Halifax filmmakers to compete for $20,000 prize at The Launch

By Steve Gow

A showdown is coming to the Halifax Central Library.

On November 14, the Spring Garden Road branch will be hosting a face-off of the top five finalists of The Launch — a $20,000 documentary development and pitch contest sponsored by the Lunenburg Doc Fest.

The inaugural year of the program aimed to uplift and serve emerging, underrepresented filmmakers and content creators; the free 6 p.m. event will feature the finalists presenting a live pitch of their documentary film ideas in front of the public and a selection of judges.

“It was set to happen at the Lunenburg Doc Fest — our dates were September 22 to 28, and Hurricane Fiona came right smack in the middle of that,” says Lunenburg Doc Fest executive director Pamela Segger about the delayed pitch contest.

“We put all the films online, but we weren’t able to go ahead with the on-site elements and The Launch, obviously, was one of those.”

Instead, organizers at the Lunenburg Doc Fest decided they would re-launch The Launch — ensuring accessibility and high visibility to reach as many audience members as possible.

“So we thought a free event at the Halifax Central Library at the Hall with an audience-fuelled component in addition to the professional jury component would be appealing,” adds Segger. “This initiative is all about creating opportunity for the participants.”

The mandate of Lunenburg Doc Fest’s The Launch is to specifically advance and support emerging BIPOC or underrepresented talent in Nova Scotia for market success by offering access to professional development sessions, consultations with an international pitch expert, as well as forge connections with industry experts and decision-makers such as film distributors, broadcasters, producers, and others.

On November 14, the five finalists will present their ideas with hopes of being selected to be the winner of a $20,000 prize package made up of cash, in-kind filmmaking services, and mentorship to support the creation of their short documentary.

In addition, the selected filmmaker will receive one-on-one mentorship from an acclaimed Canadian documentarian for the duration of the development of their short documentary, and the finished product will premiere at the tenth edition of Lunenburg Doc Fest next September.

“Each of them has five minutes to pitch their documentary context and idea (to a jury),” explains Segger, noting the jury will then provide feedback to the contestants. “Then the jury is going to deliberate together and choose the winner; however, we wanted the audience to also be there rooting for those pitching.”

As a result, audience members who cast a vote for their favourite pitch will also get a chance to be a winner at The Launch.

“It may not even be the same (pitch) as the jury chooses,” says Segger. “(But) if (people) submit a ballot, they too get the chance to win a small prize pack — in this case, not $20,000 of goods or services (but) one audience member will win a swag bag, as they call it, of goodies from Lunenburg and Lunenburg Doc Fest and also a film pass to next year’s Lunenburg Doc Fest.”

Among the five finalists who will be appearing at the Halifax Central Library to present their pitches are a poet and author Anna Quon, storyteller Israel Ekanem and NSCC graduate Juliet Mawsui — all of Halifax — as well as Cape Breton filmmaker Gee Stewart and Clinton Ray Howard from the community of Glooscap First Nations.

Although only one of them will walk away from The Launch with the $20,000 prize, Segger hopes that the greater good of the pitch contest will help provide a spotlight and voice for those who are persons with a disability or belong to a BIPOC, 2SLGBTQiA+ or others belonging to an underrepresented community.

“We hope that we can carry on,” says Segger, hoping this inaugural event will only be the beginning of The Launch pitch contest. “I don’t know that we can carry on at the $20,000 prize package because this started originally as a $10,000 prize as we were lucky to have more partners join in with us — but we do hope it is the first of many.”

For more information on The Launch, visit the Lunenburg Doc Fest website.

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