Category / Foundation news

by Linehan Foundation

Canadian Screen Award nominations for NSI alumni from Foundation-supported programs

Congratulations to alumni from NSI Drama Prize and NSI Features First who received Canadian Screen Award nominations this year.

Congratulations to the following alumni from NSI Drama Prize and NSI Features First who received Canadian Screen Award nominations this year.

The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation is program partner for both courses run by film and television training school National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI).

  • Camille Beaudoin (NSI Features First) – Bell Media Award for Best Comedy Series – Tiny Plastic Men
  • Chris Craddock (NSI Features First) – Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series – Tiny Plastic Men
  • Michelle Latimer (NSI Drama Prize) – Best Biography or Arts Documentary Program or Series – ALIAS

Canadian feature Bang Bang Baby also received nominations for Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role – Justin Chatwin, and Achievement in Overall Sound – Christopher Guglick, Dave Mercel, Steve Moore, Justin Sawyer, Alex Turner. The film was developed through NSI Features First.

by Linehan Foundation

Great news from the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation

Updates about various projects supported by Foundation funding.

The first Brian Linehan Actors Award for the NSI Online Short Film Festival was announced recently.

Actors Ben Cotton and Sarah Deakins share the $1,000 Brian Linehan Actors Award for their work on Late.

LATE from Jason R Goode on Vimeo.

Sarah Deakins said:

What lovely news to learn of this award (thank you!). Working with Jason Goode and Dylan Jenkinson on Late was a joy. I’m always grateful to learn the film is connecting with people. I was incredibly lucky to work opposite acting partner Ben Cotton who lifted the words I had written off the page so effortlessly. Sharing the Brian Linehan Actors Award with him is an honour. Brian’s commitment to promoting Canadian talent through its foundation makes this award even more meaningful. I remember Brian as a person with integrity and style. I am truly honoured to accept this award named after him.

Ben Cotton said: “I am honoured and grateful to receive this award, and to share it with Sarah. I had such a wonderful time working on this film with her and of course Jason Goode and Dylan Jenkinson. So thank you very much!”

Read the full awards news release.

• • • 

Films developed through National Screen Institute courses supported by the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation find success on the fall film circuit

BANG BANG BABY

Bang-Bang-Baby

NSI Features First-developed film Bang Bang Baby by writer/director Jeffrey St. Jules:

TWO 4 ONE

Two-4-One

NSI Features First-developed film Two 4 One by writer/director Maureen Bradley:

THE UNDERGROUND

The-Underground

NSI Drama Prize-developed short The Underground by writer/director Michelle Latimer and producer Kerry Swanson:

WHEN FISH FLY

When-Fish-Fly

NSI Drama Prize-developed short When Fish Fly by writer/director Lisa Rose Snow and producer Lora Campbell:

SOME THINGS WON’T SLEEP

Some-Things-Won't-Sleep

NSI Drama Prize-developed short Some Things Won’t Sleep by writer/director Leah Johnston and producer André Pettigrew (the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation were the award sponsor for this team):

AFTER THE RAIN

After-the-Rain

NSI Drama Prize-developed short After the Rain by writer/director Gerald Patrick Fantone and producer Inga Dievulyte:

GIVEN YOUR HISTORY

Given-Your-History

NSI Drama Prize-developed short Given Your History by writer/director Molly McGlynn and producer Laura Perlmutter

by Linehan Foundation

Watch the full documentary of Brian Linehan: A Life in Lights

The doc was executive produced by Marcia Martin and contains photos and clips from Brian’s hundreds and hundreds of CityLights shows, interviews from the 80s and 90s and insights from friends.

What do Howard Stern, Daniel Day-Lewis, Norman Jewison, Sophia Loren, John Travolta, Barbra Streisand and Clint Eastwood all have in common?

They were interviewed by Brian Linehan, Canada’s stylish, dedicated entertainment journalist.

In 2005, the television documentary Brian Linehan: A Life in Lights was executive produced by his good friend and Foundation advisor Marcia Martin. It contains photos and clips from his hundreds and hundreds of CityLights shows, interviews with Brian from the 80s and 90s and new insights from his friends. Also included are excerpts from an evening to honour Brian, hosted by good friend Roger Ebert.

He loved classical music. His friends were his family. Before he became the host of CityLights, Brian was producer of programming for Citytv where he introduced The Baby Blue Movie, the first soft core pornography shown on Canadian TV. He had a great sense of humour. He prided himself on his research. And he loved actors, directors, dancers and artists, and they loved him back.

“When I finally got to be interviewed by you, it was a real honour,” Kiefer Sutherland said to Brian during a CityLights interview.

Throughout the documentary, actors and friends like Martin Short, Norman Jewison, Shirley MacLaine and Joan Rivers shared their memories.

“He saw in show business a wonderful yellow brick road, that if he worked really hard he could get on it,” said George Anthony, longtime friend and Foundation advisor.

Take 49 minutes, sit back and enjoy, marvel and learn from the legacy Brian left behind.

Friend and Foundation Director Michael A. Levine may have said it best: “He was a little boy who wanted to run away to the movies.”

by Linehan Foundation

Brian Linehan $1,000 actors award added to NSI Online Short Film Festival

This quarterly $1,000 award will recognize lead actors in films programmed in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation is proud to announce a new initiative with the NSI Online Short Film Festival run by the National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI).

A quarterly $1,000 award will recognize lead actors in films programmed in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.

The Foundation is also entering its ninth year as program partner for two of NSI’s training courses: NSI Features First and NSI Drama Prize.

“The Foundation has two goals – keep the legacy of entertainment journalist Brian Linehan alive and continue his quest for a star system in Canada,” said Foundation director Michael A. Levine. “We have worked with NSI for many years supporting behind-the-camera talent and we’re delighted to now recognize Canadian actors in the films programmed in the NSI Online Short Film Festival.”

Before he died in 2004, Canada’s best-known celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan became as famous as the people he interviewed.

“NSI is very proud to help keep the spirit of Brian alive through our initiatives with the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation,” said John Gill, NSI CEO. “This new film festival award is a perfect fit for their goals, and offers even more recognition to Canadian filmmakers and actors accepted to the NSI Online Short Film Festival.”

Launched in 2008, the NSI Online Short Film Festival attracts about 1,000 submissions per year and presents up to $5,000 in awards and prizes: the Shaw Media Fearless Female Director Award for best film directed by a female; A&E Short Filmmakers Award for best film; Bite Comedy Award for best comedy; and now the Brian Linehan Actors Award for best performance by a lead actor.

Festival winners receive Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television membership and Canadian Screen Award eligibility (if applicable) in the live action short drama, short documentary or animated shorts categories.

The first Brian Linehan Actors Award will be announced in June. Watch for the next call for submissions to the NSI Online Short Film Festival later this month.

About Brian Linehan

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Linehan’s lengthy interviews with such Hollywood icons as Barbra Streisand and Paul Newman made him even more celebrated when CityLights was syndicated around the world. After the series was cancelled in 1989 he hosted several award shows and network specials before returning to the small screen in 1996 with a self-titled interview show.

Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2002, he donated his personal files including 30 years’ worth of research material, correspondence, photographs and recordings to the Toronto International Film Festival Group’s reference library. Sadly, Brian passed away in 2004.

About The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation

The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation was established from the proceeds of the estate of the late Brian Linehan, one of Canada’s great journalists and on-air interviewers. Brian left his entire estate for the purpose of creating a star system in Canada including training, providing work opportunities and promoting young Canadians of exceptional talent. To date, its range of activities has included support for various programs at the National Screen Institute, scholarships at Humber College, support of the Soulpepper Academy, the Company Theatre, the Toronto International Film Festival Group (TIFFG), the Canadian Film Centre, CanStage, Company Theatre, Republic of Doyle, Sheridan College and Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Foundation advisory board members are Michael A. Levine (director), Marcia Martin, George Anthony, Maxine Quigley and Arthur Weinthal.

In 2012, A partnership between The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation, NSI and TIFF (home of the Toronto International Film Festival) launched brianlinehan.ca, a place to rediscover some of the most popular and influential of Brian’s interviews, plus information about the Foundation.

About the National Screen Institute

The National Screen Institute is renowned for having given many emerging filmmakers, television writers and producers their first breaks, and for providing training and production support through courses like NSI Totally Television, NSI Drama Prize, NSI New Voices, NSI Features First, NSI Lifestyle & Reality Series Producer, Movie Central Script to Screen and NSI Aboriginal Documentary.

NSI also offers exposure through the NSI Online Short Film Festival and provides vast resources and support to those in the film, television, and digital media industry at nsi-canada.ca.

Media enquiries

Laura Friesen, Communications Coordinator
National Screen Institute
Tel: 204.957.2999 or email: laura.friesen@nsi-canada.ca

by Linehan Foundation

Foundation-supported artists Nolan and Côté star in stunning Bravo!FACT film

Bravo!FACT awarded a grant through producers Rob Budreau and Jordan Walker. The result is Something’s Coming.

Two of the extraordinary artists The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation has supported are Paul Nolan, best known for his roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (As You Like It, West Side Story, Cabaret) and on Broadway (Jesus Christ Superstar), and Guillaume Côté, of the National Ballet of Canada.

Recently, Bravo!FACT awarded them a grant through producers Rob Budreau and Jordan Walker. The result is Something’s Coming.

The director of this extraordinary piece is prima-ballerina-turned-director, Veronica Tennant.

The film debuted at Cineplex theatres on January 27.