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LEO AWARDS: Jennifer Copping Wins Leo For BECOMING REDWOOD – Revised

Becoming Redwood which came in with 14 nominations for its popular 1970s-era coming-of-age story won a Leo for Jennifer Copping’s lead performance as young  golf-obssessed Redwood (Ryan Grantham)’s mother. Vancouver-born-and-bred writer and director Jesse James Miller, Copping  (Miller’s wife) and Grantham (shorn of his long hair) walked the red carpet together.

Read More »LEO AWARDS: Jennifer Copping Wins Leo For BECOMING REDWOOD – Revised

LEO AWARDS: Agam Darshi & Gabrielle Rose of Bruce Sweeney Film CRIMES OF MIKE RECKET

Crimes of Mike Recket is about failed real estate agent Mike Recket (Nicholas Lea) whose beautiful, pampered wife Jasleen (Agam Darshi) has dumped him and barred access to their daughter. In a bid to solve his money woes, he tries to scam widow Leslie Kemper (Gabrielle Rose) so that when she goes missing, Recket becomes the lead detective (Paul Skrudland)’s prime suspect in her disappearance.

Agam Darshi, (below) won a Leo for her supporting performance in the film. Her next project: a co-starring role as tech expert Khali Bhatt in upcoming Toronto crime drama Played. Darshi was on stage at the CTV Upfront  last week in Toronto, where  the thirteen-episode series is filming from early May through September.

Read More »LEO AWARDS: Agam Darshi & Gabrielle Rose of Bruce Sweeney Film CRIMES OF MIKE RECKET

SHOOT: Hugh Dillon Films Vancouver Indie THE LAST CROP on Chinatown Roof

You’d think Hugh Dillon would be an easy man to find in Vancouver since he’s been recurring on Continuum as the mysterious Mr. Escher and on The Killing as death-row prison guard Francis Becker. But one character is mysterious (last seen in his office high up in the W-43 Tower in Gastown) and the other works in a prison (Burnaby Youth Detention Centre, Riverview, studio) so fan Julie had given up until he gave her a headsup today to check out Chinatown.

Dillon was up on a roof  helping out his friend James Hutson by appearing in his indie film The Last Crop about you-guessed-it — A man battles unknown enemies to find out who is stealing his marijuana crops. He learns that his own worst enemy may be himself.  Here’s a tracking shot of Dillon’s character Vincent coming out of an SUV and talking on his phone against a West Vancouver backdrop.

Read More »SHOOT: Hugh Dillon Films Vancouver Indie THE LAST CROP on Chinatown Roof

LEO AWARDS: Director Katrin Bowen & Star Amanda Tapping of RANDOM ACTS OF ROMANCE

Random Acts of Romance director Katrin Bowen and her star Amanda Tapping walked the red carpet  together at the Leo Awards.  The tall pair became fast friends years ago when Bowen worked as Tapping’s photo double/standin on the first Stargate TV series, Stargate SG-1.

Bowen was nominated for a Leo for directing  her “Sex, Abduction, Stalking and You Thought Romance Was Dead” movie, set in Vancouver in all of  its “rain, sex and awkwardness.” Sonja Bennett (not photographed) was nominated for her performance in the feature as a wacko stalker. And the film was one of six nominees for Best Motion Picture.

Amanda Tapping’s suit.

Read More »LEO AWARDS: Director Katrin Bowen & Star Amanda Tapping of RANDOM ACTS OF ROMANCE

CINECOUP: ALIEN ABDUCTION, BAD & GRADE NINE in Film Accelerator’s Final Five

Update June 10, 2013 – Regina’s Wolf Cop won the $1-million in production financing and guaranteed release.

After  three months of missions, CineCoup’s film accelerator has advanced three Vancouver teams — sci-fi comedy Alien Abduction, crime drama Bad and dramedy Grade Nine — one Edmonton team — sci-fi thriller The Uprising — and one Regina team — horror fantasy Wolfcop — to the final five. All five finalists are based in western Canada, so they won’t have far to travel to pitch their projects to a panel of film industry professionals at the Banff Media Festival on June 10th. At stake: up to $1-milliion in production financing and guaranteed theatrical release through Cineplex next year.

Click on the key art to go to CineCoup page for each finalist.

Read More »CINECOUP: ALIEN ABDUCTION, BAD & GRADE NINE in Film Accelerator’s Final Five

BIG READ: Vote for 6 Vancouver Film Teams Vying for CINECOUP’s $1-Million – Updated

Published May 31st on Vancouver is Awesome

Update June 10, 2013 – Regina’s Wolf Cop won the $1-million in production financing and guaranteed release.

How did this crazy-good film-accelerator competition start? Back at VIFF’s Film & TV Forum, CineCoup founder and Vancouver digital media entrepreneur J. Joly made a two-hour presentation and then took it on the road to other major cities across Canada. The official launch party took place at the Whistler Film Festival in early December. Word spread and 90 teams from every region submitted two-minute trailers and then began weekly filmmaker missions in March designed to help them package a pitch and build an early fan base with social media tools. Soon after, a trailer with clips from the entrants started a year-long run in 1200 Cineplex theatres nationwide. Over several rounds of fan votes, the 90 whittled down to ten in mid-May, with six of the finalists from here —Alien Abduction, Bad, Grade Nine, Scam, The Fall and The Mill and the Mountain. Let me repeat: six out of ten from Vancouver!

Read More »BIG READ: Vote for 6 Vancouver Film Teams Vying for CINECOUP’s $1-Million – Updated

LEO AWARDS: Brent Butt & Nancy Robertson Host Leo Awards on June 8th

Published May 29, 2013 on Vancouver is Awesome

Hometown comedy couple Brent Butt and Nancy Robertson are set to co-host the 15th anniversary of the Leo Awards, celebrating the best of B.C.-made film and television, at the Westin Bayshore Hotel on Saturday, June 8th. Expect more than the usual hijinks with professional comedians as hosts and and a crowd of outstanding homegrown nominees led by Vancouver born-and-bred Jessie James Miller’s feature film Becoming Redwood with 14 nominations, Vancouver-cop-from-the-future series Continuum with 16 nominations and filmed-in-Vancouver-and-Yellowknife aerial adventure series Arctic Air with 14 nominations.. For tickets, click here.

The 1970s era coming-of-age film Becoming Redwood‘s 14 nominations include well-deserved director and writing nods for Jesse James Miller and performance nods for Ryan Grantham as the young golf-obsessed long-haired title character Redwood; Jennifer Copping (Miller’s wife) as Redwood’s mother; Chad Willett (producer) as Redwood’s draft-dodging, pot-dealing father; Derek Hamilton as Redwood’s red-neck stepfather Arnold and Scott Hylands as Arnold’s basement-dwelling elderly father Earl. Miller shot the Vancouver International Film Festival’s most popular Canadian feature in rural Langley for 24 days in the late spring of 2011. By contrast, Random Acts of Romance, the only other motion picture nominee I’ve seen on screen, filmed in several downtown and East Van locations like the Waldorf Hotel, as befits a movie whose tagline is “Sex, Abduction, Stalking and You Thought Romance Was Dead” about interconnected Vancouverites. Director Katrin Bowen is nominated for the twisted romcom, as is Sonja Bennett for her performance as a wacky stalker.

Becoming Redwood production still – courtesy of Jesse James Miller

In the television category, Continuum dominates with 16 nominations for its first hit season, including nods for creator and UBC grad Simon Barry for his season finale script End Times about time traveller Kiera Cameron’s failure to stop “terrorist” group Liber8 from blowing up a downtown tower, a definitive moment in her corporations-rule-the-world future. Continuum digitally-imploded an Arthur Erickson-designed tower on West Georgia on screen and then filmed the aftermath on a blast-and-rubble set at CBC Vancouver.

Read More »LEO AWARDS: Brent Butt & Nancy Robertson Host Leo Awards on June 8th

LEO AWARDS: Film BECOMING REDWOOD & TV series CONTINUUM & ARCTIC AIR Top 2013 Nominations

Last night’s Leo Awards nominations, celebrating the best of B.C.-made film and television, favour Jesse James Miller’s 70s-era coming-of-age film Becoming Redwood, Vancouver-cop-from-the-future TV series Continuum and northern adventure TV series Arctic Air. The many tweets of congratulations to all the nominees today are a great way to recognize B.C.’s creative talent ahead of tomorrow’s provincial election. So please go vote and as the hashtag says, #SaveBCFilm. 

Becoming Redwood‘s 14 nominations include well-deserved director and writing nods for Vancouver-born-and-raised Jesse James Miller and performance nods for Ryan Grantham as the young golf-obsessed long-haired title character Redwood; Jennifer Copping (Miller’s wife) as Redwood’s mother; Chad Willett (producer) as Redwood’s draft-dodging, pot-dealing father;  Derek Hamilton as Redwood’s red-neck stepfather Arnold and Scott Hylands as Arnold’s basement-dwelling elderly father Earl. Miller shot the Vancouver International Film Festival’s most popular Canadian feature in rural Langley for 24 days in the late spring of 2011.

Related: Jesse James Miller’s Becoming Redwood Opens at International Village

In the television category, Continuum dominates with 16 nominations, including nods for creator and UBC grad Simon Barry for his season one finale script End Times and for performances by Richard Harmon, Brian Markinson, Jennifer Spence and Liber8 “terrorist” Lexa Doig. Lead cop Rachel Nichols is not nominated but she is American and not considered a BC actor, even though she lives here for half-a-year each season and owns Vancouver Canucks season tickets (what more do you need?)

Over at Arctic Air, bona fide BC actors Kevin McNulty and Pascale Hutton are nominated for their lead performances on the filmed-in-Vancouver-and-Yellowknife aerial adventure series, two of 14 nominations for the CBC show. Read More »LEO AWARDS: Film BECOMING REDWOOD & TV series CONTINUUM & ARCTIC AIR Top 2013 Nominations