MEDIAPOP Films’ Co-Founders Ryan Northcott and Eric Giesbrecht are elated to share that two short-films produced by our production company have been chosen as Official Selections of the Calgary International Film Festival and the Edmonton International Film Festival :)
“Once Upon a Pandemic” is an Official Selection of the 2020 Edmonton International Film Festival. It’s the story of a young girl Maddie, self-isolated in her home during a global pandemic without help from her quarantined Mom. With the help of her Dad, Maddie uses her strength and resilience to overcome a heartbreaking twist as only a child can.
The film stars new comer Maddie Murphy-Northcott, Gemini Award Winning actor Kristin Booth (The Kennedys After Camelot, Young People F**king, Foolproof) and Ryan Northcott (Mystery, Alaska, Tribal, The Beach Boys: An American Family).
“I wrote the screenplay one morning while in self-isolation, touching on the new reality that parents are navigating – teacher, entertainer, psychologist – all while trying to maintain a level of strength in a world turned upside down. What struck me was the strength and resilience that our children have exhibited, more specifically how well my daughter Maddie has handled such change.”
“Once Upon a Pandemic” is both heart-breaking and heart-warming. It’s a journey that will have you smiling one minute and crying the next. It will inspire you to be as strong and resilient as a child and leave you with the feeling that our future generations have got this.
The film was written, directed, produced, shot, and edited by MEDIAPOP’s Ryan Northcott. Keep up to date with the film on Instagram or Facebook.
“Operation: Clean Slate” produced by MEDIAPOP’s Eric Giesbrecht, is an Official Selection of the Calgary and Edmonton International Film Festival. The film was written by Charles Netto and Directed by Jayson Therrien. It stars Natalie Marshall, Yousif Ismail, Kaya Coleman, Wase Young, Meg Farhall, Barb Mitchell, and Chad Nobert.
The film harkens back to school-age angst where four teenagers from different social groups team up to break into city hall to wipe their parking tickets clean, in hopes to save their summers. On top of these two short-films making their respective festival runs, MEDIAPOP’s Ryan Northcott will appear in several films at both the Calgary and Edmonton International Film Festivals.
Calgary (CIFF):
Ryan plays investigative journalist “Julian Sher” in the film “Marlene” – a film inspired by the true story of Marlene Truscott, a housewife who fought to exonerate her husband Steven Truscott from a crime he didn’t commit.
Ryan plays “Seth” in the film “Jasmine Road” – a raw and emotional film about a recently widowed western rancher who takes in a Syrian refugee family in the small conservative town of Red River.
Ryan voices “U.R.M.” in the sci-fi film “Parallel Minds” – The year is 2027 and the latest version of Red Eye, a state of the art contact lens which can record and see past memories, is about to be released. On the eve of a keynote presentation delivered by visionary inventor Conrad Stallman, Margo’s best friend Elise, the head programmer at Red Eye, dies in her lab. Margo, a Metis researcher, is determined to find Elise’s killer.
Edmonton (EIFF):
Ryan plays “Seth” in the film “Jasmine Road” – a raw and emotional film about a recently widowed western rancher who takes in a Syrian refugee family in the small conservative town of Red River.
Ryan plays “Pete” in the film “They Who Surround Us” – a film about a Ukrainian farmer living in Alberta who loses his wife in a tragic accident. Guilt and grief send him into an emotional spiral where mysterious and inexplicable events force him to relive traumatic incidents from his childhood in Ukraine.