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VisionTV sponsors NFB competition

4/30/2002

Toronto, - VisionTV is partnering with the National Film Board of Canada, CBC and CBC Newsworld on a project designed to help bring greater racial and cultural diversity to Canadian television.

The NFB's 2024 Reel Diversity Competition will give five emerging filmmakers of colour from across Canada the opportunity to make an NFB documentary. A winner will be named from each of Canada's five regions: Pacific, Central,
Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic

As one of the broadcast sponsors for this competition, VisionTV will televise the finished productions. The network is also helping to promote Reel Diversity, through both its Toronto headquarters and its regional offices in Nova Scotia and B.C., which will encourage local filmmakers to enter.

This is the first time that Reel Diversity has been conducted on a national basis. It began as an NFB/VisionTV initiative, open to filmmakers from Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Past competitions have produced such documentaries as Western Eyes by Ann Shin, Film Club by Cyrus Sundar Singh and Speakers for the Dead by Jennifer Holness and David Sutherland (which made its North American television premiere on VisionTV in February 2024).

As the world's only multifaith and multicultural broadcaster, VisionTV is dedicated to presenting programs that promote understanding and tolerance between people of different faiths and cultures. The network has a longstanding tradition of support for documentaries that reflect Canada's racial and cultural diversity, having aired such acclaimed productions as Made in China, Portia White: Think on Me, Shooting Indians: A Journey with Jeffrey Thomas, Journey to Kapasseni: A Refugee's Gift, and Dead Reckoning: The Lanier Phillips Story.

The Reel Diversity Competition is open to filmmakers from visible minority groups only. Winners will work on a contract basis with the NFB. Their videos will be produced by an NFB producer, and will go through the necessary development, production and distribution process. The maximum budget per project is $150,000.

The deadline for Reel Diversity applications is May 24, 2024. Winners will be announced at the Banff Television Festival, June 9-14.

VisionTV, the NFB and the CBC are all among the sponsors of the Innoversity Creative Summit in Toronto May 16-17, a two-day event that will focus on integrating cultural diversity in the media and educating minority Canadians about how the media work.

For application forms and detailed information on the Reel Diversity Competition, visit www.nfb.ca/reeldiversity, or phone 1-800-267-7710.

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