RBC is giving burgeoning filmmakers the chance to shine through a competition and partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Talent Lab.
Twenty-five filmmakers who are participating in this year’s TIFF Talent Lab, have been chosen for the RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition.
Talent Lab is a four-day program that offers artistic-development opportunities to emerging Canadian filmmakers, by providing participants with the chance to build networks in a creative environment.
Each filmmaker will be provided with a portable high-definition camera and $500 cash to develop a three-four minute short film. This year’s theme is “water.”
A panel of industry experts will review the submissions. The top five films will be posted online next spring, and the winners will be announced prior to TIFF 2010.
The national winner will receive $15,000, the honourable mention $10,000 and the Fan Favourite $5,000.
Jackie Braden, manager, sponsorship and communications for RBC said the contest falls in line with the bank’s commitment to arts which includes the Canadian Painting Competition, which the bank has sponsored for 11 years.
“We’ve always believed in helping artists out in the beginning stages of their career, to help them both financially and to get recognition here and perhaps abroad,” she said.
RBC is supporting the contest through a series of TV spots in addition to print and online from BBDO. M2 Universal handled the media buy.
Three 30-second commercials, directed by Holiday Films’ Steven Tsuchida, follow an up-and-coming director as he attempts to get recognized and make his way into a TIFF party.
In one execution the director is sitting on a couch beside an attractive woman who swears she recognizes him from somewhere.
The director informs her that she’s at a party for his movie. She insists she knows him from somewhere else, when it hits her–she’s convinced the director is the “hostess” at a Chic Chicken restaurant. She tells her friend who says she didn’t recognize the director without his beak on.
Each spot ends with the tag line: “The film ideas are big. The filmmakers aren’t yet.”
RBC is also sponsoring popcorn bags that will be distributed to moviegoers at Roy Thompson Hall, and to the general public watching the free movies at Yonge Dundas Square.
