Provided by Michael Wale
In The News
Technicolor To Acquire VFX Studio Mr. X Inc.
Michael Wale csc Wins Leo Award Michael Wale csc won the Canadian Leo Award for Best Cinematography: Dramatic Series for his work on the SyFy series Continuum. The Celebration Awards Ceremony took place in the spring at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver. Wale won for his work on the Continuum episode “Second Guessed.” In other member news, the feature film Louis Cyr, shot by Nicolas Bolduc csc, was presented with Telefilm Canada’s annual Guichet d’Or Award in June. The award is given to the Canadian French-language film with highest domestic earnings in the past year. Louis Cyr generated more than $4.2 million nationally at the box office in 2013. Also, Michael Jari Davidson lensed the independent feature film Save Yourself over the summer, shooting in the anamorphic format.
Provided by Mr. X Inc.
Dennis Berardi, founder of Mr. X and now the company’s global managing director.
4 • Canadian Cinematographer - September 2014
Technicolor in June announced it had reached an agreement to acquire visual effects company Mr. X. The effects company joins Technicolor’s Production Services division, which includes Academy Award-winning MPC (The Moving Picture Company). MPC will continue to address leading projects for both its studio and advertising clients, while Mr. X will focus on high-concept television production, genre features and international film co-productions. Mr. X and its clients will also be able to access Technicolor’s postproduction portfolio, proven operational excellence and leading technology solutions. Mr. X will operate as Technicolor’s VFX brand for television and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Technicolor. Mr. X’s co-founder and president, Dennis Berardi, will become global managing director of Mr. X reporting to Tim Sarnoff, president of Production Services for Technicolor. The acquisition remains subject to approval by the government of Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage.
The SIM Group Merges with Hollywood’s Chainsaw The SIM Group this summer announced it had reached an agreement in principle to merge with Hollywood-based Chainsaw. The merger would see SIM expand its post offerings in the Los Angeles market through Chainsaw’s services. Upon completion of the merger Chainsaw will continue to operate under its current name as a unit of The SIM Group Meanwhile, the SIM Group also announced the promotion of Ann DeGuire to the newly-created post of president, Camera Division. Previously general manager of SIM Digital, Atlanta, DeGuire will oversee camera operations and engineering for all SIM locations, which include offices in Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Atlanta, Halifax and Beijing. In other news, Peter Pearson and Rob Sim were selected to receive two special awards from the Directors Guild of Canada to recognize their careers. Pearson will receive the Don Haldane Distinguished Service Award – which is presented to a DGC member to recognize outstanding service to the membership of the guild – while Sim will be this year’s recipient of the DGC Honourary Life Member Award, which is given in recognition of an individual’s outstanding contribution to the industry that has also had a positive impact on the DGC and its members. Sim co-founded Sim Digital (then known as Sim Video) in 1982, and also received the Bill Hilson Award from the Canadian Society of Cinematographers in 2011.The two special awards will be presented during the 2014 edition of the DGC Awards Gala on October 25 at The Carlu in Toronto.
