Low Vision Moments (working title), a half hour scripted comedy based on the life of Jennie Bovard, the host of the AMI podcast of the same name; Underdog Inc. featuring Dale Kristensen (Backroad Truckers), a Little Person, as he navigates life in a mountain town; and We Were Broncos, the story of Ryan Straschnitzki’s life beyond the horrific Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018.
Fremantle has secured a global deal with Pluto TV to distribute 25 FAST channels across 13 countries, with each channel curated for individual markets. The partnership expansion will see 24 of the Fremantle’s most popular FAST channels premiere in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy, San Marino, Demark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the UK, and the U.S. The deal will see the Three’s Company channel launch for the first time outside of the U.S., premiering internationally in Canada later this summer, in addition to Escape to the Country, Baywatch, Supermarket Sweep, Family Feud Classic, Let’s Make a Deal, The Price is Right: Bob Barker, The Price is Right: Drew Carey, Alarm Fur Cobra, Project Runway, Prisoner and Jamie Oliver.
ICON Creative Studios animation workers are the latest to join The Canadian Animation Guild, IATSE Local 938. The 700 workers at the Vancouver studio are the fourth animation group to form a union in B.C., joining workers from Titmouse Vancouver, Kickstart, and WildBrain. One of the largest animation studios in Vancouver, workers at ICON now begin the bargaining process.
Bell Media has confirmed that CP24 and BNN Bloomberg will move from 299 Queen Street West to Bell Media’s Agincourt studios to join a news hub, alongside CTV National News, CTV News Toronto, CTVNews.ca, and CTV News Channel. Bell says previous plans for redevelopment of the 299 Queen Street campus have been paused. According to a leaked memo obtained by blogTO in 2022, the building was originally set to be vacated late in 2024 or early 2025 due to construction of the Ontario Line subway and new towers surrounding the building. Purchased by CHUM in 1985, and formerly home to Citytv and MuchMusic, the building is listed on the City of Toronto Heritage Registry.
