Oscar's star power featured in CineFocus Canada series (08 March, 2010)

Green Heroes Producer/Director with Ric O'Barry, star of The Cove

Last night's star studded Academy Award ceremony honored The Cove, a documentary about Ric O'Barry and his 40 year crusade to halt the senseless dolphin slaughter in Japan. CineFocus Producer/Director Joan Prowse caught up with Ric O'Barry in Miami and interviewed him for the upcoming CineFocus series Green Heroes which launches Earth Day 2010 on the web channel greenheroes.tv and premiers on TVO this fall.

Another exciting moment of the evening was Best Supporting Actress being awarded to Mo'Nique for her role in Precious. Ten years ago, Joan interviewed Mo'Nique at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal for Lucky Breaks, the CineFocus series where she told the story of her big break into show business.

"When I got my own sitcom, The Parkers I actually had a talk show deal. They put my tape in and they said 'She's not a talk show host, she's a sitcom star and if she can act, she has her own show'. So they called me, I got there around 1 o'clock, we met for five minutes and he said 'Kid, if you can act, you've got yourself a show. If you can't, nice meeting you'. I said 'I can act. I can be 8 to 80, blind, purple or crazy. Whatever you need me to be, I'll be'. And that's how I got The Parkers".

Two Nations' Capitals-all in the same week! (30 January, 2010)

CineFocus producer, Joan Prowse (centre) with Former Saskatchewan Premier, Roy Romanow (right) and Jack McCarthy, Executive Director, Somerset West Community Health Cente (left)

On Wednesday, January 27, CineFocus producer Joan Prowse was in Ottawa to interview former Saskatchewan premier, Roy Romanow and then left on Monday February 1st to attend a key television conference and marketplace in Washington, D.C.

Joan was inspired by her time in Ottawa with Roy Romanow, appointed in 2002 by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to head the Royal Commission on Health Care. "It was an honour to speak at length with one of the pillars of the country, whose vision reflects the values on which Canada was built". Her interview with Romanow is featured in an upcoming release, commissioned by the Association of Ontario Health Centres, about the future direction of health care in this country.

She then travelled to Washington, D.C. to attend the Realscreen Summit. At this international marketplace, she met with producers and production executives from the non-fiction film and television industries about CineFocus' projects and gathered key intelligence on the future direction of the television industry in the digital age.

CineFocus Canada welcomes in 2010! (31 December, 2009)

Marcelo da Luz and his solar-powered car are profiled in Green Heroes.

CineFocus has had a very eventful and productive 2009, and is busy gearing up for an even more exciting 2010. CineFocus recently received funding from the Bell Fund for their environmental web/crossover series Green Heroes, and with shooting complete, are in the midst of post-production. The series will be released on TVO just in time to celebrate Earth Day 2010.

CineFocus has also been commissioned to produce a video for the Association of Ontario Health Centres, which will explore Tommy Douglas's vision for the second stage of Medicare and its focus on keeping people well through community involvement. Filming will commence in mid-January, bringing the CineFocus production team to shooting locations across the province.

Other projects include a television comedy pilot that producer Joan Prowse is developing with Planet of Colleen producers and writers for Canwest Global, and a video for the Toronto Public Library that producer John Bessai is putting the finishing touches on. And starting on January 13th, John and Joan will have the opportunity to share their expertise with students at Niagara College in Welland, where they will be teaching a weekly class on documentary writing.

CineFocus looks forward to the year ahead and wishes everyone the very best for the coming decade.

OMDC Funds CineFocus Global Marketing Plans (14 October, 2009)

CineFocus Canada is glad to report the receipt of funding from the OMDC to market their various projects including GreenHeroes at a number of European and North American markets. With this funding from the OMDC, a branch of the Ontario Ministry of Culture, CineFocus attended the Ad Tech Conference in London England.

Upcoming markets include Ad Tech Conference in New York, SXSW in Austin Texas, one of the largest conferences for new media presentations, music and film screenings. The RealScreen Summit in Washington DC, now in its 12th year and revered as one of the most important annual, non-fiction film & television industry events to attend, and a spring trip to Cannes France for MIPTV, the global entertainment market for the distribution of TV shows and new media content.. CineFocus eagerly anticipates the busy months ahead and looks forward to forging new relationships with broadcasters, brands and producers around the world.

CineFocus an Award Winner! (22 July, 2009)

Participants at the 2008 UFCW Canada youth training conference - shot on location in Northern Manitoba for Our Voice is Strong.

The Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM) Awards honoured the CineFocus Canada-produced “Our Voice Is Strong” video as the winner of the Best Audio-Visual Presentation Award for membership education and information.

This accolade, which recognizes excellence in union publications and productions, was presented to UFCW Canada in Saskatoon during CALM’s 2009 annual conference and workshops held at the University of Saskatchewan in Regina.

CineFocus Canada is pleased to have their cross-country effort acknowledged, and takes pride in producing quality, informative videos for organizations with integrity and who represent Canadian workers from coast to coast.

John and Joan head overseas (17 June, 2009)

CineFocus Canada principals Joan Prowse and John Bessai will be attending
SunnySide of the Doc in La Rochelle, France to present GreenHeroes™ and GreenHeroes.tv ™.

They will be pitching June 23rd to international broadcasters who are
looking for innovative programming that adds entertainment elements and
online activity to the documentary format.

GreenHeroes™ harnesses existing social networks as well as providing on-line video, activities and tools to inspire, motivate and reward users.

GreenHeroes ™ green lit by TVO, SUN TV, SCN (05 June, 2009)

CineFocus Canada welcomes TVO, SUN TV and SCN as Canadian broadcast partners on their GreenHeroes™ television series and interactive channel GreenHeroes.tv ™ launching April 2010.

A key element of interest in GreenHeroes.tv ™ for TVO is that CineFocus "has shown great strength in the knowledge of, and ability to, program interactive content for many platforms, and in such a way that the content goes out to the audience," said Christine McGlade, TVO’s Manager of Interactive & Digital Media.

nextMEDIA 2009

CineFocus Canada co-founder, Joan Prowse, is attending nextMEDIA in Banff, Canada June 5-7 to interact with broadcasters, social network specialists and advertising agencies that are looking for new distribution models for content. The GreenHeroes™ Campaign has increasing momentum and offers a major opportunity for building community around environmental change and is ideally suited for the the emerging interactive muliplatform universe.

Buffy Sainte-Marie doc to air on CBC (11 May, 2009)

Exciting news for music and documentary fans everywhere: Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life has been licensed by the CBC and will air soon on the Documentary Channel and on Bold.

Congratulations are also in order for Buffy, who is the proud recipient of a 2009 Juno Award. Her disc Running for the Drum won Aboriginal Album of the Year at the ceremony in Vancouver this year.

It’s also a fantastic time for CineFocus Canada’s other productions. TVO, SUN TV and SCN have given the green light for Green Heroes and GreenHeroes.tv, and production is expected to begin this July.

Despite the economic downturn, CineFocus is on the upswing (09 April, 2009)

This winter was a busy one for CineFocus, with a number of interesting projects on the go, two of which were aimed at encouraging youth involvement in two hot button areas- the environment and the economy.

Recently wrapped is the promotional video for the Lake Simcoe Anchigamin Film Project, a summer film school where local youth spend two weeks creating films about the lake and it’s watershed, with the help of instructors and a mobile studio. Stemming from the dynamic community group, the Ladies of the Lake, this initiative will educate youth about Lake Simcoe and its watershed as well as foster self-discovery and exploration.

Joan Prowse worked with students from Barrie North Collegiate to produce a creative film that will play all over the Lake Simcoe region, inspiring youth to apply. She also successfully lent her proposal writing expertise to this initiative, helping to obtain funding to benefit the project as it launches this July. For more information and to see the video please visit www.wastefilms.ca

On February 25th, the Central Ontario Building Trades launched their Hammerheads initiative with screenings of a CineFocus Canada produced video at a fundraising dinner and between periods at a Toronto Marlies hockey game.

Hammerheads is a partnership between the City of Toronto and various construction trade unions to give youth from priority neighborhoods an introduction to the construction trade apprentice program and future union membership.

CineFocus is pleased to work with such inspiring and creative youth on these worthwhile and transformative video projects.

CineFocus Canada Scores at MIPTV’s Content 360 (04 March, 2009)

After entering MIPTV's Content 360 competition in the category of "NFB: Interactive documentaries on Green issues", CineFocus Canada has been shortlisted and as a result has been invited to attend the world's largest television market in Cannes.

In response, CineFocus President, John Bessai will be participating by presenting CineFocus’ products to international broadcasters around the world as well as developing new business contacts. John will also be part of the National Screen Institute's delegation to the market this year led by Mickey Rogers.

John is pleased to bring with him to France from CineFocus's catalogue of arts and environmental biographies the following titles; GreenHeroes, Museum Maestros, Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life and Visions from the Wilderness: The Art of Paul Kane at the upcoming MIPTV 2009.

John will be in Cannes from March 27th to April 4th, 2009.