middle child marketing inc.: Publicist Sandra Garcia, Event Publicity, Lifestyle PR, Public Relations, Media coverage, Vancouver BC

Canadian Film updates July 2-8

Top 5 Canadian films as reported by Playback Magazine:

1) Piche: Entre ciel et terre (Piche: Between Heaven and Earth) – 1 week – $288,211
2) Splice – 5 weeks – $2,053,200
3) Hubble 3D – 16 weeks – $818,701
4) Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 4 weeks – $400,945
5) Le Baiser du barbu (The Kiss of the Bearded) – 3 weeks – $259,389

The third part of Kellie Ann Benz’s NSI Canada blog where she interviews a panel of short filmmakers features Darragh O’Connell (Oscar-nominated Granny O’Grimm), Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12), and Michelle Savill (Betty Banned Sweets), who are all international filmmakers.

Check out the blog here and see what the differences are between how Canadians and other foreign filmmakers make and distribute shorts!

Canadian Film updates June 25-July 1, 2010

Top 5 Canadian films as reported by Playback Magazine:

1. Splice – 4 weeks – $1,922,389
2. Le baiser du barbu (The Kiss of the Bearded) – 2 weeks – $234,307
3. Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 3 weeks – $366,531
4. L’enfant prodige (The Wunderkind) – 5 weeks – $746,764
5. Hubble 3D - 15 weeks – $728,606

FYI the films are in order of top BO sales for THIS WEEK, but the amounts shown are total for the duration of the film in the box office (the # of weeks listed). Thought people might be confused about that.

Kellie Ann Benz released more Q&As with some of Canada’s top short filmmakers in the continuation of her NSI Canada blog. Check it out here.

Canadian Film updates June 18-24

I’m going to start dating these posts so they don’t look like duplicates when I haven’t had a chance to blog in a while.

Top 5 Canadian films from June 18-24 as reported by Playback Magazine:

1. Splice – 3 weeks – $1,822,497
2. Le Baiser du Barbu (The Kiss of the Bearded) – 1 week – $139,067
3. Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 2 weeks – $284,715
4. L’Enfant Protige (The Wunderkind) – 4 weeks – $706,188
5. Hubble 3D – 14 weeks – $700,717

The Year of the Carnivore is nowhere to be found yet, but since it opened on the 18th hopefully we’ll see it on the list next week.

If you are a short filmmaker you MUST read Kellie Ann Benz‘s latest blog on NSI Canada, in which she interviews 5 renowned Canadian short filmmakers and asks them all the same questions. A recap of the lessons you need to learn:

- Unless you inherited a good fortune with which you use to make your films, do not overlook the power of grants and awards for financing.
- You MUST be strategic when sending out your film to festivals.
- Be prepared to work a lot when you get screenings. Traveling, Q&As, and networking for future projects.
- Once you’ve been accepted into a major film fest, expect to get invitations from smaller festivals for second and third runs. There will be a point though where you’ll need to put the circuit to bed and focus on the next big thing. It’s a good to let a distributor handle things after that point.

If you’re still clueless, subscribe to Kellie Ann Benz‘s The Shorts Report blog and read ALL of the back posts!

Bonus: If you plan on submitting to the Vancouver Short Film Festival before August 1st (the deadline), the winner of the Best Professional Short Film Award (which has yet to have an official named sponsor) will get a dinner with Kellie Ann Benz at a fancy restaurant! The award will also include a re-screening on Movieola: The Short Film Channel and something else good which we still have to confirm. And yes, I do work for the festival so I have absolutely no shame in plugging it.

To submit: www.VSFF.com
The Shorts Report: theshortsreport.blogspot.com

Canadian Film updates June 11-17

Top 5 Canadian films from June 11-17 as reported by Playback Magazine:

1. Splice – 2 weeks – $1,643,728
2. Les Amours Imaginaires (Heartbeats) – 1 week – $167,084
3. L’enfant Prodige (The Wunderkind) – 3 weeks – $655,370
4. Hubble 3D – 13 weeks – $655,524
5. The Trotsky – 5 weeks – $379,329

Seems like Sarah Polley movies still do well in the box office. Doesn’t hurt to have Adrien Brody in Splice too.

Hubble 3D and The Trotsky both look like they’re peaking, though I’d still like to check out The Trotsky.

One film that came out last Friday is Year of the Carnivore, which is Sook-Yin Lee‘s debut feature film I believe. Will Sasso did a hilarious interview with Nick Pannu of CJSF‘s Artsindy Crossroads show on Monday. Check it out here, after Kim Hudson’s interview.

Will be interesting to see how this government-funded film does in the BO.

Film Publicity updates: Sheri Candler & Top 5 films

I figure since Canadian filmmakers still have a long way to go before they get the whole marketing thing, I’ll keep posting updates (every week or so when there are updates to share).

1) NSI Canada interviews film marketing guru Sheri Candler about the process. Probably the few things I didn’t already know or were reminded of were to anticipate markets based on your script’s plots and characters, and also be aware of markets that may emerge when you start marketing, that you didn’t pay attention to the first time. Listen to the audio interview with Sheri Candler here.

2) Top 5 Canadian films for June 4-10 as shown in Playback Magazine & Box office totals:

1. Splice – Week 1 – $1,118,281
2. L’enfant prodige (The Wunderkind) – Week 2 – $551,151
3. Hubble 3D – Week 12 – $564,102
4. The Trotsky – Week 4 – $354,109
5. Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage – 1 day – $38,262

I did a lengthy blog last month on film publicity and top Canadian films, so I don’t feel I have to explain what these numbers mean. You can pretty much deduce from yourself and then imagine where you fit in the picture.