After a very difficult 2010, local filmmakers are optimistic about the year ahead following the approval of a new five-year broadcasting licence for the Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN).

The network needed a new licence from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) after its sale in June to Bluepoint Investments Inc., an Ontario-based holding company.

[...]

SCN’s sale to Bluepoint was likely the only way the network was going to stay on the air. SCN had historically been run by the provincial government, but all funding was removed in the 2010-11 provincial budget tabled last March. At the time, the plan was to discontinue the network entirely. It was only after a public outcry that the government decided to open the network up for bidding from private interests.

Read the full article here.

From the CRTC’s website:

Interventions will be considered by the Commission and will form part of the public record of the proceeding without further notification to intervening parties, provided the procedure set out below has been followed. Parties will be contacted only if their submissions raise procedural questions.

Written interventions should be submitted to the Secretary General of the Commission in only one of the following formats:

by using the
[Broadcasting interventions/comments form]

or

by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2

or

by fax at
819-994-0218

Synopsis: A young woman, Iona, cannot remember how the gash on her head got there.  When her mother tells her it was inflicted by Iona’s indie rock musician boyfriend, Wes, Iona refuses to believe it. To find out for herself, she returns to his funky warehouse apartment – full of love, desire, magic and the location of her last memory. Through interracial relationships and the healing potential of a talking circle, the film explores violence in young relationships and the moment of choice we face when the urge to be violent surfaces.

Sarah Abbott

Atlantic Film Festival

Saskatchewan Gemini nominations

Gemini Awards site

“The greatest nautical disaster in prairie history…” Though these words may, at first, seem absurd – they are absolutely and undeniably true!

The Last Steamship: The Search for the SS City of Medicine Hat delves into the infamous history of the luxurious SS City of Medicine Hat, a 130 ft steamship which met her untimely end on June 7th, 1908 when she crashed into the newly constructed Traffic Bridge in Saskatoon and sank to the bottom of the swiftly flowing river.

One hundred years later, after the happenstance discovery of the ship’s anchor by Saskatoon Fire & Protective Services divers, a full-scale underwater excavation was launched in an endeavor to locate artifacts from the ship and attempt to piece together the story of the last steamship to ever embark upon the waters of the South Saskatchewan. And now, you’re invited to come onboard and join the search!

For more information visit:  www.laststeamship.com

The film will have its Regina premiere at the Regina Public Library Film Theatre, October 21-24.

Read the Montreal Gazette review here.

Visit I Heart Regina’s website here.