Canada’s largest and longest running environmental film festival, Planet in Focus, will present an Industry Day on Friday, Oct. 23 at Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation (Annex), 720 Bathurst St.
The festival, which was founded by York University alumnus Mark Haslam (MES ’99, MFA ’00) to promote awareness, discussion and engagement on a broad range of environmental issues, returns to the city this month for the 16th year.
The Industry Day event aims to provide creative and business content for filmmakers, as well as opportunities to network with distinguished industry professionals.
This year, the one-day event offers access to a remarkably diverse array of content and special guests, including members of the York University community.
Events during Industry Day include:
- Master Class – A unique opportunity to learn from three masters, Michael and Kevin McMahan and Kristina McLaughlin, who will share insights from their long and celebrated careers in film and television.
- Measuring Impact Panel – A panel discussion moderated by York U PhD candidate Mark Terry. The panel will feature documentary filmmakers and activists, including Liz Marshall (The Ghost in the Machine), Svetla Turnin (Cinema Politica) and Katie Mckenna, Impact Producer (This Changes Everything). Panel members will examine the various tools and results related to measuring the impact documentary films have on influencing public opinion, swaying stakeholders and creating policy both domestically and internationally.
- Green Pitch – This coveted competition returns and a jury will select a filmmaker to win the top prize of $10,000 in cash and services to produce an environmental film. York U professor Brenda Longfellow will act as one of the jury members.
- One-on-One Networking – Selected Industry Day delegates will have the opportunity meet one-on-one with industry decision-makers such as: Heather Williamson, Discovery Channel Canada; Jane Jankovic, TVO; Dan Lyon, Telefilm Canada; Stephanie McArthur, HotDOCS; Chris Dunn, OMDC; David Oppenheim, NFB; Nataline Rodrigues, Rogers Media; Michael McMahon, Primitive Entertainment. It will be followed by the Financing Panel, which will present these key players in a discussion of the latest approaches to finance and distribution of environmental film.
For more information, visit planetinfocus.org.