Screen Siren Pictures Inc.

The First Movie

What’s it like to be a child in war – not when the conflict is raging, but when the war tide is out, as it were, when kids are telling stories or playing games? The First Movie is about the “not-war”.

It came about because director Mark and producer Gill separately went to Kurdistan.  They loved the place and wanted to make a film about it.  Mark thought it would be best to focus on kids, because their minds are uninhibited and developing fast.  A good way to try to see inside those little minds, he thought, would be to give the kids cameras and let them film what they liked.

Mark and Gill travelled around Kurdish Iraq in 2008, and chose the village of Goptapa as their location, because of its beauty and hopes for the future, but also because it has a tragic past.

Influenced a little by 1001 Nights, The First Movie is a “magic realist” documentary, one of the first of its kind.  It certainly doesn’t skirt the suffering of Goptapa but, rather, it shows how such suffering co-habits with other things, such as wonder and imaginative development.

One little boy in the village said he’d like to fly slowly over Goptapa.  In The First Movie, that might just be possible.

White Cloud Blue Mountain

Sometimes trying to get your father’s love takes you to the strangest places.

Set on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia, White Cloud, Blue Mountain is a moving and meditatively filmed half-hour drama that explores emotional isolation between fathers and sons. James, a withdrawn professional in his late thirties, tries to reconcile with his dying father but is forced to confront his inability to communicate with his family and his own young son. Graceful, evocative cinematography and compelling performances reveal a man’s poignant journey into his emotional relationships.

Festivals & Awards

Festivals

1998 Screenings

• Moving Pictures Traveling Film Festival – Cambridge, UK

1997 Screenings

• Toronto International Film Festival – Canada
• CBC Canadian Reflections
• Vancouver International Film Festival – Vancouver, BC
• Mill Valley Film Festival – Mill Valley, CA
• Olympia Film Festival – Olympia, WA
• Rendez-vous with Madness Film Festival – Toronto, ON

Financing

Canada Council Media Arts Section, BC Cultural Services, the National Film Board Filmmaker’s Assistance Program, Telefilm Canada, CBC’s “Canadian Reflections”, Placer Dome Inc. (Canada).

Sales Info

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

The Space Between

The Space Between contemplates the question of just how far a person will go to escape their reality once pushed to the limit. When an insignificant event forces a man over the edge, he discovers that the space between morality and justice is a dark place.

Festivals & Awards

Festivals

2004 Screenings

• Tribeca International Film Festival – Manhattan, NY

2003 Screenings

• Cambridge Film Festival – Cambridge, UK

2002 Screenings

• Toronto International Film Festival – Toronto, ON
• Vancouver International Film Festival – Vancouver, BC

Financing

Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada; the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry CTF: License Fee Program; the British Columbia Film Television and Film Financing Program; the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC; and the Movie Network.

Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with the assistance/participation of the Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program; in association with Boneyard Film Company; with the participation of CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund and in association with Movie Central/Corus.

Produced with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund. Developed through the National Screen Institute of Canada NSI Features First Program, in association with Telefilm Canada and British Columbia Film.

©MMII Ministry of Extreme Circumstances Films Inc. All rights reserved.

Sales Info

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

Luna: Spirit of the Whale

Belonging is more than finding a place …

Inspired by a true story, Luna: Spirit of the Whale is a CTV Original Movie about the distances we must travel to discover our identity and true place in life.

Mike Maquinna (Adam Beach, Flags of Our Fathers, Windtalkers) is the hereditary chief of an aboriginal village on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. When he comes home to his estranged father’s funeral to pay respects and hand over his birth right to a more suitable elder (Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves), his convictions are tested when he faces the true spirit of his people – a stray killer whale from Puget Sound called Luna.

Mike’s people – the Mowachaht-Muchalaht – believe that Luna is the embodied spirit of his father, the late chief. But Mike, a man separated from his culture, is disbelieving. Mirrored in Mike’s confusion is Adam (Aaron Miko), a troubled Native teen struggling with his own identity, as well as a local fisheries officer (Erin Karpluk, Godiva’s), who must question the science she has practiced.

Luna becomes the center of a spiritual and political controversy when a government official (Jason Priestley, Love and Death on Long Island, Beverly Hills 90210) announces plans to transport him over land to reunite the lost whale with his pod. When the resolute Mowachaht-Muchalaht people, including Mike’s mother Gloria (Tantoo Cardinal, Unnatural and Accidental), fight to protect the young killer whale, Mike finds himself embroiled in a struggle that challenges his own spiritual beliefs – as well as his notion of home and belonging.

Visit CTV for an interview with Adam Beach.

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

22008 Awards and Nominations

• 2008 Nominated for Gemini Awards, “Best TV Movie” and “Best Visual Effects”
• 2008 Nominated in the Feature Length Drama category for Leo Awards, “Best Screenwriting”, “Best Cinematography”, and “Best Supporting Performance by a Female (Erin Karplunk)”
• 2008 Nominated for “Best TV Movie” at the CFTPA Indie Award

2007 Awards and Nominations

• 2007 Audience Award, Children’s section – 30th annual Mill Valley Film Festival

Festivals

2008 Screenings

• 2008 Ashland Independent Film Festival, Ashland, Oregon USA

2007 Screenings

• Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth – Vancouver, BC
• Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children – Toronto, ON
• Dreamspeakers Aboriginal Film Festival – Edmonton, AB
• Rimouski International Film Festival – Rimouski, QC
• Carousel International Film Festival for Youth – Rimouski, QC
• Mill Valley Film Festival – San Francisco, CA
• Oulu International Children’s Festival – Oulu, FIN
• American Indian Film Festival – San Francisco, CA
• Whistler Film Festival – Whistler, BC

Sales Info

World Sales

Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Contact: Mary Herne or Suzanne Barron
Tel: 310 776 7206 | Tel: 310 776 7207
mherne@peacearch.com
sbarron@peacearch.com
www.peacearch.com

US Sales

Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Contact: Bateman Davis-Miller
Tel: 310 776 7205
bateman@peacearch.com
www.peacearch.com

Developed and Produced in association with CTV Television. In association with Peace Arch Entertainment Produced with the participation the Shaw Rocket Fund. Produced with the participation of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network The Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program The Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund.

The Score

A groundbreaking musical drama about a scientist whose own genetic history threatens her career, her lab and her life.

Dr. Magnusson is a brilliant geneticist racing to isolate a cancer-causing gene. All that’s standing in her way is competition from a well-funded French lab, her ticking biological clock, a risky office romance, and the fear that she might carry the same Huntington’s gene that prematurely ended her mother’s life. Based on the award-winning play by Electric Company Theatre, The Score explores the human elements and revolutionary implications of the rapidly advancing world of genetics and uses humour, music and dance to transform scientific ideas into universal themes of identity, freedom and creation.

Visit The Score website at www.thescorethemovie.ca.

“Adventurous views will want to know The Score, an ambitious item that succeeds on a number of challenging levels – without breaking too much sweat about it.”   — Ken Eisner, Variety

Photo Gallery

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

2006 Awards & Nominations

• GEMINI NOMINATIONS: Best Photography in a Comedy, Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series and Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series.
• Nominated for Best Musical Score in a Feature Length Film – Leo Awards
• Nominated for Best Movie of the Week – Banff Television Awards

Festivals

2006 Screenings

• INPUT – Taipei, Taiwan

2005 Screenings

• Puerto Vallarta Film Festival – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Vancouver International Film Festival – Vancouver, BC

Media Items

Download The Score press kit. (PDF, 56 kb)

Financing

Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Cable Industry; CTF: Licence Fee Program; Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment, Produced with the participation and contribution of Genome Canada; With the assistance of The government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program, CanWest Independent Producer’s Fund; the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund.

Sales Info

Educational Sales

Moving Images Distribution
402 West Pender Street, Suite 606, Vancouver, BC, Canada  V6B 1T6
Phone: (604) 684-3014 | Fax: (604) 684-7156
mailbox@movingimages.ca
www.movingimages.ca

National and International Sales

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada  V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry CTF: License Fee Program, Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program Produced with the participation and contribution of Genome Canada with the assistance of The Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program, CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund, the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund.

Flower & Garnet

Eight-year-old Garnet’s mother died unexpectedly while giving birth to him, so he grows up eating his morning breakfast of milk and cereal amid the tabletop clutter of his father Ed’s empty beer bottles.

Ed (Callum Keith Rennie) goes through the motions of living. Still saddened and filled with rage over his wife’s death, he is distant and rarely speaks, least of all to his children. Flower (Jane McGregor), a pretty, warm-hearted 16-year-old, has assumed the mothering role, but the demands of caring for her brother have begun to weigh upon her.

Garnet (Colin Roberts), a quiet, inquisitive child, is most contented at Flower’s side. He spends much of his time alone – feeding popsicles to cats, eating dirt, collecting worms, keenly observing ants on the carpet, and listening to the puzzling sounds that come from behind the door of his father’s room.

The sudden news of Flower’s pregnancy splits the family apart and she decides to pack up and leave home. Ed, trying to bond with his son, buys a BB gun as a birthday gift, but this gesture only pushes the troubled Garnet further toward the edge. Left to his own devices, Garnet begins to unravel, growing aberrant and violent. Soon, Ed must decide whether to face this new suffering that his years of silence have sown.

“Close to perfection … Flower & Garnet pulls you in with silence – then proceeds to blow your mind with little more than a whisper … An astonishing achievement … It marks the arrival of a new visionary.”   — Katherine Monk, The Vancouver Sun

Photo Gallery

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

2004 Awards & Nominations

• Keith Behrman nominated for Grand Prix Award – Flanders International Film Festival
• Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature – 2nd Annual Independent Film Festival of Boston

2003 Awards & Nominations

• Best Program, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Music – Leo Awards, Feature Film Category
• Best Canadian Feature – Victoria Independent Film Festival
• Best Canadian Feature Film (2002), Best Canadian Director, Best Canadian Actor, Runner-up for Best Canadian Actress – Vancouver Film Critics Circle
• Named one of Canada’s Top Ten Films of 2002 – Toronto International Film Festival Group
• Keith Berhman awarded the Claude Jutra Award for outstanding achievement by a Canadian director in their first feature – Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television

2002 Awards & Nominations

• People’ Choice Awards for Most Popular Feature Film – Whistler Film Festival
• Best Performance By An Actor in A Leading Role (Colin Roberts) nomination – Genie Awards

Festivals

2004 Screenings

• Singapore International Film Festival – Sinapore, Malaysia
• Muestra de Cine Canadiese – Madrid, Valencia
• Festival de Cine Canadiense – Mexico
• Vail Symposium – Vail Valley, Colorado
• Sevilla Film Festival – Spain
• 2nd Annual Independent Film Festival of Boston – Boston
• Canadian Front: New Films – Museum of Modern Art in New York
• Toronto International Film Festival Group’s Film Circuit in the UK – Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen

2003 Screenings

• Flanders International Film Festival – Ghent, Belgium
• Pusan International Film Festival – South Korea
• Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – Czech Republic
• Cambridge Film Festival – UK
• Victoria Independent Film Festival – Victoria, BC
• Berlin International Film Festival – Berlin

2002 Screenings

• Calgary International Film Festival – Calgary, AB
• Whistler Film Festival – Whistler, BC
• Toronto International Film Festival – Toronto, ON
• Vancouver International Film Festival – Vancouver, BC
• Montreal World Film Festival – Montreal, QC

Financing

Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada; the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry CTF: License Fee Program; the British Columbia Film Television and Film Financing Program; the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC; and the Movie Network.

Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with the assistance/participation of the Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program; in association with Boneyard Film Company; with the participation of CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund and in association with Movie Central/Corus.

Produced with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund. Developed through the National Screen Institute of Canada NSI Features First Program, in association with Telefilm Canada and British Columbia Film.

©MMII Ministry of Extreme Circumstances Films Inc. All rights reserved.

Sales Info

Canadian Sales

Odeon Films Inc
121 Bloor Street East, Suite 1500, Toronto, Ontario Canada M4W 3M5
Phone: (416) 967-1174 | Fax: (416) 960-0971
www.allianceatlantisfilms.com

International Sales

AllianceAtlantis Communications Inc
121 Bloor Street East, Suite 1500, Toronto, Ontario Canada M4W 3M5
Phone: (416) 967-1174 | Fax: (416) 960-0971
www.allianceatlantis.com

Produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada; the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry CTF: License Fee Program; the British Columbia Film Television and Film Financing Program; the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC; and the Movie Network. Produced in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with the assistance/participation of the Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program; in association with Boneyard Film Company; with the participation of CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund and in association with Movie Central/Corus. Produced with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund. Developed through the National Screen Institute of Canada NSI Features First Program, in association with Telefilm Canada and British Columbia Film.

Ice Girls

In competitive figure skating, only the tough survive.

5:00 am practices. Ballet classes. Tutors. Weight training. Injuries. Dedication to a single cause since the time you could walk. Ice Girls is the story of three elite young figure skaters — Canadian Keyla Ohs and UK skaters Jennifer Holmes and Vikki Hodges as they pursue their dreams of one day ascending the Olympic podium. Shot over three years, Ice Girls paints an intimate portrait of these girls’ lives and their dedication to a sport that demands tremendous physical power and psychological strength.

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

2003 Awards and Nominations

• Best Program, Best Director and Best Editor – Leo Awards Sports Category

2002 Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for Rockie Award, Best Sports Program – Banff International Television Festival

Festivals

2002 Screenings

• Banff International Television Festival – Banff, AB

Media Items

Download the Ice Girls press kit. (PDF, 76 kb)

Financing

Ice Girls is a Screen Siren Pictures Inc. co-production with the BBC.

Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund, in association with CTV, with the participation of the Government of Canada Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program, the Government of British Columbia Film Incentive BC Program and Rogers Documentary Fund. Developed in Association with British Columbia Film. Produced in Association with WTN — Women’s Television Network.

Sales Info

Canada & US Sales

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

International Sales

TVF International
375 City Road, London EC1V 1NB UK
Phone: +44 (0)20 7837 3000 | Fax: +44 (0)20 7278 8833
int@tvf.co.uk

Hammer & Tickle

Using animation and live action footage, Hammer & Tickle is a 90 minute documentary that tells the story of how popular humour contributed to the defeat of Communism in Europe.

This film is not just a compilation of Communist jokes, of which there are thousands, it is the story of the jokes, the people who invented them, the people who tried to silence them, the people who risked punishment to document them, and the people imprisoned for telling them.

A France/Canada co-production with Alegria Pictures

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

• 2006 Zurich International Film Festival – Won Best New Documentary

Festivals

2006 Screenings

• 2006 Leeds International Film Festival – Leeds, Scotland
• 2006 Zurich International Film Festival – Zurich, Switzerland
• 2006 Tribeca Film Festival – New York City, USA

Sales Info

French & International Sales

Alegria
22 rue Charles Baudelaire, 75012 Paris, France
Phone: 011 33 1 53 17 99 24 | Fax: 011 33 1 43 43 20 42

Canadian Sales

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

Produced by Alegria Productions & Screen Siren Pictures Inc in association with Bergmann Pictures. A BBC Production produced in association with ARTE/ZDF. Produced with the support of MEDIA PLUS PROGRAMME of the European Community. Produced in association with The Documentary Channel. Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Cable Industry, CTF: License Fee Program Produced with the participation of Rogers Cable Network Fund with the assistance of the Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program, the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. In association with TV2 Denmark, SVT Sweden, YLE 2 Finland, SBS Australia. Developed with the support of Starling (France), Centre National de la Cinématographie, and MEDIA PLUS PROGRAMME of the European Community.

Girl Racers

Girl Racers is a high-octane, four-part documentary TV series that chronicles the careers of North America’s top female race car drivers, including six Canadians, over the course of the 2004 racing season.

Narrated by former driver and racing enthusiast Jason Priestley, the series goes behind-the-scenes in one of the most highly watched sports on North American television today. Girl Racers documents for the first time, the trials and tribulations that female drivers experience in one of the few sports where women compete directly with men … and win.

Two drivers who are competing at the highest level are: Danica Patrick, who stunned the racing world by placing 2nd in a major European Championship when she was only 18. Girl Racers captures her 2004 season in the Toyota Atlantic Championship as she is groomed for the big leagues with the backing of legendary Indy 500 winner, Bobby Rahal and talk-show host David Letterman. On May 29th of this year at age 23, Danica became the 4th woman ever to compete in the prestigious Indy 500. She drove the race of a lifetime, becoming the first woman in history to lead the race, holding it for 19 laps and ultimately finishing 4th. When she was awarded Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, she officially became the story every newspaper, magazine and television camera wants to capture.

Milka Duno, a Naval Engineer by training who holds four masters’ degrees, is what’s known in the industry as ‘the complete package.’ This gorgeous sex symbol of auto racing would seem to have it all. She started racing sports cars just 6 years ago in her native Venezuela and quickly attracted high-level sponsorship. Girl Racers captures Milka in her first year in the Grand American Rolex Championship series — the top-level endurance series in America. Not only does Milka become first woman to win (twice) at Homestead Miami and at the Petit le Mans in Braselton, Georgia, but she is featured in the largest ever Hispanic marketing campaign for Pontiac.

Visit the Girl Racers website at www.girl-racers.com for behind-the-scenes action, driver biographies and media information!

Awards

2006 Awards & Nominations

• 2006 Gemini Nomination for Best Program or Series for Producers Trish Dolman and Stephanie Symns
• Nominated for Best Documentary (Nature/environment/adventure/science/technology category), Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing – Leo Awards

Broadcast Dates

2005 Broadcasts

• US premiere on The Biography Channel in September and October 2005.
• Canadian premiere in Canada during the Molson Indy Series in July 2005 on the Global Television Network.

Financing

Produced by Screen Siren Pictures Inc. in association with Global Television Network Inc., a CanWest Company.

Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry, Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program, CTF: License Fee Program; the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC; the Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit; British Columbia Film; CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund; and Rogers Telefund.

Developed in association with Global Television Network Inc., a CanWest Company and Telefilm Canada, and with the participation of British Columbia Film.

Sales Info

Canada & US Sales

Screen Siren Pictures Inc
Suite 300, 291 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 1B8
Phone: (604) 687-7591 | Fax: (604) 687-4937
info@screensiren.ca

Exit Kingsway

Who has the right to call a neighbourhood home?

In an ethnically and economically diverse community in Vancouver, a pastor decides to open his church doors to drug dealers, prostitutes and homeless people. The reaction of his neighbours raises the question — who has the right to call a neighbourhood home?

Photo Gallery

Festivals & Awards

2003 Awards & Nominations

• Picture This Competition Award Winner – BC Film, NFB

Festivals

2004 Screenings

• Vancouver International Film Festival – Vancouver, BC
• Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival – Toronto, ON

2005 Screenings

• Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival – Victoria, BC

Sales Info

National Film Board
Sales and Customer Service, D-10
PO Box 6100, Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec    H3C 3H5
Phone toll free (in canada): 1 800 267-7710
Phone: (514) 283-9000 | Fax: (514) 283-7564