North Bay-area film projects get nearly $8M in funding

The province has announced close to $8 million for 10 film and TV projects being filmed in the North Bay area.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli made the announcement in a Jan. 29 news release.

“NOHFC’s Film and Television Stream is designed to increase production in Northern Ontario to create industry jobs and support the local economy,” Fedeli said in the release.

“Today’s $7.95-million investment is achieving that goal, while also highlighting North Bay as a premier filming destination where these projects showcase local geography, talent and filming infrastructure.”

This brings the total NOHFC funding, provided to Nipissing-area film projects since 2018, to nearly $84 million.

The province said those funds have “helped the region remain competitive in a growing global production market,” boosting economic growth and creating jobs.

Film and television projects receiving funding include:

• $2 million for Piazza Entertainment to produce Season 4 of SkyMed, a medical television drama that follows the triumphs, heartbreaks and breakdowns of budding nurses and pilots flying air ambulances in remote Northern Canada;
• $2 million for Hideaway Pictures Inc. to produce Season 3 of When Hope Calls, a series that tells the story of Lillian and Grace, two orphaned sisters who were separated as children and reunite as adults to open an orphanage in a small northwestern Canadian town;
• $500,000 for Cutting Glass Media to produce Not Safe for Work, an animated action-comedy series that follows one of the world’s deadliest assassins who discovers there’s a hit on her estranged father and is forced to take him and her brother on the run;
• $500,000 for Kelly Martin Productions to produce the made-for-television movie Crown Jewel Princess, the sequel to Jingle Bell Princess that follows the story of Princess Amelia as she prepares for her upcoming coronation;
• $500,000 for Hideaway Pictures Inc. to produce the made-for-television movie Joy to the World, which tells the story of reclusive lifestyle guru Joy Edwards who is forced into a live Christmas Eve television special featuring her supposedly perfect family — whom she completely fabricated;
• $500,000 for Other Animal Entertainment to produce the feature film Last Moon, which is set in the frontier era of Northern Ontario and is about separation, redemption, fear and evolution;
• $500,000 for Vortex Media Ltd. to produce the made-for-television film Christmas at Candiac Lodge, a heartwarming holiday film that combines elements of comedy, romance and family dynamics;
• $500,000 for Cast North Productions Inc. to produce the feature film With This Ring, which follows the story of maid of honour Hayley who enlists the bride’s handsome brother to help her find her best friend’s antique ring when she loses it a week before the wedding;
• $500,000 for Comedy Camp Inc. to produce the feature film Hysterical, a mockumentary — featuring an all-star cast of comics — about a television pilot filmed deep in the wilderness of Killarney Provincial Park;
• $450,000 for Watcher Pilot Productions Inc. to produce the made-for-television movie Watcher, an inspired-by-true-events story that follows a Woodland Cree tracker who reluctantly partners with a former city detective to solve a crime.