Montreal, Tuesday, April 18, 2023 - Forum RIDM is proud to announce the presentation of Docs-In-Progress - Canadian Showcase for the fifth consecutive year at the Cannes Film Festival's Marché du Film, in partnership with Telefilm Canada. Docs-In-Progress allows selected Canadian producers and filmmakers to attend the festival in order to present their documentary projects in the final stages of development to an audience of buyers, distributors, festival programmers, and international sales agents.
This annual film market, a key event for industry professionals, will take place during the Cannes Film Festival from May 16th to 24th, 2023.
As part of this initiative, the Forum RIDM will offer pitch training to the four selected teams and provide personalized support for their presentation at the Marché du Film. Docs-In-Progress is an opportunity for these producers and filmmakers to showcase their projects while screening an excerpt in order to launch their films on the international market.
Here are the selected projects for the Docs-In-Progress - Canadian Showcase 2023:
ASOG
Directed by: Seán Devlin
Produced by: Amanda Ernst
Seán Devlin is a Filipino-Canadian filmmaker and comedian. His debut feature When the Storm Fades is available on Amazon Prime and AMC+ / Sundance TV. It earned Devlin two international jury prizes for Best Director, as well as the Emerging Canadian Director prize presented by the DGC at VIFF. It won Best Canadian Film (Gimli Film Festival) and two Vancouver Film Critics’ Awards. While screening his film at the 40th Cairo International Film Festival, Devlin participated in Brillante Mendoza’s directing masterclass (the first Filipino filmmaker to ever win Best Director at Cannes). Mendoza deepened Seán’s understanding of the Filipino cinematic practice of “found story,” directly shaping his second feature ASOG. His debut album Airports, Animals was nominated for the 2022 JUNO award for Comedy Album of the Year. In 2023 he made his TV stand-up debut on Just For Laughs & CBC’s New Wave of Standup.
Amanda Ernst is an emerging Canadian film producer with over a decade of experience in artist and project management. As a producer at Beb Bingo Entertainment, Amanda oversees projects from the early development stage to financing, pre-production, production, and distribution. She currently serves as producer on a slate of projects including features, TV series, and an experimental Indigenous language adaptation project.
Mama no himitsu
Directed by: Laurence Lévesque
Produced by: Rosalie Chicoine Perreault and Catherine Boily
Laurence Lévesque directed a short fiction film, Drap Contour, in 2017, which won several international awards. It was followed by a short documentary film, Port d'attache, in 2019. It was selected at the prestigious Visions du Réel festival, won the award for best national short film at the RIDM, and was nominated for best short film at the Gala Québec Cinéma. 2022 saw Laurence completing a master's degree, in which she reflected on writing and directing documentaries. Mama no himitsu is her first feature film.
Rosalie Chicoine Perreault began her career in film, following her studies in cultural production at UQÀM and a DESS in cultural organization management at HEC Montréal. In 2019, she began working at Metafilms (Mommy, La femme de mon frère, Falcon Lake), a renowned Montreal production company. Among her most recent projects, Geographies of Solitude (Jacquelyn Mills, 2022) won three awards when it world premiered at the 72nd Berlinale, as well as winning the Best Canadian Feature Film award at Hot Docs. Her latest short fiction film, Simo (Aziz Zoromba, 2022), won Best Canadian Short Film at TIFF and had its international premiere at Sundance and its European premiere at the Berlinale (Generation).
Catherine Boily began working as a producer on various projects after graduating from the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy, where she studied acting. Upon her return to Montreal in 2015, she met Sylvain Corbeil and Nancy Grant at Metafilms with whom she has worked continuously for the past 8 years. With Metafilms, Catherine has produced several short films and music videos, as well as holding various positions on feature films shoots in Canada, the United States, the Czech Republic, England and Namibia. She was also an executive producer on Paul Schrader's feature film The Card Counter, which had its world premiere in competition at the 2021 Biennale. Catherine currently develops feature film projects from emerging creators at Metafilms.
The Death Tour
Directed by: Stephan Peterson and Sonya Ballantyne
Produced by: Sergeo Kirby and Stacey Tenenbaum
Stephan Peterson is a Canadian Screen Award nominated documentary director, shooter, and writer. Since 2014, Stephan has traveled the world shooting and directing factual series for Amazon, CBC, Discovery, History, Nat Geo, Velocity and MotorTrend. Stephan’s experience running, writing and directing shows like Meanwhile in the Kitchen (Amazon), De Pied Ferme (Vraie), and Restoration Garage (Velocity) has helped him hone his ability to guide stories from the complexities of the field through all steps in post. Having directed on Ice Road Truckers (History), Cold Water Cowboys (Discovery), and Licence to Drill (Discovery), Stephan has proven he can work with small teams, following multiple story-lines in extreme conditions. This experience served him well while filming his most challenging project to date: The Death Tour, his first feature documentary.
Sonya Ballantyne is a Cree filmmaker originally from Misipawistik Nation in Northern Manitoba. Her creative work focuses on Indigenous women and girls often in non-traditional genres such as sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero films. Her short films have screened worldwide including the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Superman Fan Festival in Metropolis, Illinois. She is currently finishing a graphic novel memoir titled Cree Super Girl and a feature film script titled WWSHE.
Sergeo Kirby has been producing, directing and filming award-winning feature documentaries for close to two decades. Notable credits include The Forbidden Reel, Abu, Shiners, Pipe Dreams, Patsy, H2Oil, Roadsworth, Wal-Town and Fennario: The Good Fight. Sergeo is the founding member of Loaded Pictures, a Montreal-based documentary film company focusing on complex social documentaries. His documentaries have been seen on CBC, Documentary Channel, Canal D, Discovery, The Sundance Channel, and Bravo, and have been screened at film festivals around the world. Sergeo is currently releasing The Forbidden Reel, a feature documentary about the history of Afghanistan as told through the eyes of the country’s filmmakers, and The Mosque, a documentary film about the resounding effect of the 2017 Quebec City Mosque shooting.
Stacey Tenenbaum is an award-winning creative producer and director. In 2014 she founded H2L Productions, a documentary film production company specializing in crafting character driven stories which are shot internationally. H2L Productions’ first documentary feature, Shiners, was broadcast on the Documentary Channel, TV5, and PBS Independent Lens. Stacey’s second film Pipe Dreams, a documentary feature about competitive organ players, was released in cinemas across Canada and the US and was broadcast on the Documentary Channel, NHK, SVT and PBS. In 2012, Stacey was nominated for an International Emmy for In Real Life III. Stacey is passionate about making cinematic films which are filled with humour and heart.
The Soldier’s Lagoon
Directed by: Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Produced by: Pablo Alvarez-Mesa
Pablo Alvarez-Mesa‘s films have played at international film festivals including Berlinale, IFFR, MoMA Doc Fortnight, Visions du Réel, and RIDM. His most recent film, Bicentenario, explores Simón Bolívar’s battles of Independence, and was played at the 2021 Berlinale, MoMA Doc Fortnight and Viennale, among other festivals. It earned a Jury Mention at Festival Punto de Vista in the Main Competition. The Soldier’s Lagoon is the second film of a trilogy of films tracing Bolívar’s path through Colombia. Pablo is also a cinematographer and editor, with recent work as cinematographer for Fire of Love, directed by Sara Dosa, and additional editor for Geographies of Solitude, directed by Jacquelyn Mills. He is currently editing with Sofia Bohdanowicz her new feature film Opus 28. Pablo's interest in documentary lies in the relationship between facts and fiction; between what is recalled and what is inevitably constructed. His films touch in one way or another, issues of displacement, history and collective memory.
About Telefilm Canada
As a partner of choice, Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation dedicated to the success of Canada’s audiovisual industry, fostering access and excellence by delivering programs that support cultural resonance and audience engagement. With a lens of equity, inclusivity and sustainability, Telefilm bolsters dynamic companies and a range of creative talent at home and around the world. Telefilm also makes recommendations regarding the certification of audiovisual coproduction treaties to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Launched in 2012, the Talent Fund raises private donations which principally support emerging talent. Website | Twitter | Facebook
About Forum RIDM
Organized as part of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), and founded in collaboration with DOC Québec, Forum RIDM offers an intensive program of professional workshops, lectures and roundtables that focus on training, discussion and sharing of knowledge among the various players in the industry. As a networking platform, Forum RIDM offers business meetings that encourage the development of partnerships, help get new projects off the ground and promote sales. Every year, the event, attended by the most influential decision-makers in the industry, draws over 400 professionals interested in innovative projects and the issues currently facing documentary makers.
The Forum RIDM will take place from November 18th to the 22nd, 2023.
Information: ridm.ca/en/forum-ridm / info@ridm.ca
Facebook - Twitter - Instagram
- 30 -
For interview or visual material requests, please contact:
Caroline Rompré | pixelleX communications | 514-778-9294 | caroline@pixellex.ca