MEDIA RELEASE

Return to Index

Download this release:

Adobe Acrobat
(PDF - 42 KB)

Microsoft Word
(DOC - 55 KB)

Bravo! to Air Banff Masters Television Series for Second Consecutive Year

(Banff, Alberta, Canada, December 21, 2001) Television viewers and film buffs will enjoy fascinating insights into the creative process behind some of their favourite television programs and movies when the Banff Masters television series airs on Bravo! NewStyleArtsChannel starting January 25, 2002. The series, in its second successful season, features highly acclaimed television and film writers, producers and directors who led Master Class presentations at the 2001 Banff Television Festival.

"Each year at Festival we are honoured to have such renowned leaders in the film and television industry come to share their insights and experiences with us," comments Pat Ferns, president and CEO of the Banff Television Foundation. "Thanks to the continued support of Bravo! we are once again able to bring these revealing presentations to the television screen and make them available to a broader audience."

The Master Classes are signature events at the annual Banff Television Festival, which takes place each June in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. Sessions feature leaders in the fields of writing, directing, producing, new media, children's and documentary programming who discuss their trade secrets in an intimate studio setting.

Leading off this year's Banff Masters series on January 25, 2002 at 7:30 pm EST (check local listings) is Academy Award-winning director and Canadian legend Norman Jewison whose credits include The Hurricane, Moonstruck and Fiddler on the Roof. Episodes scheduled for future broadcast on Friday evenings include Sex and the City's Darren Star, film directors Larry Weinstein and Anne Wheeler, producers Andrea Andermann, Mick Csáky, Roger Frappier, Alex Graham and Andrew Cochran, novelist and comedy writer Simon Nye, writer, producer and director Chris Haddock, cinematographer Michel Brault, and IMAX and large format producer Colin Low. (See attached schedule of broadcast dates).

Banff Masters is produced, directed and edited by Kerry Stauffer, director of production at the Banff Television Foundation. Executive producers are Pat Ferns and Jim Byrd. Production video editor is Kristi Macaulay. Photos from each of the episodes are available for download.

Bravo! Air Dates of Banff Masters Series

January 25, 2002: Norman Jewison
A Soldier's Story, Agnes of God, Fiddler on the Roof, Moonstruck, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Hurricane are just a few of the films made by Academy Award-winning director and Canadian legend, Norman Jewison. In his Master Class, Norman discusses his experiences as a director offering inspirational knowledge to both television and filmmakers. He has directed a diverse and prolific number of films that have garnered almost 50 Academy Award nominations and a dozen Oscars. In 1988 he founded the Canadian Film Centre, which provides advanced, hands-on training to young Canadian filmmakers and has since become Canada's preeminent film training institute. Norman's Master Class at BANFF 2001 was arranged in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre.

February 1, 2002: Darren Star
Darren Star is the creator of the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning HBO comedy series Sex and the City, which airs in Canada exclusively on Bravo!, and the popular FOX series Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210. He has made breakthroughs in capturing the audience with multi-dimensional characters, attractive settings and multi-layered plot lines. In his BANFF 2001 Master Class Darren examines the difference between cable success stories and network success stories, and whether or not the lines between the two are becoming blurred. "Pushing the envelope" is what characterizes the work of Darren and he shares with us the vision that has made Sex and the City an award-winning must-see comedy for adult viewers.

February 8, 2002: Larry Weinstein
One of the world's preeminent directors of film and musical subjects, and a partner in Rhombus Media, Larry Weinstein presents "UnRaveling Music on TV" in his BANFF 2001 Master Class. Sharing with the audience his own experiences in the making of his latest film, Ravel's Brain, which premiered on Bravo! earlier this year, Larry discusses the implications of being a part of this unusual collective and expands upon the creative processes that go into the realization of television projects. He calls this film a visual tone poem, at once tragic and celebratory. He and his colleagues have won many accolades since the making of their first film Opus 1 No.1, including Academy Award recognition, Banff Rockies, Geminis and Emmys.

February 15, 2002: Anne Wheeler
One of Canada's most sought after directors, Anne Wheeler's feature films and television movies include Bye Bye Blues, The Diviners, Better than Chocolate, Marine Life, Suddenly Naked and episodes of DaVinci's Inquest. In her BANFF 2001 Master Class she describes directing as the "big dance" in which the director is the choreographer. Her class is an exploration of how she moves the talent, the camera, the effects and the script together to the same beat. Anne has honed her craft as an editor, writer and director working with a collective of eccentric individuals committed to telling stories about western Canadians.

February 22, 2002: Andrea Andermann
"Can You Survive a Live Film?" is the theme of Italian producer, Andrea Andermann's Master Class at BANFF 2001. Touching on examples from La Traviata à Paris, Andrea explains how he broadcast a live opera to 125 countries worldwide using 30 cameras, miles of track and months of rehearsals to create the aspects of a feature film. With the persistence to overcome an abnormal amount of obstacles, Andrea has succeeded in delivering the immediacy of an artist's live performance.

March 1, 2002: Roger Frappier
Roger Frappier is one of Canada's most successful producers; successful with audiences and with festival juries. His films include the Decline of the American Empire and Jésus of Montréal. Roger knows the importance of collaboration in making great films and his insight and dedication have created many opportunities for talent across Canada in English and French. In his Master Class at BANFF 2001 he explores the relationships that the producer maintains with the screenwriter, the director, the distributor and the international distributor as well as the importance of working in continuity with a filmmaker.

March 8, 2002: Mick Csáky
Head of the British independent production company, Antelope, Mick Csáky has produced and directed a hundred of his own television programs and executive produced another six hundred. Most of them are international co-productions covering the full spectrum from documentary to drama, science to culture, series to singles, and pop to performance. In his BANFF 2001 Master Class Mick talks about his 30 year career as a writer, director, producer and executive producer of documentary programming for the international television market in the areas of human interest, biography, history, music and arts.

March 15, 2002: Chris Haddock
Creating a television series requires the unleashing and disciplining of the imagination simultaneously as Chris Haddock explains in his BANFF 2001 Master Class. As writer, producer and director of Da Vinci's Inquest, Chris shares the complexities of leading craftspeople confidently into the unknown. He further explores the skills and practices needed to bring out the best in a writer. Chris has come to know the genre of continuing dramatic series inside out having written and directed such series as MacGyver, Diamonds, Night Heat and Mum P.I.

March 22, 2002: Colin Low
A pioneer of the Canadian film and television industry, Colin Low was involved with the trail-blazing Labyrinth at Expo '67 in Montreal and co-directed the world's first IMAX 3-D film at the Vancouver World Fair. His extraordinary career began when he joined the National Film Board of Canada for a summer training program and later rose to become head of the animation department. Colin thinks big: 70 mm domed screen OMNIMAX, IMAX high definition, whatever will push the boundaries of what is creatively and technically feasible. In his BANFF 2001 Master Class he discusses the recent changes in perspective and technology to sketch out a vision of the future. He also draws upon his experiences working and experimenting with cinema, television, IMAX, high definition and participatory imaging.

March 29, 2002: Andrew Cochran
A producer who has done everything from movies to documentary, news to interactive programming, Andrew Cochran is a master of convergence having created Theodore Tug Boat, the successful children's television franchise. In his Master Class at BANFF 2001, Andrew uses a case history approach to detail how strategic rights management has enabled his long running preschool character to grow as a multi-platform property - from morning television to the first children's character on the web to becoming an ocean-going international icon for water safety - pulling a collection of branded products in its wake.

April 5, 2002: Michel Brault
Michel Brault is one of finest cinematographers in Canada, a pioneer of the documentary genre, and now a director and producer of the highest order. A recent survey of the top ten films ever produced in the country revealed that he had contributed to almost half of them. His movie Les Ordres won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival a quarter of a century ago and a decade ago he won at BANFF with Les Noces de Papier. In his Master Class at BANFF 2001 Michel discusses both ends of this film career, 1960 and 2000. In 1960 the search began for an ideal camera that would permit filmmakers around the world to capture life and its reality. Today the dream camera appears to be born in the form of the digital instrument.

April 12, 2002: Simon Nye
Simon Nye is a novelist turned comedy writer. He adapted his own first novel, Men Behaving Badly, to a sitcom on television, which has won many awards in his native England and was picked up as a format in the United States. In his Master Class at BANFF 2001 Simon discusses "TV Comedy in the US and UK - What Can We Learn from Each Other?" Two different approaches are explored with particular reference to his sitcom Men Behaving Badly.

April 19, 2002: Alex Graham
Alex Graham of Wall to Wall Television, and a world leader in innovative factual programming, presents a BANFF 2001 Master Class on the making of a new genre of television - the "living history" program. Alex originated and executive produced The 1900 House that aired on Channel 4 and on PBS last year to great acclaim and huge ratings. More recently, Wall to Wall made The 1940's House for Channel 4 which was an even bigger success than its predecessor. Alex discusses the complicated undertaking of placing a contemporary family back in time to live in a particular part of history. Will this tell us anything about history or is it just entertainment? Is there a future for this kind of format?