History
| In 1973, Christopher Zimmer came to Halifax on a whim, and ended up staying for good. His career in television, advertising and film production had taken him to New York and LA, but he felt an instant affinity for Canada's East Coast and its lifestyle. As a result, in 1985, imX communications emerged on the Nova Scotia film scene. Zimmer wrote, produced and edited the company's initial project, CBC's Rita MacNeil in Japan, which gave many Canadians their first glimpse of the Cape Breton singer, and helped turn a home-town favourite into a national sensation (he followed with 1987's Rita for CTV/ATV). |
In 1986 ImX co-produced its first feature, Mindshadows, in partnership with DNU of the Netherlands. During the early years, the company fine tuned its co-production expertise turning out an average of a feature per year. Two of these features included; The Midday Sun, written and directed by Lulu Keating and produced on location in Zimbabwe; and then in 1991, the co-production Cadillac Girls, directed by Nicholas Kendall, starring Mia Kirshner and Gregory Harrison.
In 1994, ImX productions included Trial at Fortitude Bay, a CBC TV movie starring Lolita Davidovitch and Henry Czerny, which was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for International Drama and also received a Chris Award at the Columbus International Festival.
The company's international profile soared with Margaret's Museum, a stirring tale of love and tragedy in a Cape Breton mining town. Starring Helena Bonham Carter, the film earned rave reviews and a shelf full of awards, including the Concha de Oro (Best Film) at the 43rd San Sebastian Festival in Spain, Best Canadian Picture at the Vancouver International Film Festival and the People's Choice Award at the Atlantic Film Festival. Nominated for 11 Genie Awards (for excellence in Canadian film), it won in six categories, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Screenplay.
A co-production with Britain's Skyline Films, Margaret's Museum also showcased ImX's dexterity in pulling together international co-production projects. ImX followed up with Sweet Angel Mine, produced with Sam Taylor of Britain's Mass Productions.
ImX produced the critically acclaimed Love and Death on Long Island in 1997, starring two-time Oscar nominee John Hurt and Jason Priestley. The film travelled to Cannes, where it won le Prix Pierrot (Best First Feature) for director Richard Kwietniowski. Kwietniowski also won a British Academy Film Award as the most promising newcomer in British Film. Hot on the heels of this success, ImX released The Real Howard Spitz, a Canada-Britain co-production starring Kelsey Grammer (TV's Frasier) and Amanda Donohoe.
In 1999/2000 imX communications released The Divine Ryans, a quirky, warm-hearted movie starring Oscar nominee Pete Postlethwaite, and New Waterford Girl, a fiercely funny hyper-twist on the coming-of-age theme starring newcomer Lianne Balaban. Collectively, these two productions won five awards at the 1999 Atlantic Film Festival, including Best Canadian Feature for New Waterford Girl and Best Actor for newcomer Jordan Harvey in The Divine Ryans.
During those same years, imX communications co-produced The Weight of Water with Miracle Pictures from Los Angeles. The drama, based on the novel by Anita Shreve, stars Elizabeth Hurley, Sean Penn and Sarah Polley. imX also co-produced Songs in Ordinary Time with Dog Run Productions, starring Beau Bridges and Sissy Spacek.
The next few years were extremely productive. imX completed production on For Better or For Worse, an animated 16-part series based on the award-winning comic strip by Lynn Johnston.
The For Better or For Worse series was a co-production with Funbag Animation Studios and aired on Teletoon.
Between 2000 and 2002 imX co-produced two foreign language feature films Una Casa con Vista al Mar (A House with a View of the Sea), a Spanish/Venezuelan/Canadian co-production, the story of a father, his son and their undefeatable dreams of a far-away sea; and Folle Embellie, a Canada/France/ Belgium feature directed by Dominique Cabrera starring Miou-Miou and Jean-Pierre Leaud.
In 2001 imX was involved with three service productions shot in Halifax including Wise Girls starring Mira Sorvino and Mariah Carey; My Little Eye produced with Working Title 2 for Universal Pictures and The Pilots Wife an MOW for Lion's Gate starring Christine Lahti and Campbell Scott.
In 2001-02, imX communications produced seats 3a & 3c, an innovative low budget four-part feature film package shot on digital video, showcasing the talents of writer/directors Thom Fitzgerald with The Wild Dogs, Tricia Fish's DragonWheel, Andrea Dorfman's Love That Boy and Daniel MacIvor's Past Perfect.
The company executive produced the music documentary Air Guitar in Oulu (2002) directed by Kent Sobey; Julie Walking Home (2002), a Canada/German/Poland co-production directed by Agnieszka Holland, starring Miranda Otto and Lothaire Bluteau; Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (2003) written and directed by David "Sudz" Sutherland, starring Hill Harper and Marlyne Afflack; and The Event (2003) by Thom Fitzgerald, starring Sara Polley, Don McKellar and Olympia Dukakis.
imX completed the Canada/UK co-production titled The River King with Myriad Pictures Ltd and the Spice Factory, directed by Nick Willing and starring Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle. ImX executive produced the feature film by Vic Sarin titled Partition starring Neve Campbell, Kristin Kreuk and Jimi Mistry released in 2007, and produced the documentary Damage Done by Connie Littlefield for CanWest Global. which aired in the Fall, 2007.
The company was sold to DHX Media in 2008 and continues to develop and produce feature films.
During the summer of 2009, imX co-produced two MOTW with Studio Hamburg of Germany for the television network ZDF, Two Sisters and Second Honeymoon. Both are based on the best selling novels by British writer Joanna Trollope.