‘Riceboy Sleeps’ Scoops Top Canadian Film Award
Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps has won Canada’s biggest film award, the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award. The prize, decided by the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA), comes with a CAN$100,000 ($72,000) cash prize. Riceboy Sleeps beat nominees Clement Virgo’s Brother and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. The semi-autobiographical film explores the challenges of living between two cultures through the tale of a Korean immigrant single mother raising her son in Canada. Shot in the Greater Vancouver area and Korea, the feature world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, winning its Platform Prize, and then played in Busan and a raft of other festivals. The win comes as Toronto-based distributor Game Theory Films gears up for the title’s Canadian release on March 17. The feature will also be released in Korea, Singapore and the US in the coming months. “The Toronto film community has been so good to us since TIFF where this crazy journey first began and I hope to make more films in the future that will warrant the same type of support,” commented Shim.
NFTS & Netflix Re-Team On Scholarship For Black British Women
The National Film and Television School (NFTS) has re-teamed with Netflix to launch the second year of applications for its cinematography scholarship for Black British Women. The scholarship, supported entirely by Netflix, funds the recipient’s two years of study costs on the NFTS cinematography course and includes a stipend for annual living expenses. Filmmakers Ndrika Anyika and Lami Okrekson were the first recipients, beginning their studies at the NFTS in January 2023. Applications for 2024 are now open. Announcing the news, Fiona Lamptey, director of UK features at Netflix, said: “True diversity in film offers us a range of perspectives, it challenges us to see familiar things differently, to tell stories in fresh ways through alternative viewpoints. We are delighted to be continuing our work with the National Film and Television School this International Women’s Day to increase gender equality and representation behind the camera.”
Modern Films Marks Int’l Women’s Day With Launch Of New Digital Space
Eve Gabereau’s innovative UK indie distributor Modern Films has launched a mixed-media, digital space called The Modern Line. The aim of the site is to create connections between current filmmakers and new releases on the Modern Films slate with previous filmmakers in its library, via podcasts, text, photos, music, moving images and personal stories from filmmakers on the inspiration behind their films. The site had a soft launch in February with a podcast featuring writer-director Emily Atef in conversation with filmmaker Lisa Rovner (Sisters with Transistors), to mark the UK release of her film More Than Ever. The film is now launching officially with a special International Women’s Day focus on female-identifying filmmakers, profiling them and asking who inspires them, what is their advice to young filmmakers and what is their creative process and bible. Participants include Jacqueline Lentzou (Moon, 66 Questions), Posy Dixon (Keyboard Fantasies), Zeina Durra (Luxor) and Dina Amer (You Resemble Me).
Tim Burton Expo Heads To Italy
Globetrotting ‘The World Of Tim Burton’ exhibition has been booked by Italy’s National Cinema Museum. The show will run for a six-month stint from October 2023 to April 2024, against the backdrop of the museum’s dramatic Mole Antonelliana architectural landmark home. Burton will also give a masterclass during this period. He follows in the wake of recent honorary guests Kevin Spacey and Isabella Rossellini. Drawn from Burton’s personal archive, the show consists of some 500 artifacts connected to his work. Since its creation in 2014, the show has visited a dozen countries and is currently on display in the Pavilion Bukit Jalil in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumper. “It will be wonderful to see how Tim Burton’s colorful and whimsical world will fit into the magical space of the Mole Antonelliana,” said the museum’s director Domenico De Gaetano.
