The Broadcast Gala for the 23rd Gemini Awards took place last night in Toronto. (Other awards were handed out in late October.)
The Englishman’s Boy (feat. RH Thomson) took home the Gemini for Best Dramatic Miniseries. Unfortunately, none of the Anne/RTA alumni won any awards.
However, viewers still got to see some Megan Follows during the Broadcast Gala. At the beginning, she was involved in a skit parodying the movie Fight Club along with host Jason Priestley, and fellow actors Wendy Crewson and Eric Peterson. Plus, she co-presented the award for Best Comedy Series with Wendy at the end of the show. You may view it on Youtube.
Gemini Awards
Shedding (who uploaded the video)
The seventeenth chapter of the fan fiction Stars Above a Sea has been uploaded! Check the Writings section.
For the last three years, the musical Anne and Gilbert has been mounted at Harbourfront Theatre in Summerside, PEI.
However, its future there is now in question. Although it is still a very popular musical, and although it has received favourable reviews, it has been losing money. Last year, it lost $160,000 CAD. Producer Campbell Webster has said that if he can’t find another funding source, he won’t be able to continue at the Harbourfront. He has until Thursday to raise the necessary funds to keep the production there in 2009. Otherwise, either it will have to be scaled down, or Anne and Gilbert will have to relocate to a smaller theatre. If it can’t continue at Harbourfront, it could be considered a huge blow to tourism in Summerside.
The inaugural mounting of the musical was staged at Victoria Playhouse four years earlier. Next year, aside from an Island production, there will be one in Toronto, and a touring one; and there are plans for a Japanese version.
CBC Arts
Sarah Polley will be one of four Canadian filmmakers to make a feature-length documentary as part of the Canadian Film Centre and National Film Board’s inaugural documentary feature program.
She will be visiting somewhat familiar territory for her film; it will focus on memory and storytelling, and is entitled The Stories We Tell.
The program will last six months, and will link the participants with people in the industry who will help and support them in bringing the docs to completion.
The other filmmakers taking part are John Walker, Shelley Saywell, and Yung Chang.
CBC Arts
National Film Board
Canadian Film Centre
World War I has been a subject of interest for RH Thomson for some time. In 2002, he mounted the one-man show The Lost Boys, based on letters sent home by five great-uncles who had served on the front (four were killed in action). Back in January, he directed two of his former Avonlea co-stars — David Fox and Ian Clark — in Wild Mouth, which was set in Saskatchewan during 1917 and was about a woman who was coming to terms with the loss of her son in the war.
Now, he is involved with the project Vigil 1914-1918. Starting on November 4, at 5 pm local time, names of the 68,000 Canadians who died in WW1 will be projected onto various buildings in locations across Canada and on Canada House at Trafalgar Square in London. Names will be projected for thirteen hours a day, until the final name goes up at sunrise on Veterans/Rememberance Day (November 11). It is a joint effort between RH and lighting designer Martin Conboy, with the support of Veterans Affairs Canada.
Last year, they did something similar to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the battle at Vimy Ridge, projecting the names of the 3500 dead at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
Globe and Mail
canoe.ca
Toronto Star
Vigil 1914 - 1918
