Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Golden Day for Alberta Film Industry

Brokeback Mountain Screenshot
Brokeback Mountain © 2005 Focus Features.

Alexandra Burroughs with the Calgary Herald reports on how recent Golden Globe nominations are already a sign of a 'Golden' recognition for Alberta's film industry:
"We [Brokeback Mountain] have twice as many Golden Globes nominations as any other movie -- its exceeding everyone's expectations," says an elated Jordy Randall of Alberta Filmworks, which co-produced the film.

"To be associated with a project of this calibre is a fantastic thing for our company and for Alberta as a film community. This is really a celebration of the best Alberta has to offer."
Brokeback Mountain wasn't the only Alberta-filmed production nominated. Steven Spielberg's TNT mini-series Into the West is up for awards as well:
"I'm really proud of Into the West. Its an incredible project -- from the moment I read the script I loved it," says Voice Pictures' Wendy Hill-Tout, who may attend the Jan. 16 Golden Globes ceremony. "It's great for Alberta. This is a quality series that's certainly recognized throughout the world."

Into The West Screenshot
Into the West © 2005 Turner Network Television / DreamWorks Television.

Calgary Film Commissioner Beth Thompson commented on the nods:
"This gives Alberta even more credibility as a filming location," says Calgary Film Commissioner Beth Thompson. "You can't be nominated for best picture without amazing locations and the crew to pull it all together."

The last time Alberta was involved in such an award-inspiring film was 1992 with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, which was nominated for four Globes and won the Oscar for best picture.

"It was right after Unforgiven that Calgary started to see a much bigger workload," says Thompson. "We'll see the same thing with Brokeback. The nomination will bring in bigger audiences than it may have otherwise attracted and its going to have more appeal to people than it may have otherwise. We'll definitely see a benefit from it."
Read the full article at this link. Congratulations to all of the cast and crew involved!

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