John Kalangis

John Kalangis is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, writer, director, interactive media producer and national broadcast executive. He received two Bachelor's degrees from the University of Western Ontario, one in Film Studies and the other in English Literature. He attended New York University and Ryerson University for film production and graduated from the CFC New Media Lab’s Interactive Art & Entertainment Program. His resulting prototype, a digital narrative entitled "My Name is Elliot B. (an interactive mind F***K)", was shown internationally at RESFEST 2000.

Filmmaking, Writing and Directing

His first feature film, " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168900/ Jack & Jill] " premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1998 and received a Genie nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It hit theatres across Canada in spring 1999 and was distributed and sold internationally to broadcast and home theatre by Alliance Atlantis. His second feature, “ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491788/ Love is Work] ”, won the American Express People’s Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the world premiere at the Whistler International Film Festival in 2005. In spring 2006, the film won a special jury prize at the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto and was the inaugural film for the NFB and Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television’s Critic’s Choice screening series. Also that spring, multi-Oscar winner Paul Haggis presented the film at its U.S. premiere in Los Angeles at the Method Fest. The picture opened in theatres across Canada in summer 2007 to great critical and audience response and is being distributed and sold for broadcast and home theatre internationally by Sullivan Entertainment. Earlier in 2005, Kalangis directed a six-part exclusive online documentary about historic BBC series Doctor Who called “The Planet of the Doctor” for CBC interactive. Over 2 million viewers from around the world enjoyed the series in the first year. In summer of 2006, Kalangis directed and co-wrote " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848552/ The Mad] ", an action-comedy horror feature film starring Billy Zane for Peach Arch Entertainment. The film was selected as the opening night Gala at the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto. In 2007, “THE MAD” played at Fear Fest in Italy, and was the cover feature of Gore Zone magazine, the U.K.’s premiere horror publication. Currently it is being seen across the world on DVD, broadcast, pay-per-view and on pay-tv. Kalangis has sat on juries for the Genie and Gemini Awards, the Sprockets Young Filmmakers Awards and selection committees for the Canadian Film Centre and the National Screen Institute of Canada. In spring 2008, Kalangis led the awards jury at the Canadian Film Festival.

Interactive Media

In 2000, Kalangis began his career at CBC as a radio and new media producer with the award-winning ARTSCANADA website. Utilizing his strong technical skills in Flash, HTML and Final Cut Pro, he wrote, produced, directed and edited online and broadcast entertainment materials supporting A-list broadcasts like Opening Night, The Nature of Things, Barney’s Version and The Rick Mercer Report, as well as making documentaries, music specials, and doing arts reportage. Additionally, he has produced and directed radio drama, worked on award-winning interactive advertising campaigns, consulted for online start-ups, performed keynote speeches on the convergence of interactive and conventional broadcasting and participated in round table discussions at the CFC, the Toronto International Film Festival, at new media think tanks and on television programs. Recently, Kalangis was the brainstorming mentor for New Media BC’s Incubator in January 2008. In May 2007, Kalangis was named Executive in Charge of Original Interactive Arts & Entertainment at CBC Television.

Current and Future Projects

Kalangis currently leads a series of original interactive entertainment projects through the development process with the national broadcaster. He is the creative executive for interactive arts and entertainment properties in development including the edgy skateboard video and interactive comedy of “The Motion Show”, the multi-platform soap opera “Story 2OH!”, and the trans-media science fiction speculations of Robert J. Sawyer’s “Slipstream”. All projects boast sophisticated multi-platform approaches that put story and audience experiences first. In April 2008, Kalangis led the Digital Development Labs in Vancouver. A product of partnerships between New Media BC, BC Film and CBC, the three-day interactive entertainment lab united independent producers with new media mentors to help take their projects from great story or audience experience concepts to fully interactive multi-platform entertainment pitches. One of the five projects in the lab will receive a development award from CBC and will move forward with into a development phase at a national level. In May 2008, Kalangis was the MC and sat in on all the sessions for the National Screen Institute and Zeros 2 Heroes PLAYwrite boot camp where writers from traditional narrative entertainment outlets like film and television connected with top video game producers and companies to help evolve AAA games into sophisticated narratives with richer plots, sharper dialogue and more engaging and believable characters. He helped participants shape their character and narrative choices.

Going through the PlayWRITE bootcamp allowed him to both instruct and learn so he could begin to connect the dots between what he’s being doing in filmed and interactive narrative and the demands of gamestory. He also led the writers through a pitching workshop so they can present their ideas with enthusiasm, clarity and edge. Johnny Kalangis continues to grow and explore new avenues in digital storytelling and interactive narrative and is an active member of the arts and entertainment community in Canada. He lives with his wife and son in Toronto’s Bloor West Village.

External links

[http://www.facemedia.ca Web site]

[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0435503/ John Kalangis at imdb.com]