Alumni are all the buzz this season with an impressive list of announcements, renewals, and festival appearances, including the highly anticipated screening of dystopian thriller Polaris, produced by alumna Alyson Richards, which is set to open Fantasia Film Festival on July 14, 2022. Plus, CBC recently revealed its 2022-23 programming slate, which features several original dramas with alumni involvement, including Diggstown, Murdoch Mysteries, Pretty Hard Cases and many more.

Read on to discover the latest alumni news and updates and be sure to add our list of bingeworthy content to your watchlist!

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

2022 Jury Awards at the 21^st Annual Tribeca Film Festival

• Nick Kewin won Best Audio Storytelling in Fiction for The Hollowed Out. Kevin, alongside his sister Brit Kewin, created, produced, wrote, directed and edited the award-winning audio drama. In addition, The Hollowed Out stars fellow alum Shomari Downer and Steph Costa.

See the full list of winners here.

Accolade Film Festival

• Pain Warriors, the documentary film co-directed and written by alum Tina Petrova, alongside co-director and producer Eugene Weis, won the Award of Excellence in Disability Issues and the Award of Merit in Direction at the 2022 Accolade Film Festival. Pain Warriors examines the other side of the opioid crisis, that of under-treated pain among the patient populations of Canada and the U.S.

See the full list of winners here.

FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

56^th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 1-9, 2022

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival returns this year to present some 200 films from around the world including Summer with Hope, the 26th feature produced by CFC Features.

Summer with Hope follows a young swimmer training for the national championships with his new coach. But the alliance between the two young men elicits disapproval from the people around them. This social drama, set in northern Iran, is the second film by Sadaf Foroughi who, since her successful feature debut Ava, has continued to develop her distinctive visual narrative style.
See the full list of film screenings here.

Fantasia Film Festival

July 14 – August 3, 2022

• Polaris: Alyson Richards (producer)
• The Fore-men: Adrian Bobb (director, producer and writer)
• Good Times Coming: Tony Asimakopoulos (director and writer)

See the full lineup here.

FOR YOUR WATCHLIST

• Trapped with My Husband follows a woman named Melissa (Camille Stopp) whose husband is discovered dead, and she has to prove her innocence to the world. The film premiered on Lifetime Movie Network on June 24^th and is now available to stream on Philo (U.S. only).
• The Hardy Boys Season 2 is available to stream on YTV/STACKTV (Canada) and Hulu (US). Heather Taylor was a story editor this season and co-wrote episodes 2 and 8.
• Revenge of the Black Best Friend is now streaming on CBC gem. The comedic series stars Izad Etemadi, Ashton James, Araya Mengesha and Cara Ricketts. Plus, two episodes are directed by Thyrone Tommy and written by Motion.
• Shorsey: CFC alum Mark Montefiore (New Metric Media) is an executive producer on the six-episode, half-hour hockey comedy series Shoresy which begins streaming Friday, May 13 on Crave.

Pretty Hard Cases

FOR YOUR PLAYLIST

• Award-winning composer/artist Jonathan Kawchuk releases the third song Everywhen from his new album Everywhen. Listen here.

ALUMNI INDUSTRY NEWS & UPDATES

• CBC unveils 2022-23 programming slate featuring over 40 original series and specials from Canadian storytellers. New programming slate includes the return of several original dramas with alumni involvement, including Diggstown, Murdoch Mysteries and Pretty Hard Cases, as well as new seasons of hit comedies with alumni attached like Run the Burbs, Strays, Sort Of, Workin’ Moms and Son of a Critch.
• Production has started on Molly McGlynn’s coming-of-age “traumedy” feature Bloody Hell in Sudbury, Ont.
• Hudson & Rex, the comedy-drama from alumni production company Shaftesbury is returning for Season 5!
• FIN Atlantic to host outdoor film series honouring Canadian director and alum Sarah Polley.
• Production is now underway on Pretty Hard Cases Season 3, co-created by Tassie Cameron and Sherry White.
• Corus announces 45 new and returning series including Family Law, produced by alum Erin Haskett.
• The Canadian Academy reveals Mary Galloway as one of the participants selected for first edition of the Executive Residency Program.
• Netflix launches development program for diverse Canadian writers. Rama Rau (CFC/Netflix Project Development Accelerator participant) and alum Jeff Barnaby are two of the seven participants selected.
• Reservation Dogs Star Devery Jacobs Signs With CAA.
• Shaftesbury appoints Liz Levine as senior producer and VP of television.
• Bell Media nears 100 original titles for 2022-23:Returning originals include alumni series Transplant(Season 3)and season two of Children Ruin Everything(New Metric Media). Bell media SVOD Crave has ordered a raft of original English-language comedies, including Bria Mack Gets a Life, from alum company New Metric Media, a half-hour concept from Sasha Leigh Henry about a Black woman who navigates life with an invisible hype girl. Crave has also renewed alumni series LetterKenny (New Metric Media) for season 12, Pillow Talk (KOTV) for season two, Canada’s Drag Race (Saloon Media, Blue Ant Studios) for season three and 1 Queen 5 Queers (Bell Media Studios) for season two.

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