Opportunity for creative Aboriginal Canadians

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imagineNATIVE and the NFB Renew Digital Media Partnership
with Call for Proposals for Innovative Interactive Works

Toronto, November 16, 2011 – The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) have renewed their digital media partnership for a second year of collaboration, and are inviting Canadian Aboriginal artists to submit proposals for innovative interactive digital media projects. Proposals can be for works in any digital medium and genre, including interactive documentary, mobile and locative media, interactive animation, interactive photo essay, data visualization and physical installation.

De Nort, an online locative video, photo and auditory journey into life on a northern reserve by Winnipeg’s ITWE collective, was selected through last year’s call for proposals and is now in pre-production at the NFB’s Winnipeg production studio. It’s slated to launch at the 2012 imagineNATIVE Festival.

“We’re thrilled to be renewing our partnership with imagineNATIVE and deepening our connection with artists in the Aboriginal digital media community,” says Cindy Witten, Director General of the NFB English Program. “It’s a fantastic collaboration, bringing together imagineNATIVE’s curatorial smarts and commitment to the digital arts and our role as a creative laboratory working with talented artists to explore the creative application of technology to interactive storytelling.”

“As we continue to expand and develop the presentation of Indigenous media arts at imagineNATIVE, we’re pleased to partner once again with the NFB,” says Jason Ryle, Executive Director of imagineNATIVE. “Interest in last year’s project was incredibly high, and we all look forward to this year’s applications. This project is a fantastic opportunity to create an innovative work and continue our fruitful partnership with the NFB.”

One project will be selected jointly by imagineNATIVE and the NFB for production, with the NFB serving as creative and administrative producer and imagineNATIVE providing creative input at key stages throughout the production. The project will be presented at imagineNATIVE 2013. The chosen project must be realizable within a $30,000 to $50,000 budget range.

The submission deadline is January 9, 2012. All Canadian Aboriginal artists are eligible to submit their proposals. Full submission details can be found at nfb.ca/imaginenative/proposals.

imagineNATIVE has been active in the programming and commissioning of digital media work by Aboriginal artists since the early 2000s. The NFB is Canada’s leading producer of internationally acclaimed innovative interactive digital media works, and has been producing audiovisual works by First Nations, Métis and Inuit directors since the late 1960s. The NFB works with a range of artists to reflect Canadian perspectives through film, video and interactive digital media projects.

About the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival

imagineNATIVE is an international festival that celebrates the latest works by Indigenous peoples at the forefront of innovation in film, video, radio and new media. Each October, the Festival presents a selection of the most compelling and distinctive Indigenous works from around the globe. The Festival’s screenings, Industry Series and cultural and social events attract and connect filmmakers, media artists, programmers, buyers and industry professionals. The works accepted reflect the diversity of the world’s Indigenous nations and illustrate the vitality and excellence of our art and culture in contemporary media. The 13th annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival takes place October 17–21, 2012, in Toronto.

About the NFB

Canada’s public producer and distributor, the National Film Board of Canada creates interactive works, social-issue documentaries, auteur animation and alternative dramas that provide the world with a unique Canadian perspective. The NFB is developing the entertainment forms of the future in groundbreaking interactive productions, while pioneering new directions in 3D stereoscopic film, community-based media, and more. It works in collaboration with emerging and established filmmakers, digital media creators and co-producers in every region of Canada, with Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities, as well as partners around the world.

Since the NFB’s founding in 1939, it has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 4 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. Over 2,000 NFB productions can be streamed online, at the NFB.ca Screening Room as well as via partnerships with the world’s leading video portals, while the NFB’s growing family of apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV delivers the experience of cinema to Canadians everywhere.


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imagineNATIVE and the NFB Seek Proposals
for Innovative Interactive Media Projects

SUBMISSIONS DETAILS

What kind of work is eligible?
We’re looking for audacious, innovative, socially relevant interactive media works.

Proposals can be for works
in any digital medium and genre, including interactive documentary, mobile and locative media, interactive
animation, interactive photo essay, data visualization and physical installation. The project needs to be
realizable within a $30K–$50K budget range.

Who can submit?
Aspiring and established Indigenous new-media artists with Canadian citizenship.

Any theme?
Theme is wide open. The selection committee will consider innovation in form, content and message.

How do I submit?

Set your idea down in two pages. Your proposal should answer the following questions:

What’s the story?

Who’s it for? (Who is your audience, how will they connect with the work?)
How does it work? (Discuss form, platform and intent.)

What will happen? (What’s the user experience – how do users navigate and interact with the story you are creating?

How does interactivity enhance the story and the user experience?
Note: You may include up to two pages of visual mock-ups as supplemental material to this question.)
Also include a short biography, CV and one or two examples of (or private online screening links to) previous,
relevant work.

If this is your first interactive project, send us a link to one or two of your films.

Send your submission to the Programming + Industry Manager, Daniel Northway-Frank:
programming@imagineNATIVE.org

What’s the submission deadline?
January 9, 2012.

When will you announce which project has been selected?
February 10, 2012.

What if I have a question about what to submit?

First, take a look at our guidelines for digital projects at
onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/directing-co-producing-film/digital-projects.php
if you still have questions, please contact Jennifer Moss (Producer, Digital Content & Strategy) at the NFB: j.moss@nfb.ca or 604-666-8624.

How many projects will be selected?

One project will be selected jointly by imagineNATIVE and the NFB for production.

What happens if my project is selected?

You will be the creator and the NFB will perform the role of creative producer.

An NFB producer will work with you to develop your idea, create a budget and a plan, and then make it all happen. Sometimes you’ll do a lot of this work on your own or with people you’ve worked with in the past. Other times the NFB will bring skilled people to work with you and help deliver on your vision. The NFB is not a funding agency or a granting organization. As creative producers, we’ll be actively involved in the production, and we’ll provide all financing and administer the budget for your project. You’ll receive a fee for your work as the lead creator. imagineNATIVE will provide creative input at key stages throughout the production.

The finished work will be showcased at the imagineNATIVE Festival in 2013. It will also be made available to audiences through the NFB and imagineNATIVE websites.

Copyright for the completed project will sit with the NFB.

Can you give me some relevant examples of interactive work to look at?
Take a look at nfb.ca/interactive