Calgarian Cam Christiansen, is reeling with excitement following the news that his animated video I Have Seen the Future won Best Animated/Experimental Short Film award at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2008. This award enables Christiansen to be qualified for consideration at the 81st annual Academy Awards.

Christiansen participated in Banff New Media Institutes 2007 Interactive Screen program, where he met with BravoFACT!’s executive director Judy Gladstone to discuss the possibility of funding. Two weeks later, I Have Seen the Future was picked up by BravoFACT!

“Interactive Screen was a great experience,” says Christiansen. “It’s an incredibly unique situation to be able to meet and learn from such a diverse international group of talented people. It was very fun, kind of like an artistic adult summer camp! Also, for a guy who spends a little too much time in front of a Mac, it’s great to get out and talk to other producers in new media.”

I Have Seen the Future also won "Video of the Year" at the Western Canadian Music Awards, and was selected from over 5,000 submissions to the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. I Have Seen the Future chronicles an encounter with some obnoxious kids, reminding the main character of the obnoxious kid he used to be.

Christiansen’s experience is one of several successful partnerships BNMI celebrated this summer as they wrapped up their 11th annual interactive Screen program. From August 13 to 18, more than 40 new media luminaries and rising stars met in Banff to explore and reflect on the current state of new media, and to learn how to navigate the digital bazaar and land a deal. Participants came from across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Finland, Spain, and Italy.

A second Alberta success story was the green light given to Kelly Andres’ mobile sound lab SongBike, which focuses on concepts of community, recycling, and interaction. Andres, who is from Lethbridge, was awarded a BNMI co-production residency for her successful pitch of this innovative project which will stream live sound from a bike to a member-based website. Andres will return to the Centre later this year to build a prototype. “This program was very beneficial,” says Andres. “I had the opportunity to network with Canadian artists and new media practitioners, learn how to write and perform a professional pitch, and work with experienced technicians to develop my project.”

Other outcomes of the Interactive Screen program included a Vancouver project receiving support from the Bell Broadcast and New Media fund and another moving into development discussions with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

BNMI recently expanded its support for Canadian new media producers with the creation of the Nunavut Animation Lab (NAL), a partnership with the National Film Board of Canada, Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, National Screen Institute, Nunavut Film, and the Government of Nunavut. Following intensive workshops in Nunavut and in Winnipeg, NAL enabled four animators to come to the Centre to direct and animate their films. While at Banff, the emerging animators worked with skilled filmmakers and mentors to develop and produce their stories and to learn how to market them.