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From left: Sophie Deraspe, Danishka Esterhazy, Michelle Latimer, Ingrid Veninger, Mars Horodyski, Anais Granofsky. Photo: John Gundy |
The mission began with a proposal Veninger issued on Facebook asking female filmmakers to pitch ideas that they would work together through the completion of six screenplays. The project then took a new turn at the Whistler Film Festival. “When I won the EDA Award for The Animal Project at the Whistler Film Festival from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists,” notes Ingrid, “I decided to take a chance at the podium. I offered a first look at the 6 scripts written in the Femmes Lab, to the first person who stepped up with $6000… The room was stone silent until Melissa Leo stood up and shouted, “I’ll do it!”… she’s is a true champion. Over the holidays I received Melissa’s cheque, which will be shared between the participating women. Then TIFF offered us a place to meet at the Lightbox. So it’s on!”
Here is the
moment @MelissaLeo jumped
up w/$6K for 1st-look at 6 #CdnFilm
scripts. Love #StevenGaydos
smile @Variety
pic.twitter.com/ZNO9ZYSnIX
—
Ingrid Veninger (@punkfilmsnow) December
10, 2013
The six participants in the pUNK Films Femmes Lab are
Michelle Latimer (Choke, Alias), Sophie Deraspe (Missing Victor Pellerin, Vital Signs), Mars Horodyski (Ben's At Home), Anais Granofsky (The Limb Salesman, On Their Knees), Danishka Esterhazy (Black Field, H&G). pUNK Films FEMMES LAB will run a total of six months, from
January to June, 2014, where the 6 participants will meet once a month. At the
end of the six months, six feature film screenplays will be complete.
Veninger previously put her money where her mouth is back in
2012 when she took the $5000 prize she earned for winning the Jay Scott Prize
from the Toronto Film Critics Association for her film i am a good person/i am a bad person and launched the 1K Wave,
which challenged independent filmmakers to show what they could do with a
modest budget of $1000. The creation of the pUNK Films Femmes Lab is a bold move
for Veninger. Veninger, whose The Animal Project was coincidentally among six films made by women to make my list of
the top ten Canadian films of 2013, has gradually built a profile for herself
by taking risks that pay off. The Femmes Lab embraces the philosophy of “nothing
is impossible” that serves as the driving force behind pUNK Films and has
allowed audiences in the festival circuit to take note for her unique,
intimate, and idiosyncratic style of filmmaking.