Telefilm Canada's Not Short on Talent market screenings back in Cannes for fifth edition

TORONTO, May 11, 2015 /CNW/ - Telefilm Canada today announced the 39 short films that will screen at Cannes' Marché du Film market from May 16 to May 19 as part of Not Short on Talent. Curated by Danny Lennon, founder of short film series Prends ça court, the shorts were selected from over 350 submissions and represent the freshest voices emerging from Canada. In addition to the screenings, filmmakers will participate in a "speed-dating" session on Saturday, May 16 at the Canadian Pavilion where they will have the opportunity to meet with esteemed industry delegates from the Sundance, Berlin and Rotterdam festivals.

These films join the previously announced Canadian short film in selection in the Directors' Fortnight, Bleu Tonnerre from co-directors Jean-Marc E. Roy and Philippe David Gagné.

For more detailed information on the shorts and the full screening schedule for Canadian titles please click here.

"Last Cannes we celebrated a record-breaking year with our veteran filmmakers, this year our focus is on the next generation of great talent coming out of Canada," said Carolle Brabant, Telefilm's Executive Director. "Not Short on Talent, which is now in its fifth year, showcases the diversity and vibrancy of our industry. We are honoured to represent these talented filmmakers and to help develop the feature-film stars of tomorrow."

Films that will be showcased as part of Not Short on Talent include:

Cody Bown's Wool (British Columbia)
After moving into his parents' home following an unsuccessful stint in the city, Alexander gets hit with a migraine while making breakfast, leaving him to confront things that haunt his everyday existence between reality and his migraine dream.

Born and raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Cody uses his hometown as a backdrop for all of the films he creates. Having lived in Vancouver for the past eight years, after graduating from Vancouver Film School, he has continued to direct and produce films and collaborate with talented individuals. His last film Homesick was accepted into the 2013 Cannes Short Film Corner. Prior to Wool, Cody produced Entertainment (directed by Adrian St. Louis), which was part of Telefilm's 2014 Not Short on Talent at Cannes.

Halima Elkhatabi's Nina (Quebec)
At 16 years of age, Nina is helpless with regards to her 4-month-old baby Jessie's incessant crying. Without any escape from the cries and from this new presence is her life, she ventures out from her tiny apartment in a working-class neighborhood of Montreal for a brief getaway.

Trained at the Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS) where she received the Excellence Louise-Spickler Scholarship, Halima Elkhatabi directed the documentary La tête contre le mur, which received the Jury Special Mention for the Prix Pierre-et-Yolande-Perrault at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. She has also scripted short fiction including, La barricade, which won Best Short Film at the Fantasia International Film Festival, the Pionniers du cinéma Scholarship from Ciné-Québec and Best Short Fiction Film at the Festival international de cinéma jeunesse de Rimouski. In 2011, she was a finalist of SODEC's Cours écrire ton court for her script, La roue. Halima was also noted for her directorial contribution to the feature-length documentary, À St-Henri le 26 août.

Sarah Galea-Davis' An Apartment (Ontario)
An intimate portrait of Paul, a man who finds himself in mid-life struggling to restart his career and maintain his financial independence. Forced to move in with his brother and take seasonal work, it becomes increasingly apparent that what he's lost can't be regained.

Sarah is an award-winning director, writer and producer. She works in both fiction and documentary filmmaking. Her last short film, Can You Wave Bye-Bye? won the Bravo!Fact Award for Best Canadian Short at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in 2008, and was nominated for both a Genie and Jutra in 2009. The Apartment was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

Ryan O'Toole's Pop (New Brunswick)
An up-and-coming pop singer suffers an identity crisis when her younger brother, the front man of a critically acclaimed punk group, returns home for a performance.

Ryan O'Toole is a 23 year-old Canadian filmmaker. At the 2014 Silver Wave Film Festival Pop won acting awards for both its leads. Ryan is a recent graduate of the Media Arts and Cultures program at the University of New Brunswick, where he was a Media Artist in Residence last year.

These four films will be part of five 105-minute programs to be screened at the Marché du Film. The films will also be made available on 50 viewing stations at the Short Film Corner—the section of the Market dedicated to short films and its industry representatives (www.cannescourtmetrage.com). Canadians represent the fourth-largest delegation participating in the Corner.

Not Short on Talent is made possible with the support of the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.

About Telefilm Canada
Telefilm is dedicated to the cultural, commercial and industrial success of Canada's audiovisual industry. Through its various funding and promotion programs, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creative talent here at home and around the world. Telefilm also administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/telefilm_canada and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/telefilmcanada.

SOURCE Telefilm Canada

For further information: Media enquiries: Douglas Chow, Head, Public Relations, Telefilm Canada, [phone] ext. 2548, or 1-800-463-4607, [e-mail]; Andrea Grau, President, Touchwood PR, [phone] x201, [e-mail]