AFCOOP Updates - December 19th, 2024

LAST DAY OPEN BEFORE HOLIDAYS!

December 19, 2024

Today is the cooperative's last day open before the winter break! If you want to take out some discounted gear for the break, now’s your last chance.

Thank you all for a delightful two-thousand-and-twenty-fourth; we can't wait to see what the new year will bring to the co-op.

We're wishing you all a warm and festive season!

The Trainee Program schedule for 2025 will run from mid January until early March 2025, for specific workshop dates see below.

The FILM 5 Trainee Program is a hands-on training program for aspiring technical crew. Paralleling the Creative Team component, the trainee program provides participants with high-quality classroom training*, practical on-set instruction and networking opportunities. To become a trainee crew member, you must take the required workshops for your desired position, pay the application fee (which includes the mandatory Set Etiquette Course), come to the Trainee/Team Meet and Greet and submit a resume, cover letter and application form.

On the FILM 5 sets, trainees work under key crew-members from the local film industry. Keys are industry professionals responsible for running their departments, and for providing guidance and leadership to the trainees. Trainees leave the production having networked with industry crew, with practical experience and resume references.

This year, each FILM 5 production is required to have a minimum of seven trainees on set. FILM 5 productions will take place from approximately late March to late April.

To register as a trainee, please complete the APPLICATION FORM and send it to Henry at [email protected] along with your resume and cover letter.

Pay ($60) registration fee HERE

WORKSHOP REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 2025

FILM 5 2024/25 Trainee Schedule

Weekend, January 18 & 19 – Production Managers Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($150)
Instructor: Tieran Hawkins

Saturday, Jan 25 – Location Sound Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($75)
Instructor: Taber Crosby

Saturday, February 8 – 1st Aid on Set Workshop – 10am – 5pm ($75)
Instructor: Brent Macrae

Sunday, February 9 – Assistant Directors Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($75)
Instructor: Nicole Close

Weekend, February  15 & 16 –  Camera Assistant Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($150)
Instructor: Kevin Kumar-Misir

Weekend, February 22 & 23 –  Art Department Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($150)
Instructor: Jessica MacDonald

Weekend, March 1/2 –  Lighting & Grip Intensive – 10am – 5pm ($150)
Instructor: TBD

Registration will go live in the new year!

Have questions? Contact the programs coordinator, Henry at [email protected]

 AFCOOP HOLIDAY GEAR SPECIAL

The cooperative last day open is TODAY, December 19th. We will re-open Tuesday, January 7th, 2025. We are offering a special deal for those looking to capture some video, film, or audio over the holidays!

When you rent gear over the holiday closure, you will receive an additional 50% off! YES, this half-off stacks with your membership discount!

For example, you could rent out the Canon C300 and the Sennheiser XSW-D Lav to capture interviews with loved ones, see the following breakdown:
Rental period from 12/19/2024 - 01/07/2025
$960 with 75% off = $548.57, with an additional 50% off, new total: $274.28 for nineteen-days. WOW!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

For all those folks buzzing to shoot analog, now’s the perfect time. When you purchase stock from the co-op, we’ll give you a FREE camera rental over the holidays. Capture your friends and family on celluloid while bringing in the new year! NO 16MM CAMERA VACANCY! We still have Super 8 cameras for rent, but are sold out of Super 8 stock.

We have 100’ rolls of 250D, 500T, & Tri-X in stock (if you have your own 16mm camera). These stocks can be sent out to our partnered labs for processing and scanning. We typically send out our batches the first Tuesday of each month. The next batch will be sent on January 7th, 2025. Use the code: Holiday2024 at check out!

Questions? Reach out to Tech Coord, Cody Chandler, [email protected] / 902-405-4474.

FOR ENTRY + FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

Call for Submissions: Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival
HIFF SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN! Apply now on Film Freeway!

Call for Submissions: Animation Festival of Halifax
Animation Festival of Halifax #14 • May 8-10 2025
Submissions are OPEN. They’re programming new animation, independent Canadian short films and international feature films. Learn more here.

A reminder that the Amplified Voices Development Fund is currently accepting applications. The updated guidelines, application form, and related templates are all available on the Screen NS website HERE.

The deadline for applications is December 20, 2024.

The Amplified Voices Development Fund will provide funding and training to develop high-quality creative content to a level that can attract partners, financing, and distribution. Companies may submit an application to the fund to receive one of a limited number of grants to assist them with their project development activities.

The fund is part of the Amplified Voices Development Program, which provides an opportunity to advance the skills of emerging writers and producers from underrepresented communities in Nova Scotia. The fund will grant non-repayable funding contributions to a maximum of $20,000 for each eligible project. SNS may fund 100% of the project’s eligible expenditures through the program.

If you have questions about the fund, please contact Danya Knowles, Industry Services Coordinator: [email protected] / 902-229-1499

FIRST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH

Sending your film for processing? Going forward, AFCOOP will be mailing materials to the lab on the first Tuesday of every month.

Although we’re sending materials once a month, you can drop them off to our technical coordinator Cody Chandler anytime! Be sure to drop yours off before the next mail day on Jan 7th!

For more information on getting your film processed, email Cody: [email protected]

TRIVIA QUESTION

No question this week; giving you and the question conjuring part of my brain a winter break.

Answer to last week’s question: Robert Frank shot his unreleased Rolling Stones documentary, “Cocksucker Blues,” on the ARRIFLEX 16BL at AFCOOP.

According the 1977 Rolling Stone magazine article ‘The Trouble with “Cocksucker Blues”’ and this 2009 article for Stone by Patrick Doyle (both found on the film’s Wiki page), the film came under a court order which forbade it from being shown unless the director, Robert Frank, was physically present. This ruling stemmed from the conflict that arose when the band, having commissioned the film, decided that its content was embarrassing and potentially incriminating, and did not want it shown. Frank felt otherwise, hence the ruling.

Richard Brody wrote of the film in the New Yorker: Essentially, “Cocksucker Blues” treats its rough-edged, impulsive footage in a primally Eisensteinian way, in terms of the art of editing and its theoretical implications. It’s a work of intellectual montage that poses the question: What does this (what goes on with the band backstage and in private) have to do with that (the performances onstage and on records)? What do sex and drugs have to do with rock and roll? What’s the link between art and trouble, between flagrant discharges of emotional energy in public and in private?

AFCOOP’s Filmmakers Job Board is a place to connect with filmmakers and film crews looking for work, or volunteers looking to gain experience in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.

Submitting to the AFCOOP Job Board is totally free! All posts are subject to approval by AFCOOP staff and will be reviewed before they appear on the site.

Note: You don't have to create an account to post a job. If you wish, simply enter your email to sign up at the time of job submission.

See it all HERE!

ABOUT AFCOOP: Established in 1974 the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) is a non-profit, community organization dedicated to supporting the production and presentation of independent film and moving-image-based work in a collaborative, learning environment.

AFCOOP acknowledges that we are located and operate in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq, Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaw and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations. We are all treaty people.