• If you’re a short filmmaker – as in, a maker of short films – the Vancouver Short Film Festival wants to hear from you. Submissions are now open for the fifth edition of this annual celebration of micro- and mini-films, which will take place in November. They’ll be accepting submissions until Aug. 31. Filmmakers must be residents of BC. The festival organizers aren’t enforcing any time limits, but – according to their guidelines – shorter is better. Full details at VSFF.com.
• Feature films from local directors are doing well on the international festival circuit. Twisted thriller Cruel & Unusual from Vancouver director Merlin Dervisevic won the award for Best Film at Nocturna, Madrid’s International Fantastic Film Festival, while Lawrence & Holloman won the award for Best Canadian Feature at the 8th Annual Buffalo Niagara Film Fest (actor Ben Cotton won for Best Actor). Cruel & Unusual just finished its Vancouver theatrical run last week; as for Lawrence & Holloman, director Matthew Kowalchuk told Reel People at the Leo Awards that it will screen in Vancouver in July.
• The Hallmark Channel’s most-watched original movie in its history was directed by none other than legendary Vancouver director Anne Wheeler. Wheeler directed The Color of Rain, which received 1.4 million viewers when it aired on May 31, making it the highest-rated film ever for the network. Based on a best-selling book of the same name, The Color of Rain revolves around two parents in a small town who lose their respective spouses to cancer just six weeks apart. It’s another feather in an already well-feathered cap for Wheeler, who won the award for Best Screenwriting in a Documentary for Chi, her film about the late Babz Chula’s cancer journey, at this year’s Leo Awards.
