Compy Films

Hello friends. Please note that we will be deleting this page on February 1st.

If you'd like to keep in touch, you can find us here:
🦋 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/compyfilms.bsky.social
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compyfilms/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/compy-films/
💌 Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/3ac340b4fb75/oh-hello-there

Thank you for all of the likes, comments and shares over the years. ❤️

How to reflect on one of the most challenging years in the film and television landscape? DEFER TO 2025!

We joke, we joke. We’re doing our best to ~stay alive until 2025~ as the industry has asked of all of us (just a few more sleeps!)

We’ll have much more to say and share and reflect on in the new year. There’s more for us all on the horizon. We have to believe it.

But as we all careen into the final moments of 2024 in search of comfort — the arms of a loved one, that dish you look forward to all year, or maybe just that week between 2024 and 2025 where no one really knows what time, day, or year it is, we thought we’d tuck Scarborough into your proverbial stockings too with the news that you can find us worldwide on and .

Maybe this makes your comfort watch list because you need a good cry to close out the year. Or because you want to remember what it feels like to believe in the power of being a part of something bigger. Or because you just want to slow-mo search for ’ cameos. Who are we to judge what brings you holiday joy. 😂

Until next year,

Compy

🎞️ TIFF Open Screen is back - this time hosted by Compy Films' Rich Williamson + filmmaker Amanda Pileggi!

Open Screen TIFF is a charitable cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world, through film.

We're so happy to see Ed Barreveld being recognized by the DOC Institute for the many years of extremely generous and patient work he has done in the background to nurture emerging documentary filmmakers. We count ourselves among the lucky many. Time to raise a glass on the 4th! 🥂

Ed Barreveld, Jules Koostachin to Receive DOC Institute Honours - POV Magazine The 2024 DOC Institute Honours will recognize Ed Barreveld with the Rogers-DOC Luminary Award and Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin with the DOC Vanguard Award.

We’re baaaaaaack! Sharing what we learned the hard way, so you don’t have to 😗

In our second Compy Workshop this year, SCARBOROUGH co-director and producer Shasha Nakhai will share insight into some of our key learnings during the process of making our first microbudget feature film.

In this 2-hour discussion, we’ll share some offerings from the different phases of low budget drama production:
- Financing (getting the money to make the thing)
- Business Affairs (setting up and trying to keep your house in order)
- Production (making the thing)
- Post (moving through the finishing touches in a cost-effective way)
- Distribution (navigating festivals, sales agents, and distributors)

This session will be focused on producer-specific functions. Our next workshop will be on craft.

Please come prepared with questions relevant to your own individual journey, as we will tailor the workshop discussion based on this input.

We also recommend watching SCARBOROUGH if you haven’t seen the film. You can find it streaming on , , and for free on .

🫴 Get your ticket! 🎫

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/what-i-wish-i-knew-surviving-a-microbudget-feature-tickets-955828598067?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

In the heat of this Toronto summer we realize we neglected to share the wonderful news about our very own Rich Williamson + frequent collaborator Sherien Barsoum. 🫢

Rich was recently nominated for a Canadian Academy Screen Award for his work editing Sherien’s feature documentary, Cynara: The Film — produced by Frequent Flyer Films. 👏

We’re obviously biased but having seen how this story came together we know just how well deserved this nomination is. The months of focus, deliberation and consideration Rich contributed to carefully assemble Cindy’s story and carefully present James Lockyer’s defense of Cindy at appeal. Including input from our very own KJ Pinto stickhandling legal and editorial research. All of this, helmed, by powerhouse director Sherien.

We’re *so* proud of our team of frequent collaborators and especially Rich for this very very well deserved hat-tip.

👉 You can watch CYNARA on CBC Gem.

📸 by none other than the iconic George Pimentel.

We’re excited to offer a suite of Compy Films workshops this year 🫴

Led by Shasha, Rich, and KJ — each workshop will follow the seasons (spring, summer, fall) and tap into our combined experience and expertise across documentary and fiction storytelling. In the first of our series, KJ Pinto will lead a case study on how to harness the power of your audience all along the filmmaking journey.

This two hour workshop will include resources and guidance on strategic roadmapping for BTS storytelling that inspires audience engagement, impact, and viewership.

Join us! 🎟️

Marketing Indie Films: a case study on Scarborough Learn how to market indie films with purpose, using SCARBOROUGH as a case study - join us online on April 17th @ 10AM.

We'll be cheering for our editor extraordinaire, Rich Williamson, as he reps our team at this year's Canadian Screen Awards - nominated for Best Editing in a Feature Length Documentary!

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We’re excited to share that Compy is growing! 🌱

With traffic on the social media highway at constant gridlock, we’re looking for better, more meaningful ways to connect.

You can check out and subscribe to our new e-newsletter here:

Oh, hello there 👋 We made SCARBOROUGH — the little film that could and did. We went to TIFF, and then to the Canadian Screen Awards, played on Crave, Air Canada and — we’re proud to share most recently — Paramount+ and CBC Gem. Maybe you came to this newsletter from that journey, or maybe you joined us somewh...

Compy Films Director and Producer Shasha Nakhai is helping facilitate this 4-part DOC Institute workshop covering the essentials of documentary producing. The first session starts tonight, and it's not too late to sign up if you're looking to:
▪️ Learn the 101s of funding, approaching funders, and pitch packages.
▪️ Find out how to navigate legal & business affairs of a doc project.
▪️ Understand ethical concerns, COVID protocols, copyright, and more.
▪️ Learn how to find and collaborate with your crew.
▪️ Navigate the world of budgets, financing plans, and production management.
▪️ Ask your burning questions about working as a producer in the industry.

DOC Institute Essentials Bootcamp A 4-part virtual workshop series on documentary producing essentials. Led by filmmaker Shasha Nakhai.

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival has been a critical part of our filmmaking journey through the years. If you are able to, please contribute to this important community organization.

We're grateful to have the support of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on our new feature documentary film, THE SANDBOX. 🎉 We've been quietly working away as the producers on this project for a couple of years now, alongside Director Kenya-Jade Pinto and Executive Producer Jennifer Baichwal. This is definitely one to watch out for!

Hot Docs, Netflix Reveal Canadian Projects Selected for Incubator Program Hot Docs and Netflix have revealed the five Canadian documentary projects that will share CAD 175,000 ($130,000) as part of the Hot Docs Incubator program, the latest instalment of the Canadian Sto…