In the free expression world, Canada receives failing grades for the way it muzzles its scientists and for its archaic access to information laws, says Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).

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Review: Great message if not perfect execution

A great documentary film worth watching for its education value on the topic of the shark-finning industry alone. It goes a couple levels deeper than the usual documentaries you’ll catch on discovery channel type shows which made the film quite captivating. Underwater scenes are well shot, although if all you want is some oceanic eyecandy go see ‘Blue planet’ instead. The real worth of the film comes from some of the undercover and handicam shooting of illegal sharkfin set ups, boat chases, etc…

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Met Robin Smith of Kinosmith last week as part of the OMDC-DOC program. He spoke about the Canadian film distribution scene and how he sees it evolve over the next few years. Or where he felt it was heading to. Learnt a lot about international docs and the importance of having a distributor. And have a good relationship with it.

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One question I am often asked is how to go about selling a documentary to The History Channel or Discovery or PBS. The question usually starts out asking whether DV is “good enough” for these venues; the questioner then proceeds (with dollar signs in eyes) to speculate on how much they could “get” selling a doc to one of these channels. I really dislike this question, because I hate to rain on anyone’s parade. But they are asking for the legitimate answers, so I don’t sugar-coat the answers.

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You remember the three little pigs, right? The ones who get chased by a huffing, puffing big, bad wolf?

You may recall that story ends when the wolf, unable to flatten the brick house, slides down the chimney, hoping to snatch the piggy brothers huddling inside. The third little pig, however, has placed a scalding pot of water at the chimney bottom, turning B.B. Wolf, alas, into Hairy Wolf Soup.

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It’s been crazy.

Between my university sessions, the documentary and the ‘search’, I havent had time to breath. But I was reminded of the simpler things again last week when I stumbled across the harp musician again on the subway.

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