Nova Scotia Talent Prominent at Film Festival

Nova Scotians in the film industry had an opportunity to showcase their talents at this year's Atlantic Film Festival.

The 25th Atlantic Film Festival illustrated the prominence of Nova Scotia's talented producers, crew, and actors during the 10-day festival.

"We are delighted that Nova Scotia producers and talent had such a strong performance at this year's festival," said Ann MacKenzie, chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation. "The festival is an important venue for showcasing Atlantic Canadian productions and Nova Scotia-made films are certainly shining through based on their appeal and the quality in which they are made."

The talent exhibited over the festival's run was recognized during an awards luncheon held on Sep. 23. Nova Scotians and their productions walked away with several awards:

• Daniel McIvor received two awards including outstanding writer (shared with Amnon Buchbinder) and outstanding performance by a male actor (shared with co-star and fellow Nova Scotian, Aaron Webber) for the film Whole New Thing.
• Tim Wilson received the Best Atlantic Short award for The Last Weir.
• Andrea Dorfman received the Rex Trasker award for best documentary for Sluts: The Documentary.
• Thom Fitzgerald received the best direction award for his film 3 Needles.
• Kristin Bell took home the outstanding performance by a female actor award for Focus Group Therapy.
• Kevin Pitman won for excellence in art direction for Copain de Paris.
• 3 Needles was recognized with the Ed Higginson cinematography award for Tom Harting's cinematography work.
• Angela Baker was awarded excellence in editing for her work on Whole New Thing.
• Darrell Fung was awarded excellence in music composition for Little Claus and Big Claus.

This year, the film corporation sponsored Strategic Partners and the Inspired Series -- a presentation that explored issues relevant to the film and television industry.

The corporation also sponsored one of the 25th Atlantic Film Festival retrospective screenings.

Numerous Nova Scotia short films and documentaries were shown throughout the festival including three full-length feature films by Nova Scotia producers.

Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles, a story of the global effect of AIDS, opened the festival. Bridgewater-based Camelia Frieberg's engaging Whole New Thing screened during the CBC Atlantic Gala and The River King, starring Edward Burns and produced by Chris Zimmer of imX communications, was shown as part of the Rogers Presents series.

The Atlantic Film Festival recognized the long and successful career of Glace Bay-native Daniel Petrie Sr. with screenings of several of his productions. Mr. Petrie passed away in August 2004.

"We extend our congratulations to the board, management and staff of the Atlantic Film Festival for organizing another outstanding festival," said Ms. MacKenzie. "The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation is a long-time sponsor and supporter of the festival. Promoting talented Nova Scotians encourages a strong and vibrant film industry."

The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation is a provincial Crown corporation reporting to the minister of Economic Development. The corporation provides a wide range of programs and services to build the capacity and competitiveness of the province's film, television and new media industries. The provincial film industry is the fourth largest in Canada, regularly exceeding $100 million in economic activity annually.