We are proud to announce that next Tuesday May 15, Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, will be speaking at the MaRS Commons!  Eric will be introduced by Ana Serrano, Chief Digital Officer of The Canadian Film Centre and interviewed by Satish Kanwar, JOLT Accelerator Partner.

This is a sold out event so be sure to follow us on twitter @cfcmedialab and on our Facebook page to get the inside scoop!

Garnering over 2,600 attendees and more than 330 exhibitors, Discovery is a showcase of leading-edge technologies, best practices and research from sectors such as health, manufacturing, digital media and cleantech, including energy, environment and water.

Discovery brings together key players from industry, academia, government, the investment community as well as entrepreneurs and students to pursue collaboration opportunities.

We are happy to be attending OCE Discovery 12 next week, we will be showing Heart of Stars.

The Innoversity Creative Summit is pleased to announce the world-renowned Canadian Film Centre will be its Development Partner for the 2012 Big Pitch competition.

The Big Pitch Competition will see individuals compete for cash and development opportunities in a range of categories including TV scripted and unscripted, film for theatrical release, digital media storytelling and gaming.

In partnering with Innoversity, the CFC will work with the Big Pitch winners to provide a two-day production and performance mentorship workshop with a series of scheduled meetings with faculty and strategic partners to assist teams with their production goals.

Selected winners will also receive analytical and practical feedback from CFC’s internationally renowned faculty and selected industry representatives. As well, selected teams will receive networking opportunities throughout the year.

“The Canadian Film Centre’s development opportunities are an invaluable addition to THE BIG PITCH competition. Their commitment to Innoversity is a testament to building a sustainable industry where organizations come together and Canadian media creators are supported. The CFC’s prizes are an incredible investment of their renowned instructors, talented staff and important resources,” says Innoversity co-founder Cynthia Reyes.

In addition to the Big Pitch Competition, Innoversity Creative Summit 2012 will feature industry sessions and panel discussions about the future of Canada’s media and how creators from diverse cultural background can play a role in changing the complexion of the country’s media landscape.

The CFC Media Lab is proud to be involved in Innoversity Digital Summit in a variety of talks:

The keynote speaker for Innoversity Creative Summit 2012 will be Ana Serrano, Chief Digital Officer of The CFC.  Also, Technology and Production Manager, Joyce Wong, will be moderating a panel on Movie for Theatrical Release.  Jacqueline Nuwame, Senior Manager of Client Relations, will be judging the Digital Media Storytelling pitching competition.

Digital Marketing & Communications Manager, CFC Media Lab
(6 months contract position) Start Date: ASAP

SUMMARY:
Are you a dynamic individual with a passion for Digital Marketing and Communications, a strong knowledge of Social Media and a commitment to strategic thinking, rigorous process and stellar results?
The CFC mentors and produces Canada’s most creative ideas and voices in film, television and new media.Its award-winning new media division, CFC Media Lab provides a unique collaborative training, acceleration and creative production think-tank environment for emerging new media content developers, practitioners and companies. We are looking for a Digital Marketing & Communications Manager to join our CFC Media Lab Department for a six-month contract.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:    
• Contribute to the creation of CFC’s digital marketing, communication and social strategies, with special emphasis on the CFC Media Lab and its programs
• Execute in a team environment strategies mentioned above Work closely with the CFC Media Lab Senior Manager, Digital Communications and the CFC Marketing Committee to ensure excellence and results; and
• Track, evaluate and measure the success of all digital marketing, communications and social strategies implemented

QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:
• Lives and breathes digital and social media
• Effectively and clearly communicates and presents
• Thinks strategically and has a passion for execution
• Focuses on the business and has consultative approach to strategy development
• Builds strong relationships with great interpersonal and management skills
• Sets marketing goals and objectives
• 5-10 years of marketing experience
• Collaborates effectively with others
• Has a successful track record of executing strategies, including online
campaigns, developing creative plans, proposals and budgets
• Helps teams identify needed resources
• Sets and manage projects on time and on budget
• Manages campaigns from execution to completions and measures results
• Experience with PR and integrated digital PR campaigns
• Entrepreneurial and resourceful “do it now” approach

We thank all applicants, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.

Date Posted: May 1, 2012
Application deadline: Friday May 11, 2012; no later than 5 pm

Please send your resume to: Leonardo Dell’Anno (ldellanno@cfccreates.com) clearly marked to the: Hiring Committee – Marketing and Communications Manager, CFC 2489 Bayview Avenue. Toronto ON M2L 1A8 Fax: (416) 445-9481

JOLT is looking for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building high-growth web and mobile companies that promise to transform the way consumers and enterprises connect, work and play. Startups accepted into JOLT will progress through an intense, four-month program that will prepare them to secure customers and attract the next round of capital. Upon completion, these startups will be given the opportunity to pitch to some of the top angel and venture capital investors in the industry. JOLT graduates will also receive ongoing support from MaRS, one of the world’s largest urban innovation hubs dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and building Canada’s next generation of high-growth companies.

Entrepreneurs interested in JOLT can apply online until May 30, 2012. Up to eight companies will be selected to participate in the summer 2012 cohort.

The CFC Media Lab is a Creative Partner in JOLT.

As part of Hot Docs Ana Serrano will be leading a panel and workshop on Business Model Planning. 

Panel: Business Model Planning For Your Documentary – An Introduction

Part of the ASTOUND Initiative, this introductory session will present the Alexander Ostewalder’s method and the work of his Business Model Generation book. In an age where distribution reigns, what are the new models for finding revenues for documentary films? And how do we go about figuring those out?

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Dear alumni,

Since 1988, the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) has graduated nearly 1,600 residents across its innovative programs in the Film, Television, Digital Media, and screen acting streams. CFC alumni like you have gone on to develop wonderful, award-winning productions that have furthered the screen-based industries in Canada.

As our 25th anniversary approaches, we are asking for your time and support to help determine the economic impact of the CFC. Help support the next 1,600 CFC graduates by telling us a little about what happened after your time with us at the CFC.

WHY AN ECONOMIC IMPACT SURVEY?
In times of fiscal restraint, all programs funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sport (MTCS) have to justify themselves, and increasingly in economic terms. With this contribution at stake, we are asking for your participation in this survey, conducted by Nordicity.

A secondary objective of the survey is to gain an understanding of the level of diversity among the CFC graduates. These results will be important for the MTCS report and will also contribute to a case study being developed by Ryerson University.

WHY PARTICIPATE?
To understand the CFC’s economic impact, we need as many graduates as possible to complete this survey. Your participation in this survey will help the CFC’s long-term strategic planning, and help improve alumni relationships.

Click here to access the survey

We know that your passion for the CFC will inspire you to start the survey, but to increase your motivation to finish, the CFC is providing some additional incentives. As such, all survey respondents who complete the survey will be automatically entered to win one of the following prizes:

A one-year membership to CFC Insiders, Film Critic Level: includes two tickets to up to 10 sneak preview screenings, and two tickets to the CFC Annual Garden Party [two winners]
Two Do-It-All Combo Passes and Party Invites to the 2012 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (Toronto, June 5 – 10) [one winner]
Two guest passes to CFC Annual BBQ and VIP Pre-Reception [one winner]

ABOUT THE QUESTIONNAIRE
The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete, so please grab a cup of coffee and share your story with us. By doing so, you are helping to build a stronger CFC.

Nordicity wants to assure you that individual responses will remain confidential. Only Nordicity consultants will have access to individual survey results, and these results will only be communicated to the CFC in aggregate form.

Thank you for your time and participation. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Sincerely,

Slawko Klymkiw, Chief Executive Officer, CFC

New technology accelerator will combine creative design and business expertise to build growth companies

Congratulations to MaRS as they announce the creation of JOLT, a new technology accelerator dedicated to building high-growth web and mobile companies that promise to transform the way consumers and enterprises connect, work and play.

Housed in the MaRS Commons, JOLT will select up to 15 high-potential startups annually, providing them with space, seed financing and mentorship, as well as access to partners and some of the top angel and venture capital investors in the industry. The goal of the program is to accelerate market validation and, in turn, help these companies secure the capital and talent necessary to scale efficiently.

To help support and guide startups to market entry, JOLT has attracted more than 70 experienced entrepreneurs and executives from many of Canada’s leading startups, and venture capital, technology and entertainment companies, including: Polar Mobile, Spark59, Virgin Gaming, Google, Zynga, Kobo, and more.

JOLT is collaborating with a number of key partners who will actively commit their time, expertise and services to help JOLT companies become market leaders, including the CFC Media Lab, a unique collaborative training, acceleration and creative production think-tank environment for emerging new media content developers, practitioners and companies; and JET Cooper, a leading user design and experience agency. By combining their expertise in the creative arts and design with MaRS’ business-building experience, JOLT will be a unique Canadian technology accelerator.

You probably remember when we told you about the amazing exhibition going on at the McMichael Gallery that Seed was part of!  It ran until this past weekend and was an absolute success!  A special congratulations goes out to all the project creators; Napoleon Brousseau and his two technologist friends, Gabe Sawhney and Galen Scorer.

We had the opportunity to stop in last week and take a couple photos…

I first met Ben at Four Barrel Coffee in the Mission a couple of months ago.  Our paths crossed through SkillShare — I was meant to coach Ben through his presentation for Toronto’s upcoming FITC event on how Flash Developers can transition over to C++.

I’m pretty sure I learned more from him than he did from me.

Ben McChesney is 23 years old. Like most people in the Bay Area, he worked a day job to pay the bills, but hacked the night away to pursue his true passion: building shiny and fun interactive installations.  With the introduction of the Microsoft Kinect sensor, his focus has shifted from a flash web developer towards creating physical experiences, using Open Frameworks. After only 18 months on the market, the Kinect hack has spread like wild fire, attracting artists and programmers alike, to create new interactive experiences.

Kinect for Film Storytelling by James George, explores the notion of “re-photography”, in which otherwise frozen moments in time may be visualized from new points of view.

Unnamed Sculpture is a piece that used a Kinect to record body movements and was then later put through a 3D softeware program.

SemanticMap, The Next Step In Public Information and Navigation On The Go is is a Digital signage prototype featuring proximity detection, face recognition and gesture interaction technologies developed in Microsoft Research Asia.

Puppet Parade is an interactive installation by Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson of Design I/O that allows children to use their arms to puppeteer larger than life creatures projected on the wall in front of them.

And of course, CFC Media Lab’s own Heart of Stars

A playspace where users become 3d avatars made of points of light. Created as an exploratory installation, this prototype seeds future iterations as a commercial game or practical tool.

And the list goes on.

For artists like Ben, there is no shortage of inspiring work that comes out of the Open Frameworks community.

“After attending a few meet ups, posting a few pieces of my work on my blog and putting together a kinect reel, I ended up at a start up called Helios Interactive. What’s been really exciting is to see my passion projects turn into my actual job…and to be able to push and set boundaries of where…this has real world applications”

Helios Interactive focuses on larger scale commercial trade shows and events.  Examples of their work include Bally’s Total Fitness and Cannes International Film Festival.

Ben gives credit to the Open Frameworks community for helping him find his dream job.

 “Open Framworks is based on the open source movement, which is built on a culture of gifting ideas…the community is made up of about 300 or so ‘hard core’ geniuses that spend hours of their brain power on developing code… and giving it away for free.”

If I were to draw a venn diagram of Ben, it would like like this: