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.

Reservation Soldiers

Filmed over the course of several years, Reservation Soldiers focuses on the relationship between the Canadian military and aboriginal youth. For Blair, Mahekan and Noel, three teenage boys from remote Western Canadian reservations, the military represents an opportunity they don’t often see at home – adventure, discipline and cold hard cash. When they attend Bold Eagle, a six-week military boot camp, they face the reality of military life and ponder a possible future in the Canadian Army. Aboriginal recruiter Sergeant Ron Leblanc knows exactly where they’re coming from. After 16 years in the military he is facing a difficult decision; pursuing a career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or “paying back” the military for helping him escape his troubled youth by shipping out to Afghanistan, Canada’s most dangerous mission since the Korean War. For these young men, the Canadian military seems like the best option, but is it the only option for their future?

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

• 2008 Awards and Nominations
• 2008 Wins “Best Feature Documentary (International)” at the Talking Stick Film Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• 2008 Wins Golden Sheaf Award for “Best Aboriginal Production” at Yorkton Short Film Festival & Video Festival
• 2008 Wins Bronze Remi Award at Worldfest Houston 2008 for TV Special: Documentary
• 2008 Nominated in the Documentary or Series category for Leo Awards, “Best Screenwriting”, and “Best Sound Editing”

Festivals

2008 Screenings

• 2008 Talking Stick Film Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• 2008 Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, Yorkton, Saskatchewan Canada
• 2008 Worldfest Huston, Huston Texas USA

2007 Screenings

• 2007 Whistler Film Festival, Whistler BC, Canada

Sales Info

TV Sales | Canada

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

TV Sales | US

The National Film Board of Canada Sales and Customer Services
P.O. Box 6100 Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 3H5
Phone: 1 800 267-7710 or (514) 283-9000 (Montreal area)
international@nfb.ca
www.nfb.ca/contacts/

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

TV Sales | World

The National Film Board of Canada Sales and Customer Services
P.O. Box 6100 Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 3H5
Phone: 1 800 267-7710 or (514) 283-9000 (Montreal area)
international@nfb.ca
www.nfb.ca/contacts/

DVD Sales

The National Film Board of Canada

A Screen Siren Pictures Production. Produced in association with CTV Television with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund. Produced in association with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, with the assistance of the Canadian Independant Film & Video Fund. Produced in association with Knowledge Network and SCN with the Participation of the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax credit.Produced witht eh participation of Rogers Telefund.

Developed in association with CTV Television with the participation of British Columbia Film and the assistance of the Canadian Independant Film & Video Fund.

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.

Breaking Ranks

Breaking Ranks is a documentary about the plight of four U.S. soldiers seeking sanctuary in Canada as part of their resistance to the war in Iraq. The film documents their experiences as they try to exercise their consciences amidst profound emotional, ethical and international consequences. Filmed over the course of the refugee process, this provocative film explores the meaning of duty through the powerful testimonies of these young soldiers.

Visit the Breaking Ranks website.

“The film is brilliant. I was a Bush-loving, war-supporting conservative until your film, and tonight it has made me think again about my view.”  — Carol Gould, London, UK

Festivals & Awards

Awards & Nominations

• Part of Global Current’s Gemini award for “Best Documentary Series”
• Nominated for Best Documentary or Series – History/Biography/Social/Political, Documentary: Best Director and Documentary: Best Picture Editing, Leo Awards – Vancouver, BC
• Nominated in the Documentary – Social/Political category, Golden Sheaf Awards – Yorkton, SK

Festivals

2008 Screenings

• 2008 Roma Fiction Festival – Rome, Italy
• 2008 Social Justice Film Festival – White Rock, BC Canada
• 2008 Open Cinemas – Victoria, BC Canada

2007 Screenings

• 2007 SF DocFest – San Francisco, USA
• 2007 Sheffield Doc/Fest – Sheffield, England
• 2007 Leo Awards Film Festival – Vancouver, BC Canada
• 2007 Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival – Yortkon, SK Canada
• 2007 Our Island, Our World Film Festival – Salt Spring Island, BC Canada

2006 Screenings

• 2006 Montréal World Film Festival – Montréal, Canada
• 2006 Calgary International Film Festival – Calgary, Canada
• 2006 Vancouver Amnesty Film Festival – Vancouver, Canada
• 2006 Victoria Amnesty Film Festival – Victoria, Canada

Media Items

Read reviews for Breaking Ranks: NBC News First

Sales Info

TV Sales | Canada

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

TV Sales | US

The National Film Board of Canada Sales and Customer Services
P.O. Box 6100 Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 3H5
Phone: 1 800 267-7710 or (514) 283-9000 (Montreal area)
international@nfb.ca
www.nfb.ca/contacts/

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

TV Sales | World

The National Film Board of Canada Sales and Customer Services
P.O. Box 6100 Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 3H5
Phone: 1 800 267-7710 or (514) 283-9000 (Montreal area)
international@nfb.ca
www.nfb.ca/contacts/

DVD Sales

The National Film Board of Canada

A Screen Siren Pictures Production in Co-Production with the National Film Board of Canada for Global Television. Produced in Association with Cypress Park Productions.

Produced with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry CTF: License Fee Program, Rogers Documentary Fund and with the assistance of The Government of Canada Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program and the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Produced in Association with Knowledge Network. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film, the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund and with the financial participation of Rogers Telefund.

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

Drawing Out The Demons

Art. Drugs. Madness.

Gifted artist, tormented soul, egomaniacal bad-boy hyped up on crystal-meth. This is the snapshot, circa summer 2001, as this raw and uncensored documentary begins tracking the dramatic career of Canadian-born painter Attila Richard Lukacs. A bold visionary whose life-size homoerotic renderings of skinheads fetch tens of thousands of dollars, Lukacs fails in his attempt to crack New York City and the world’s toughest art scene. He spirals into depression and drug addiction, alienates friends and art associates, and pushes away his saintly parents. But the wired West Coast artist manages to make it to the other side, retreating from his disastrous NYC exploits to find detox, redemption, and creative renaissance in Maui.

A gritty and compulsive examination of the extremes of artistic temperament, the story is set against the backdrop of Lukacs’ meteoric rise into the international art world. His paintings — once the toast of Berlin and Toronto — shift and change in tone and execution, revealing an artist of uncanny ability and endurance.

“Drawing out the Demons may be the most honest and substantial documentary ever made about a world-class artist”   — Atlantic Film Festival 2004

Photo Gallery

Festivals & Awards

2005 Awards & Nominations

• 2008 Awards and Nominations
• 2008 Wins “Best Feature Documentary (International)” at the Talking Stick Film Festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• 2008 Wins Golden Sheaf Award for “Best Aboriginal Production” at Yorkton Short Film Festival & Video Festival
• 2008 Wins Bronze Remi Award at Worldfest Houston 2008 for TV Special: Documentary
• 2008 Nominated in the Documentary or Series category for Leo Awards, “Best Screenwriting”, and “Best Sound Editing”

Festivals

2006 Screenings

• 32nd Northwest Film & Video Festival – Portland, Oregon

2005 Screenings

• 50th Cork International Film Festival – Cork, Ireland
• Nickel Independent Film and Video Festival – St. John’s, NF
• Leo Awards Film Festival, Pacific Cinematheque – Vancouver, BC
• International Festival of Films on Art – Montreal, QC
• Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival – Victoria, BC
• Vancouver Premiere, Pacific Cinematheque – Vancouver, BC
• Kootenay Film Festival – Civic Theatre, Nelson, BC
• London Canadian Film Festival – London, ON
• Aids Vancouver Island – Victoria, BC
• Canadian Art Foundation – Toronto, ON

2004 Screenings

• 24th Atlantic Film Festival – Halifax, NS
• Calgary International Film Festival – Calgary, AB
• Premieres at Hot Docs at the Royal Cinema – Toronto, ON

Media Items

Download the Drawing out the Demons press kit. (PDF, 220 kb)

Financing

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; Rogers Cable Network Fund; the province of British Columbia: Film Incentive BC; the Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit; and Rogers Telefund.

Produced and developed in Association with BRAVO! Canada, a division of CHUM limited.

Produced in Association with TVOntario. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and in Association with Telefilm Canada and CTV.

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

Educational Sales

Moving Images
Suite 606, 402 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 1T6
Phone: (604) 684-3014 | Fax: (604) 687-7165
mailbox@movingimages.ca

International Sales

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

Produced by Screen Siren Pictures Inc. 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; Rogers Cable Network Fund; the province of British Columbia: Film Incentive BC; the Canadian Film and Video Tax Credit; and Rogers Telefund. Produced and developed in association with BRAVO! Canada, a division of CHUM limited. Produced in association with TVOntario. Developed with the participation of British Columbia Film and in association with Telefilm Canada and CTV.

Britannia Beach

A tragicomedy of geological proportions about corporate greed, ecological disaster, hairbrained government, and the survival of a community.

David Vaisbord embarks on a journey to Britannia Beach seeking to uncover what lies beneath the surface of a forgotten and derelict mining town. The resulting film reveals a hidden community surviving under the shadow of North America’s worst source of heavy metal pollution. It is a personal journey from first impressions to a compassionate understanding of a mining town’s people, their dreams and their fears for the future.

Photo Gallery

Festivals & Awards

2002 Awards & Nominations

• Nominated for Best Documentary – Yorkton Film and Video Festival

Festivals

2008 Screenings

• Gala Screening with David Suzuki and Evan Solomon at Planet in Focus:
• Toronto International Environmental Film and Video Festival – Toronto, ON
• DOXA International Documentary Festival – Vancouver, BC
• SCN – Canada
• Knowledge Network – Canada
• TVOntario – Canada

Media Items

Download the Britannia Beach press kit. (PDF, 144 kb)

Financing

A Screen Siren Pictures and National Film Board of Canada co-production, in association with CTV, TV Ontario, BC Film, and the Rogers Documentary Fund, with the participation of the Government of Canada Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program and the Government of British Columbia Film Incentive BC Program.

Sales Info

Britannia: A Company Town

The National Film Board of Canada Sales and Customer Services
P.O. Box 6100 Station Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec Canada H3C 3H5
Phone: 1 800 267-7710 or (514) 283-9000 (Montreal area) | Fax: 514 283 7564
www.nfb.ca/contacts/

Britannia Beach

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

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