HALIFAX – About eight months of planning for a handful of Nova Scotia film productions could be for naught as the projects hang in the balance, waiting for funding from a program that’s suddenly in jeopardy.
Jeff Parker is an emerging director and one of eight participants taking part in FILM 5, the flagship program of the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP). He said he was set to begin shooting his film in three weeks, but that plan is now up in the air.
The program, which has been running for two decades, gives selected producers, writers and directors $8,000 cash along with more than $20,000 in services to create a short film to showcase their skills nationally and internationally.
The fate of the program has been in limbo since the Film and Creative Industries Nova Scotia closed last week. While it has been taken over by NSBI, staff at the co-operative said they haven’t been able to get an answer regarding funding.
“It’s just a complete nightmare for all of these projects because who knows what’s going to happen,” Parker said.
The executive director of AFCOOP said the group can’t go ahead with any of the projects until it can confirm NSBI will provide the necessary funds.
“We’re a non-profit charitable organization, so we run on a break-even basis,” said Martha Cooley. “We certainly can’t take on the financial risk of $24,000 worth of extra production.”
The uncertainty means the work of this year’s participants is now on hold.
“It’s pretty devastating, it’s pretty upsetting and it’s caused a lot of turmoil in the community,” said Cooley. “They have everything basically lined up to shoot their film and then they’re being told they don’t have the funding to go ahead and actually start.”
A spokesperson from NSBI declined an interview request by Global News on Monday and sent a statement, part of which says:
“We look forward to working with the film and creative industries across Nova Scotia. Our mission is to seize opportunity and create growth and we want this for the film and the creative industries.
“The Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative is a very important stakeholder in this industry, and we will be reaching out to them.”
NSBI also said it has a transition client service procedure in place along with a support team. Clients and stakeholders within the film and creative industries in Nova Scotia can contact the organization by phone, email or its website.
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