Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.
News release: October 26, 2006
Three National Screen Institute — Canada (NSI) alumni and the current Chair of the NSI Board of Directors were honoured earlier this month at the 21st Annual Gemini Awards.
The stop-motion animation program Wapos Bay - There’s No ‘I’ in Hockey by writer Dennis Jackson and producer Anand Ramayya scooped the Canada Award which honours excellence in mainstream television programming that reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada. Jackson and Ramayya are alumni of the NSI Totally Television training program, through which the Wapos Bay series was developed.
NSI Features First alumnus Shawn Watson was a producer on Hockey Brawl: Battle on Thin Ice which won Best Sports Program or Series. Jamie Brown, Chair of the NSI Board of Directors, won Best Lifestyle/Practical Information Series with Til Debt Do Us Part.
“This success is incredibly gratifying for the writers, directors and producers that pass through our doors,” said Susan Millican, NSI’s CEO. “As Canada’s oldest film and television school in our 20th year, it’s always very affirming to watch the careers of our alumni go from strength to strength.
This is also great testament to the quality of the training NSI delivers and the skills developed by our participants. Dennis, Anand and Shawn are all recent graduates and still building their careers. To have reached this stage now is fantastic. We’re thrilled for them and for our board chair, Jamie Brown.”
The Wapos Bay series first aired on APTN in May 2005 and has since accrued a growing list of accolades including Best Short Drama at the 2005 ImagineNATIVE Media Arts Festival and Best Children’s Production at the 2006 Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival. Through the NSI Storytellers training program, series producer Melanie Jackson has entered into discussions with Maori Television to sell the series to them. Melanie will also be joined by a New Zealand writing team who will visit Canada to write one of the next 13 episodes of Wapos Bay. Dennis Jackson, Anand Ramayya, Melanie Jackson and Michael Scott are all producers for the series.
NSI Totally Television is designed to mentor and guide television writer-producer teams through the development of their television series concept. Participants are connected with a team of experts who help them partner with an executive producer/mentor, prepare a pitch-of-a-lifetime for broadcasters, and attend the Banff World Television Festival.
NSI Features First is an intensive training program for emerging filmmakers working on their first or second feature film. The program emphasizes the professional development of writers, producers and directors, and the final development and packaging of their feature film projects.
Media enquiries:
Glynis Corkal, Marketing and Communications Manager
Tel: 204-957-2995 | Email: glynis.corkal@nsi-canada.ca