ae downtown Vancouver is so close that Renie al North Shore is thick with nominees THIRTEEN NORTH Shore res- idents are up for Genie awards, Canada’s answer to the Oscars. By Layne Christensen Community Reporter “The Genie award presentations air Sunday. Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. on CBC- The North Shore has long been popular with film and television industry insiders. . Upper Lonsdale resident and sound technician Michael McGee estimates North Shore actors, pro- ducers, camera operators and techni- cians number 100 to 200. ‘Film producer Matihew O'Connor of Sandy Cove says there “ae so many technicians here that they are known within the industry as the North Shore Mafia. : North Shore set designer Clyde Klotz likens the attraction of the loca- tion to the appeal of paper towels: “you can use it when you need it.” McGee, O’Connor and Klotz are KELLY COLE (left), Jacqueline Cristianini, Dean Giammarco and Paul Sharpe of Sharpe Sound on Brooksbank in North Vancouver are Genie contenders for thelr work on the film Magic in the Water. Art Direction; Horseshoe Bay's Tom Burstyn, Achievement in Friday, January 12, 1996 — North Shore News — ards beckon 4G There is such a large group of technicians here they are known in the industry as the North Shore Mafia. oF Central Lonsdale _ resident Crystine Booth is up for an award for costume design on Once in a Blue Moon, filmed almost entirely on the North Shore. For this feel-good family comedy set in 1967, Booth tapped local con- signment stores and even the SPCA- Thrift Shop on Pemberton where she found a whole rack of brand-new 1960s garments for just $200. The items still had their original price tags and Juckily for Booth, they fit the lead model well. Once in a Blue Moon will show in the theatres next spring. West Vancouver Secondary grads Jochen Schliessler and Bill Sheppard are up for Best Short Documentary for their tribute to the art of shaping. surf boards, The Shaper. It’s the sixth’ or seventh nomination for Sheppard (he’s lost track), and his first for a work of his own creation. NEWS photo Terry Peters among the 13 in the running for awards. That's almost half the “number of individual nominations received by all candidates westof Manitoba. McGee is nominated for an Achievement in Overall Sound '. award for his work on Magic in the Water, If he wins, he'll share .. the ‘award with Dean Giammarco uf Lynn Valley and Paul - Sharpe, head of Sharpe Sound on Brooksbank Avenue in North Finally, Vic Sarin of Lions Bay has been ‘nominated for an 5 Achievement in Cinematography award for his contributions to Margaret’s Museurn, This British-Canadian co-production i isa bitersweet Celtic love story.set in the late 1940s in a Cape Breton mining town. It . was directed and co-written by Salt Spring Islazd’s Mort Ransen, - Cinematography; Upper Lynn's Marc Chiasson, Achievement in Sound Editing; and. Seymour area’s Jacqueline Cristianini, Achievement in Sound Editing. Lynn Valley's Sean Kelly, who's had two previous nomina- tions, is hoping it’s third time lucky with Achievement in Sound Editing for Magic in the Water. This magical film of a little girl’s Vancouver. -.!"” Also nominated for awards for their work on Magic in the ‘Water are O'Connor, Best Motion Picture; Klotz, Achievement in From page 1. Tes The $2.7 million deficit i in the 1995-96 fiscal year : stems from the $500,000 debt-retirement payment on the -accumulated deficit that was supposed to be paid this fis- ‘cal'yéar, $1.37 million for payment of teachers’ salaries, | $75,000 for administrators’ salaries, $27,000 for aides’ - salaries, $20,000 for furniture and equipment, $115,000 ‘ for’ ‘education - leadership ailocations,” $300,000 to “increase fringe benefit payments related to additional “salary. expenditures, and a $280,000 tecalculaiion of a _t-“forecasted unfavorable variance.” | “ Heywood told the News District 44 must rob from the e teaching budget to make up for a shortfall in building and - | maintenance funding. That shortfall results from higher fixed costs than ‘other districts because of District 44's -@lder and smaller buildings, Heywood said. - Heywood called on Education Ministry bean counters “examine the district’s books with district personnel to ‘| identify areas where revenue can be raised or expendi- tures cut. a . Last year, the school district accepted a ministry offer to help the cash-strapped district find areas to balance the district's budget. But Charbonneau's faxed lists of num- bers outlining how other districts spent money was of no value. said Heywood. “Really. he should fire us if he’s got a better plan,” said Heywood, -, He added that an unbiased examination would con- clude “it is beyond our ability to balance the budget." The board passed a number of motions relating to its budget i impasse Tuesday night. “1; One’ resolution instructed Heywood to infor ‘ Charbonneau of: i the board’s inadequate revenues and resulting “budget ‘dilemma’”; 6% the board's urgent and repeated request for Charbonneau to participate in its budget dilemma by pro- viding additional revenue, excuse the retirement of the '$5-million debt, or provide “meaningful advice and ‘enabling assistance” to reduce expenditures or increase “revenues; , | 4 the board's case for inequitable revenue distribution; _@ the board's need for the minister's immediate assis- tance. Education Ministry media relations officer Linda Carswell said the School Act does not allow boards to submit an unbalanced budget, but the minister can approve a deficit. ' discovery of a mythical monster in Lake Okanagan flew in and out of the theatres in September. It's set for a video release in early spring. | NDPs Schreck calls District 44 budget stand ‘intolerable’ NORTH VANCOUVER-LONSDALE NDP MLA David Schreck reiterated his call. Wednesday for the dismissal of School District 44 trustees. By lan Noble News Reporter At a Tuesday night meeting, the trustees announced their intention to increase the dis- trict’s $2.6 million accumulated deficit to near- ly $5 million by the end of June and submit an unbalanced final operating budget to. the Education Ministry in February. Schreck said the board’s unilateral decision to run the deficit higher and ignore the law smacks of anarchy, presents an “intolerable sit- uation,” and takes control of the budget away from government. He now wants Education Minister Art Charbonneau to replace the trustees with a sin- gle trustee “which is equivalent to firing” board members. “I've never seen them do the job of manag- ing the system as they were elected to do,” Schreck said of trustees. He pointed to then-premier Bill Vander Zalm’s decision to . replace the Vancouver School Board about 10 years ago as a prece- dent for replacing a board with a single senior administrator. In response to the board's assertion that it is underfunded by $1.5 million a year, Schreck attacked the board’s spending record. He said trustees “lost all credibility” when they managed to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay a sick-pay benefit 'to administrators and closed a reading diagnostic centre while retain- ing a $400,000-a-year subsidy to a unique Outdoor School. He said all districts are funded by an equal formula, so claims that the district is the third-lowest funded are an “absolute lie.” The block funding formula treats all school boards equally, he said. Schreck said he told Charbonneau and the auditor-general that, contrary to the ministry’s directive, the board would not retire $500,000 of the district's debt in the current school year. The min- 64 I’ve never seen them do the job of managing the system as they were elected to do. ap — NDP MLA David Schreck and stars Helena Bonham Carter (Howards End and Room with . a View). Margaret's Museum will be in the theatres shortly after . the award presentations. istry delivered that directive when the board was given permission to run a $2.6 million’ accumulated deficit in October. Schreck |, . called for the board's collective head. at that” - time. q Board chairman Guy Heywood said ‘he... ‘expected Schreck to “divert the fire” by say- : ‘ing trustees are incompetent. But he’ said * Schreck and his'government also have things to answer for. Heywood said Schreck has met with little success in acquiring more funding for the schoo! district. 7 He said the province has muddied school *: district. planning by bridging a collective — agreement with tcachers that expired in June - 1995. That agreement pays teachers the provincial average, but dictates that. the dis- trict hire more teachers to meet teacher-to-stu- dent ratios. ; Heywood admits that the school district cannot afford the contract, but added trustees can’t do anything about the agreement because of the NDP government's edict that contracts be bridged while’snail’s-pace nego- tiations for a province-wide contract continue. The district tried to increase class sizes to balance the budget under a financial distress clause in the teaching contract, but the district ‘ lost at arbitration, said Heywood. The deci- sion is under appeal. North Vancouver's funding picture is fur- ther clouded by Charbonneau’s plan to amal- gamate the North Vancouver school district with West Vancouver's school district, said Heywood. The amalgamation drive by Charbonneau, he said, can only be explained as a way to win the NDP points in an upcoming election. “It's the minister playing politics and it really does not.have much to do with education,” said Heywood. The board received political support from North Vancouver-. Seymour Liberal MLA Daniel Jarvis after Tuesday's meeting. No question, the board is underfunded, he said. “I'm just going to stand up in the house and scream and yell to emphasize the point we are in dire straits.” he said. But West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Jeremy Dalton was less charitable towards trustees, He called the $300,000 in sick-pay benefits given to administrators leaving the district “patently ridicu- lous. I will not march on their behalf until they can demonstrate fis- cal responsibility.”