Canadian Film Centre

CFC logo

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which operates an advanced film school training program for professionals in the Canadian film, television and digital media industries, including directors, producers, screenwriters, actors and musicians.[1]

History

CFC was founded in 1988 by Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison as the Canadian Centre For Advanced Film Studies;[2] the first program was attended by 12 residents.[3] The inaugural class included writer Robert Hunter, filmmakers Holly Dale, Gerald L'Ecuyer, Anne Petrie and Peter Raymont, and producer Ann Medina.[3] The school's campus was located at Windfields Estate, the former home of Canadian business magnate E. P. Taylor.[2]

In 1991, after producer Robert Lantos received a $250,000 prize from Telefilm Canada to honour Black Robe winning the Genie Award for Best Picture, he immediately donated the money to the Canadian Film Centre to help establish its film unit, which serves as the primary film studio for projects being developed by CFC students.[4]

In 2014, the CFC unveiled the new Northern Dancer Pavilion, a building to house its multidisciplinary study programs, on the Windfields campus.[5]

As of 2018, its 30th year of operation, CFC has more than 100 residents and participants in 16 programs annually. CFC has more than 1,700 alumni and 100 alumni partner companies to date.

Training and advancement

CFC offers a variety of programs in five separate media streams: film, television, music, screen acting, and digital media. Each stream offers practical, intensive, hands-on programs that are administered under the guidance of faculty and industry professionals, and are operated in conjunction with entertainment companies and educational institutions including Cineplex Entertainment, the National Film Board of Canada, Telefilm Canada, NBC Universal, Slaight Communications, DHX Media, Bell Media, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and OCAD University.

CFC's film programs include CFC Features, the Short Dramatic Film Program, the Cineplex Entertainment Film Program, the NFB/CFC Creative Documentary Lab, the Telefilm Canada Feature Comedy Exchange and the Telefilm Canada Micro-Budget Production Program. Television programs include Bell Media Prime Time TV Program for writers, the CFC / eOne TV Adaptation Lab for the development of television adaptations of literary works, the CFC/NBCU Exchange Initiative: a cross-border talent and business accelerator operated in conjunction with NBCUniversal, and the DHX Experience for development of children's television projects.

Its main program for actors is the CBC Actors Conservatory, a six-month program. For musicians, the centre operates the Slaight Family Music Lab, a part-time nine-month program for composers and songwriters.

The CFC Media Lab is a digital media think tank and production facility that provides a research, learning and production environment for digital media content developers and practitioners, as well as acceleration programs and services for digital entertainment start-ups. Its programs include IDEABOOST, a digital entertainment accelerator, and VR Strategy, a program to develop virtual reality productions.

Work produced by CFC

CFC has been involved in hundreds of film, television, and interactive productions and has produced a large catalogue of works, including the below productions.

Features

The CFC has supported the development of 47 feature films to date, including:

Short films

173 short Films have been created through CFC's Short Dramatic Film Programs to date, including:

Digital media

CFC's interactive productions include:

  • Late Fragment: Canada's first interactive feature film co-produced with the NFB.
  • Body/Mind/Change: A transmedia experience starring David Cronenberg, co-produced with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
  • What's Your Essential Cinema: A dynamic mobile visualization project co-produced with TIFF.
  • VR Sketches Series: The first in a series of VR Sketches produced with Occupied VR, inviting the filmmaking community to learn about and discover the grammar and language of VR storytelling.
  • Small Wonders: The VR Experience: Allows a user to immerse themselves inside a prayer bead and explore the intricate carvings made visible through the power of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and virtual reality. Produced by the Canadian Film Centre's Media Lab (CFC Media Lab) and Seneca College School of Creative Art & Animation, this artistic and technical collaboration between AGO conservateur, Lisa Ellis, and interactive artist and designer, Priam Givord (Seneca), marks the first time anyone will be able to move through, around and within one of these small wonders.

References

  1. ↑ "Toronto: Indiegogo Pacts With Canadian Film Centre". Variety, September 7, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Canadian film centre opens School on Taylor estate to train elite filmmakers". Toronto Star, March 29, 1988.
  3. 1 2 "Canadian film centre debuts with a dozen moviemakers". The Globe and Mail, November 18, 1987.
  4. ↑ "Film makers bank on the future of others". Toronto Star, December 20, 1991.
  5. ↑ "Canadian Film Centre unveils new Northern Dancer Pavilion". Canadian Architect, June 22, 2014.
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