“Struggles Within”, selected by Top Indie Film Festival

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight time
NEWS Flash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southwestern Ontario - Canada
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent

“Struggles Within” has been selected
to be “in consideration” by the Top Indie Film Festival

iFilmGroup is excited to announce that the short film “Struggles Within” has been selected to be “in consideration” by the Top Indie Film Festival. This is the films first film festival to be in consideration for awards since being released in late July.  The Top Indie Film Festival is a festival that supports independent film makers and knows how hard it is to write a script and take the script to the finished film.  The festival wishes to reward hard working film makers and help them find success and celebrate their achievements with over 30 categories for films to win in. The festival is also a recognized IMDB festival.

The Top Indie Film Festival is an online competition so films are not screen films to the public. They have an “industry” panel of Film Makers that judge the films. All submissions must meet the festivals high judging standards to be considered for official selection and any awards.  Every two months in a cycle, the panel choose nominees and winners so filmmakers don't have to wait an entire year for results. It is important to the festival to allow film makers to quickly build buzz for your project. Winners and nominees and award winners will be announced by the 25th of the following month after the bi-monthly deadline.  Meaning results, for "Struggles Within" should be announced on Sept 25th.  But the final announces for overall awards will be made in January 2018. 

"Struggles Within" is consider a contender in the category of "Experimental Short" film due to it’s out of the box style and look. Using almost no words during the film but relying on the art of dance, drama and emotion to tell the story of one young woman’s struggle with depression. The film is touching people’s hearts and emotions for those that have seen it. Especially anyone who has ties to depression in their own lives either personally or through a family member or friend.

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The nomination can be found at http://www.altff.org/winners.html by clicking the document called "Nominees for AltFF Fall '18" It’s under the short film grouping in the sub category of “Best Experimental” with the other semi-finalist.

Final results will be announced on Monday Sept 17th. The 6 Best Film Finalist for the Festivals Fall edition will be announced and shown September 17, 2018 at 2469 Dundas St. West, Toronto. All winners will be announced on Monday, September 17 after their event via their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/AltFilmFest

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Directed and written by Corrinne Wood
Features Katie Ostojic, Morgan Flanagan, Camryne Quinn, Maysee McLean, Chassidy Fleming, Julia Hunter, Oliva Torrance, Amy Krosnicki, Talitha Wood, Ashley Wood, Nia Wood, Abby Johnson, Bianca Sinclair, Elizabeth White, Carly Schelken, Mackenzie Hyatt, and Rylan Rand.

Producers:
Don Hickey, Matthew Marshall and Corrinne Wood.

PRODUCTION HOUSE:
IME Films, m & s Marshall Productions, iFilmGroup

FILM PARTLY FUNDED BY:
In Your Memory Community Services & iFilmGroup

FILM IS DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE THAT STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

NEWS Flash Summary
“Struggles Within” has been selected
to be “in consideration” by the Top Indie Film Festival
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iFilmGroup
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent
Ontario - Canada
WEBSITE - www.ifilmgroup.org

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"Blue Love" - Special Effects

JULY, 20, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight time
NEWS Flash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southwestern Ontario - Canada
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent

"Blue Love" Special Effects

There are many aspects to the world of movie magic. One of those areas that award winning Film maker Matthew Marshall of iFilmGroup has not explored much is the world of special effects make up for scenes that he has done. “It is an art onto itself, you either have the skill to do it well and make it look real or you don’t”, says Marshall. Lucky for him the talent is within the iFilmGroup members. Both in a person of great years of experience in the area that teaches the craft and in a student of special effects that really enjoys practicing and working on improving his craft.  So when the opportunity came up for Marshall to need some special effects work for a scene for "Blue Love", he turned to Mary Ellen Herder and Judah Skipper.

Herder who has a long history of acting and directing within the theatre and film industry, and also is very good at makeup,  both regular and special effects. She has done work for a number of local films done in Chatham and area. She also in fact runs acting camps and special effects makeup classes through "Take A Bow Theatre Company" which she manages. One of her students in recent years has been Judah Skipper. He is learning the craft quickly and is doing some real complex special effects work. Both Herder and Skipper are part of the iFilmGroup.   “With the skill they both have in the area, along with my need for the art form for a scene, and them both being part of iFilmGroup, it all went together for a perfect mix”, says Marshall.

From Marshall’s perspective iFilmGroup being associated with his film "Blue Love" was one more way to live out the mandate of iFilmGroup and offer an opportunity for mentoring and growth of a young artist in the area of film making.  Skipper likes to acts as well. He in fact was part of the extras from filming on "Blue Love" in Port Stanley on July 14th. But his greater love and passion is special effects makeup.

The filming of the scene in need of special effects makeup for "Blue Love" was in Chatham, which is Skipper’s home town. Marshall, lead actress Helena Rose and fellow actress and iFilmGroup member Emma Lee came to Chatham for the filming. Herder and Skipper met Marshall, his cast and the rest of the team on location at the "Bargain Basement Studios" in Chatham. Herder and Skipper got to work on the special effects for cast member Emma Lee for the scene.  Skipper took the lead on the process and was guided by Herder.  His detail and craftsmanship shows he has learned a lot from the time under Herder’s mentorship at workshops he has attended in the past. ‘What Mary Ellen has done with her workshops and camps with mentoring students in acting and makeup is the exact things we are striving to do with iFilmGroup. It is great to have her as a teacher and Judah as a skilled student as part of the iFilmGroup”, Marshall adds.

The role of makeup artist is one of a few that Herder has with Marshall and his production "Blue Love". She also plays the role of Dr. Fairbanks in the film as well as has been helping find locations. “She is a wealth of information and knowledge on film and theatre” says Don Hickey, the co-founder with Marshall of the iFilmGroup. Hickey goes on to says that it is people like Herder that iFilmGroup aims to be the leader to teach the next generation the art and skills of film making. “We have a huge opportunity through iFilmGroup to mentor and teach, not only film making but life skills to pass on to the new generation” Hickey adds.

Marshall was very pleased with the end results of the work and how the effect worked in the scene. “Judah’s work enhanced the scene in a way that would not have been possible without it” says Marshall. For Marshall and Hickey, it is an example of another area that iFilmGroup has reached in offering people an opportunity to learn and then use skills in film making to help produce very high quality work.

“Film making is more than just acting, directing and being a camera person. It takes all kinds of skills to make a movie”, says Hickey. The iFilmGroup team encourages anyone who has a desire to learn about a skill or trade within film making to contact them and come join the team.

NEWS Flash Summary
"Blue Love" Special Effects
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iFilmGroup
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent
Ontario - Canada
WEBSITE - www.ifilmgroup.org

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The Big Wedding Scene for "Blue Love"

JULY, 19, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight time
NEWS Flash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southwestern Ontario - Canada
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent

The big wedding scene for "Blue Love"

Wedding Scene From Movie “Not Ready”.

The big wedding scene for "Blue Love" went off without a hitch. It ended up being a little smaller than originally planned by the production team but everyone in attendance enjoyed themselves and had a great time.

Eighty-four (84) people had confirmed to be extras and wedding guest for the filming of the scene in Port Stanley, but when July 14th came the final numbers of those in attendance were a little lower due to some illnesses going around.  In the end 73 people attended the filming date and participated in the filming for "Blue Love".   The casting team for the film received a number of sick calls in the last few days before filming. “We had a few with strep throat that is going around and a number of people that were missing were just under the weather for various reasons. It may have been a little smaller number but it did not affect the overall end product. Just tighten the shot up a little”, says Matthew Marshall.

Marshall is the film’s director and co-producer, as well he is the co-founder of iFilmGroup which is a support service to the event as it is in association with Marshall’s production company m & s Marshall Productions. iFilmGroup’s other co-founder; Don Hickey was in attendance for the start of the day and filming before he had to go to attend another business related meeting.  Both were very pleased with the outcome. Marshall is especially pleased with the footage they got from the wedding scene as well as some other scenes that were filmed on the same day. “The day is very much declared a success” says Matthew Marshall.

The wedding scene is a flash back to the marriage of the lead Character "Kaitlyn Butler" to her love of her life Craig. The scene features Helena Rose who plays Kaitlyn, but is also the film's co-writer and co-producer. Craig is played by Ryan Mason. St John’s Presbyterian Church in Port Stanley even got into the spirit of the filming by changing their sign to read “Congratulations Kaitlyn and Craig”.  St. John’s member and elder as well co-owner of m & s Marshall Productions Sharon Marshall had this to say. “The sign was a great way to create curiosity in the community and also was a way to tell extras that was the location” says Sharon Marshall.

Marshall had, had a casting call out for extras for a little over a month, and got a very large response from the call. “This would have to be my biggest response I have ever got for a call for extras” says Marshall. He had 174 people that showed original interest in being an extra. That was more than double what would have fit in the church. But through time and the process, the number slowly got smaller. Sitxy people who applied but did not message or respond back to messages that were sent to them. Another 30 were very interested and responded, but were unable to come on the date due to conflicts or prior commitments.  Thus bringing the number down to the 84 which in the end, due to illness became the 73 that attended. “It was a great day and everyone had a good time” says Marshall.  iFilmGroup is looking forward to more opportunities where they can open a call up of this size and get more people from the community to participate in filming. The team is not sure a scene of this size is at all in the works with the projects in development, but they would not rule it out at some point.

NEWS Flash Summary
The big wedding scene for "Blue Love"
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iFilmGroup
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent
Ontario - Canada
WEBSITE - www.ifilmgroup.org

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iFilmGroup Scholarship Programs

JULY, 18, 2018 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight time
NEWS Flash
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southwestern Ontario - Canada
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent

iFilmGroup Scholarship Programs

The iFilmGroup is preparing to roll out their Scholarship Program for the 2018-2019 school year for high School students who are graduating and planning to moving on to post-secondary studies in acting or in a multi Media/visual arts field.  The goal of the program is to give back to the community and help advance youth that are interested in furthering their dreams and goals of working in film or related media either as crew or as talent. The iFilmGroup is founded in the mission of helping to mentor youth in the film industry. “The mentoring process is more than just passing on skills, it is also about helping them get to the next level by giving them a hand up” says Don Hickey the Community Engagement Manager and co-founder of iFilmGroup.  He goes on to add, “the idea of a scholarship or an award of financial aid for a student is to assist in furthering their education in a media or film related field”.

In order for a student to receive the Scholarships they will need to apply to the iFilmGroup the same way as students apply for other scholarships.  For those applying they will have to meet certain criteria, which in the case of iFilmGroup reflects the values and purposes of what our core mission is” says Hickey.  The requirements for those applying have not been released yet. “We are taking the summer to fine tune some things and will launch in the fall when school starts”, says Matthew Marshall the other co-founder of iFilmGroup and the in-house head of the tech department of iFilmGroup.

Both Hickey and Marshall know that it’s just the start of summer so no one is ready to think about school yet. It’s the end of June when students have their head's into summer and having a blast and not into school and books”, adds Marshall.

This gives iFilmGroup time for the big launch in September. With the idea that students could start applying any time after that point with the first iFilmGroup scholarships being award next spring.   The money for the scholarships is raised through donors that support our programs and the mission we have. More information about the program will be appearing on the iFilmGroup website in the fall.

NEWS Flash Summary
iFilmGroup Scholarship Programs
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iFilmGroup
London ■ St. Thomas ■ Chatham-Kent
Ontario - Canada
WEBSITE - www.ifilmgroup.org

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