TELEFILM CANADA FINDS
ITS “sidekick" - Jan 16th 2006
Toronto,
Canada – January 16, 2006 – Toronto-based
Victory Man Productions is proud to announce that their
feature-length dark-comedy “Sidekick” has
received funding from Telefilm Canada’s Alternative
Distribution Fund. The funding will assist Victory Man
in creating theatrical release prints of their award-winning
independent film and then touring the film across Canada
in April 2006. The announcement was made today by Michael
Sparaga, the film’s writer-producer.
“This just
goes to show that Telefilm Canada is committed to supporting
new talent and finding Canadian audiences for quality
English-language Canadian productions,” added
Sparaga. “This program is a real inspiration to
Indie filmmakers who are fighting an uphill battle from
day one to get their movies made and seen.”
With several successful
North American film festival screenings already under
their belt, Victory Man looks forward to premiering
“Sidekick” for the first time in 35mm at
the 2006 San Francisco Independent Film Festival in
February 2006. A month and a half later, in April 2006,
Mr. Sparaga and the film’s director, Blake Van
de Graaf, will personally tour their film across Canada,
playing one night only in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa,
Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver. Dates
and times TBA.
Not
your typical Canadian feature film, “Sidekick”
is an original entry in the superhero movie genre, following
the misadventures of Norman Neale, a comic book obsessed,
computer geek, whose life finds new meaning when he
discovers a cocky fellow co-worker, Victor Ventura,
has slight telekinetic abilities. Norman endeavors to
turn Victor into a superhero by helping him expand his
abilities with dreams of one day becoming his trusty
sidekick.
Another inspiring
storyline for this true Canadian Indie is that Sidekick’s
screenplay was recently optioned by Focus Features (Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation,
The Constant Gardener), Universal Pictures’ specialty
arm, who plans to produce a bigger budget remake. Mr.
Sparaga has also been hired to pen the screenplay for
the proposed remake.
Mr. Van de Graaf
commands a stellar cast that includes talented Canadian
newcomers David Ingram, Perry Mucci and Mackenzie Lush
alongside American co-star Daniel Baldwin (John Carpenter's
Vampires, Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge and the Emmy-winning
series Homicide: Life on the Street).
VICTORY MAN PRODUCTIONS
is an independent entertainment production company formed
with the mandate to produce commercially viable Canadian
feature films.
