Best Documentary at Gen Con Film Festival!

We are excited to announce that Rise of the eSports Hero took home Best Documentary at the 2015 Gen Con Film Festival!!

Gen Con is the original, longest-running, best-attended, gaming convention in the world! Needless to say we are very honoured to receive this recognition. Unfortunately we weren't able to attend in person, but have heard so many great things about this event. If you have an opportunity to attend, we highly recommend it!

Thank you to to Chuck Budreau who works so hard each year to bring the best gaming films to the Gen Con audience. We appreciate the support in getting the film in front of a new audience!

 

 

More Digital Platforms for Rise of the eSports Hero

We are thrilled to announce that Rise of the eSports Hero is now available to rent or buy on multiple digital platforms online. These include Hulu, Vimeo, Google Play & Amazon Prime with more to come over the next few months. With eSports continuing to gain momentum and popularity, we are pleased to have been a part in the earlier days when Starcraft II was in its heyday. Following a memorable year with an elite lineup of top players on Evil Geniuses roster, the 2011-2012 year was filled with moments that people still talk about and we hope you will enjoy reliving in our film!

Please check out the documentary on your favourite platform and help spread the word to those around the world who may be interested in learning about eSports or are feeling nostalgic and want to relive some epic eSports moments! As always, thanks for the support.

 

Rise of the eSports Hero Exclusively on VIMEO

Big news for us today! Rise of the eSports Hero is now available exclusively on VIMEO in the US, Central America and South America for rent or purchase! This is the films debut for the documentary to be available for purchase anywhere in the world. It has been a long time coming to get the film south of the border so we are thrilled to be working with VIMEO to get it out onto the screens of our loyal fans who have been following the project since its inception nearly 4 years ago!

Rent or Buy it today on VIMEO and let us know what you think. Like us on Facebook, join the conversation on twitter & please help spread the word! Congratulations to the entire Rise of the eSports Hero team and as always, thanks to Evil Geniuses and our subjects who allowed us access into their lives to make this documentary a reality.

 

2015 Bell Media Executive Producer Accelerator Lab

We are excited to announce that Erica Landrock has been selected as one of seven participants for the 2nd annual Bell Media Executive Producer Accelerator Lab program. The program designed to assist advancement of mid-level Canadian producers. Erica will be heading to Toronto in February to join the rest of the participants in a six week training program at Bell Media's headquarters. The producers will work through hands-on sessions with internal departments at Bell Media, participate in panel discussions with industry experts as well as work through case studies and coaching sessions.  

Following the internship, up to three participants will be selected for a specialized eight to 10-month production apprenticeship with a top independent Canadian production company or Bell Media In-House Productions. This is an amazing opportunity and one that Erica is looking forward to. Being the only producer selected from outside Toronto, it is a great opportunity to spend time with broadcast executives and production companies in the Toronto area. Now to find a warm winter jacket to handle the balmy -30 degree weather Toronto has been experiencing back east this winter!

For more information about the program and other participants, please check out the press release here.

Order the Working People DVD Today!

Looking for a great Christmas gift? Look no further, we’ve got you covered! Share British Columbia’s fascinating labour history with friends & family. Click here to order your own copy of the award winning series –  Working People: A History of Labour in British Columbia.

DVDs include all three episodes as well as the 30 individual vignettes. (Includes new content, not seen in the series!)

All Sports Film Festival

From east to west, we were excited that Rise of the eSports Hero had its Los Angeles premiere at the All Sports LA Film Festival over the weekend of November 7-9th! That's right a film about professional video game players at an all sports film festival! Love the increased recognition of gamers as athletes and the ongoing debate and discussion about the growing world of eSports. While we unfortunately couldn't be in attendance at this festival, we were told that the film was well received by the audience. Thank you to the festival for selecting us to be a part of this years festivities!

Intemperance Premieres at imagineNATIVE film Festival in Toronto

The short film Intemperance that Erica Landrock produced along with producing partner Lori Lozinski premiered on Sunday, October 26th at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto as part of the closing gala for the imagineNATIVE Film Festival. Writer/Director Lisa Jackson was in attendance along with some of the cast and crew who were in Toronto at the time. The film was commissioned as one of five films by female indigenous filmmakers to be a part of the festivals Embargo Collective II. The film received funding from Telefilm, BravoFACT, APTN, the BC Arts Council and imagineNATIVE. An great project that Erica was thrilled to be a part of. Stay tuned for more updates on festivals and screenings as the film gets out onto the festival circuit!

 

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New York Comic Con

It's not everyday we have a chance to head to New York to participate in the one and only New York Comic Con, but this was the year to do it! Erica Landrock was invited to sit on a panel for the ReedPop Fandom Film Festival discussing Rise of the eSports Hero along with two other filmmakers who were also on the panel talking about their films. Comic Con did not disappoint with huge numbers in attendance, great cosplay costumes, interesting panels and the never ending showroom floor filled with everything that your mind could dream up (and then some!) about comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, television and geek culture. 

Leading up to the panel, Erica appeared on Be Terrific TV to talk about the documentary. Check out the interview here. With NYCC's 2014 attendance reaching 151,000 it now takes the throne as the largest comic book convention in North America! We feel like we only skimmed the surface with what was available to see and participate in so would love an opportunity to return and do more Comic Con exploring. 
 

Thank you to NYCC for selecting Rise of the eSports Hero to be part of the Fandom Film Festival and giving us an opportunity to talk about the documentary to a very receptive and interested audience! And heck... who can resist a trip to New York City.

 

Intemperance - Short film In Production

It has been a busy Summer and Fall as Erica has been helping produce Lisa Jackson's new short film Intemperance. Lori Lozinski of Violator Films is her producing partner on the short film and a great partner to have! Following meeting Lisa in the Spring at the Yorkton Film Festival, Erica was invited to join the team which went to camera in August. With Vancouver's production scene ridiculously busy over the summer it was a tricky film to crew up and get gear for however everything came together in the end and we are thrilled with how it is looking. From creating an entire Ojibway village complete with wigwam's in a North Vancouver park to filming in a mansion in Shaughnessy it was quite the production. Having worked predominantly on documentaries over the last few years, it was great to get back into the narrative landscape on a shorter project. Always a good way to meet new people and turn around a project in a much shorter timeline!

The film itself is titled Intemperance and is a ten minute film re-enacting a short story from the 1850 book The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the Ojibway Nation, written by George Copyway, an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) man with a complex and complicated life story and perspective. It is a fiction film, but based on a history event recounted by Copyway, so therefore a hybrid. The narration in the film is taken directly from his writing.

The film will be premiering October 26th in Toronto at the imagineNATIVE film festival's closing gala. In 2015, Erica was selected to be part of the Bell Media Executive Producer Accelerator Lab. She is a recipient of the Shaw Media Hot Docs Rendezvous Pitch Prize, is a CTV National fellowship recipient and a National Screen Institute Totally TV Alumni.