Posted on Friday, May 01, 2009.

News release: May 1, 2009

The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI) is pleased to announce NSI Features First project Hunter Hunter as the inaugural winner of the Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary.

The $2,500 Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary is presented annually to a filmmaking team going through the NSI Features First training program with an inventive and creatively-integrated marketing plan for their project at the conclusion of the program's first phase of training. Jim served as program manager for NSI Features First for four years.

Hunter Hunter, from the Winnipeg team of writer/director Shawn Linden and producer Megan Heke, is about a rugged fur trapper who, while tracking a renegade wolf through the woods, stumbles upon the grisly dumping site of a serial killer. Instead of calling police, the experienced hunter lays out bear traps around the bodies and waits in hiding for the predator to return with another victim.

“Although we never had the opportunity to work with Jim Murphy, we are in awe at what he meant to our NSI Features First predecessors and the Canadian film industry,” said Megan Heke. “We proudly accept the inaugural Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary and are inspired to move forward with Hunter Hunter’s marketing plan.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with Jim on NSI Features First,” said Brendon Sawatzky, program manager. “He’d be very pleased this bursary has brought a new dimension to the marketing dynamic of this program.”

“Jim was a mentor and champion of a generation of Canadian filmmakers. With the awarding of this bursary we continue his generous support in spirit,” said close friend and member of the bursary committee Jane Gutteridge. “Jim may have left us two years ago but we still discuss what Jim would say or recommend on various projects…he is still very much with us and I can still hear his wry comments and his hearty laugh.”

The initial $25,000 goal for the bursary was achieved through the generosity of over 40 individual and company donations and a founding $15,000 donation from longtime colleagues and friends René Malo (Fondation René Malo), Stephen Greenberg (President, Incendo Media Inc.), Dan Lyon (Regional Feature Film Executive for Telefilm Canada who worked closely with Jim at Astral, Motion and T.V.A.) and the National Screen Institute. The goal was achieved in summer 2008 and a new goal has been set to reach $30,000.

“Jim loved film and marketing film,” said Dan Lyon, who was also a member of the jury that chose the winner. “He would see it as a melding of these two passions to ensure that a Canadian-made film, such as those developed through NSI Features First, would also have a marketing plan as early as possible to help ensure that Canadians are aware of it and will ultimately go to the theatre to see it.”

Read Jim’s bio and learn more about his leadership and involvement in Canadian film. You can also make a contribution to the bursary by mail or by phone. Any amount is gratefully accepted and tax receipts will be issued.

More information about the Jim Murphy Filmmakers Bursary is available online or call the National Screen Institute at 800-952-9307 or visit .

About NSI Features First

NSI Features First was launched in 1997 in association with Telefilm Canada. This program - for writers, producers and directors working on their first or second feature film - aims to help filmmakers hone their script while also understanding the business aspects of feature film development. Eleven features developed through the program have been produced, won awards, debuted at prestigious festivals and played in commercial theatres. Scroll down this page for a full list of these films. The next call for the NSI Features First program will be in July.

NSI Features First is made possible by Presenting Sponsor Telefilm Canada; Program Partners The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and Canwest; Strategic Sponsor Corus Entertainment Inc.; Provincial Sponsor Manitoba Film & Music; and Service Sponsor William F. White International Inc.