Dan Savage’s Hump! Film Festival
The self-billed “sexiest, funnest, most creative dirty movie fest in the world,” returns to Vancouver this month. Since 2005, the Hump! Film Festival has challenged ordinary people from all over the Pacific Northwest to become temporary, weekend porn stars by making their very own five-minute dirty movies for a chance to win cash prizes. The resulting short films run the gamut of sexual styles and are (according to the press release) “funny, thought-provoking, sad, artistic, outrageous, and almost overwhelmingly sexy – because they’re real.” Four screenings only; Sept. 23 and 24 at Rio Theatre. Tickets at RioTheatre.ca.
The Romeo Section is coming
The lone CBC scripted series to film in Vancouver has released an extended trailer for its second season. The Romeo Section – from renowned showrunner Chris Haddock (Da Vinci’s Inquest) – stars Andrew Airlie as a world-weary espionage agent maneuvering an increasingly complicated web of power, lies, drugs, and seduction. The series also stars Juan Riedinger (Narcos) and Eugene Lipinski; for its second season, veteran Vancouver actor Brian Markinson (Arctic Air; Continuum) joins the cast in a prominent but still cryptic role. The Romeo Section returns to CBC Television on Oct. 5; Reel People will have more from her recent set visit in a future Westender.
Crazy8s info session
Think you’ve got what it takes to make a short film in eight days? Vancouver’s craziest moviemaking marathon is asking aspiring filmmakers to take a big step towards realizing their dreams by submitting their short film ideas for the 2017 edition of Crazy8s. Six winners will receive $1,000 and a production package worth tens of thousands of dollars: everything they’ll need to make their film in just eight crazy days. In February, finished films will screen at a gala at the Centre, followed by an after-party at Science World and submissions to film festivals and markets nationally and around the world. But the first step is to make a five-minute video pitch, and the first step for that is the info session and pitch registration at the Rio Theatre on Oct. 16 (1-5 pm, 1660 East Broadway). The registration fee on Oct. 16 is $50, after which the fee is $60. Video pitches are due Nov. 7. Details at Crazy8s.film.
Let me tell you a Story(hive)
Voting for Storyhive’s 2016 digital shorts edition is now underway. The latest edition of the community-driven funding program shines the spotlight on female directors. Thirty short films will receive $10,000 and distribution on TELUS Optik TV On Demand. Peruse the pitches and cast up to five votes per day until Sept. 23 at http://www.storyhive.com/digital-shorts/edition/id/2016-shorts-sh7.
Dan Payne books DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
Vancouver actor Dan Payne will portray one of two versions of Obsidian in the second season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Payne will portray the present-day version of the popular character, while Lance Henriksen (Aliens, The Terminator) will portray the future version. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow shoots in Vancouver and airs on The CW.
Calling all female filmmakers
Women in Film and Television Vancouver (WIFTV) are accepting submissions for the 2017 edition of the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (VIWIFF). The fest accepts documentary, narrative, animated, and experimental films in any genre and any length; to be eligible, at least three of the following key creative roles must have been filled by women: writer, producer, director, cinematographer, editor, composer, lead performer. Peruse the details at WomenInFilm.ca. VIWIFF 2017 will take place March 8-12, 2017. And if you want to get a head start on celebrating women and film (and women in film), grab a ticket to WIFTV’s Oct. 5 Martini Madness fundraising event. In honour of the ongoing gender equity movement across the globe, this year's event will celebrate the suffrage movement. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in suffragette colours – white, purple, or green – or 1900s-era attire. Martini Madness will be hosted by WIFTV President Sarah Kalil.
