Arvi Liimatainen
Production
Biography
B.C. and Alberta screen industries are mourning the loss of a longtime local filmmaker who worked on some of Western Canada's most prominent films and TV series. Finnish-born Arvi Liimatainen died from cancer in Vancouver on May 19 at the age of 68. With a career spanning over four decades in screen industries, Liimatainen worked in numerous capacities, including as a studio technician, writer, film critic, story editor, actor, broadcaster, production manager, producer, executive producer, and director. As a producer with Haddock Entertainment, he worked on Vancouver-shot TV series such as Da Vinci's Inquest, Da Vinci's City Hall, and Intelligence. He also produced several films directed by B.C.'s Anne Wheeler, including Marine Life, Bye Bye Blues, and Cowboys Don't Cry, and his more recent producing credits include the TV series Hiccups, Gracepoint, and The Romeo Section. As a director, he helmed episodes of The Beachcombers, Mentors, Jake and the Kid, and Breaker High. Over his extensive career, he collected numerous awards, including a Canadian Screen Award, Gemini Awards, and Leo Awards. Beyond B.C., he also contributed to the Albertan and national film industries. He served as chair of the Banff World Media Festival (then known as the Banff Television Festival) and became an honorary lifetime director; was on board of the Alberta Media Production Industries Association; and was the director of the National Screen Institute. In the art world, he also produced Vancouver-based artist Stan Douglas' film-based art installations Inconsolable Memories and Klatsassin.
Known For
Mary Spalding, the director of the Vancouver Organized Crime Unit, offers Jimmy Reardon, one of Vancouver's top organized crime bosses, immunity from prosecution in exchange for his role as a police informant.
Intelligence
When a young boy is found dead on an idyllic beach, a major police investigation gets underway in the small California seaside town where the tragedy occurred. Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy, which throws the boy's family into further turmoil and upends the lives of all of the town's residents.
Gracepoint
Life in Crocus as seen through the eyes of a young lad, Ben, and his friend Jake. Jake and the Kid is a Canadian television drama series, which aired on the CanWest Global system of stations in the 1990s. The second (1995) television adaptation of W. O. Mitchell's 1961 short story collection Jake and the Kid the series is set in the small town of Crocus, Saskatchewan, and centres on the friendship between Ben "the Kid" Osborne (Ben Campbell), a young boy growing up on a farm with his widowed mother Julia (Patricia Harras), and Jake Trumper (Shaun Johnston), a farmhand who becomes Ben's surrogate father figure.
Jake and The Kid
Millie Upton is a successful children's author who's prone to flying off the handle. Stan Dirko is Millie's less-than-qualified life-coach. Together, they work through Millie's...err...unpredictable spasms. It's a case of the lost leading the lost, with the best of intentions and very little chance of success.
Hiccups
Twin sisters help a woman save her dude ranch from developers who would like to turn the property into a theme park.
How the West Was Fun
The Shadow Warriors hire on to reclaim the daughter of a woman whose ex-husband kidnapped the child after a custody battle. At the same time, they uncover a terrorist plot to attack Seattle.
Assault on Death Mountain
During World War II, Daisy Cooper returns home to Canada with her children after her British husband, soldier Teddy, is assigned to Singapore. With the help of trombonist Max Gramley, Daisy's amateurish piano and vocal skills improve, and soon she is supporting her family with her performances. Unsure whether Teddy is alive or dead, Daisy is torn between staying faithful and giving in to her growing feelings for Max.
Bye Bye Blues
Set in 2045, Vic, an ex-ultimate fighter, is the owner of the only airstrip, hotel and bar in the high Arctic frontier town of Borealis. He does his best to keep the peace amongst a vast array of clashing characters in this lawless international free zone that sits on top of the world’s last remaining oil.
Survival Code
Marine Life revolves around the choatic family life of June, a middle-aged lounge singer and mother. Aging and twice divorced, lounge singer June Nordstrom tries to cope with her fading beauty, her troubled offspring, her waning career and her young lover, who begins seeing a woman his age behind June's back.
Marine Life
Five astronauts make the first manned trip to Mars in the second decade of the 21st century. They must battle and overcome inferior computer components, corporate greed and indifference, and their own personal problems, as well as the surprises that the Red Planet has in store for them.
Escape from Mars
A 17-year-old has the summer of her life when she moves to a tiny Alberta resort and meets two new friends and a handsome lifeguard.
Sylvan Lake Summer
A satire of trailers and a story of a boys life.
The Big Charade
A student's death and a killer's arrival unite a sergeant (Shaun Johnston) and the new police chief (Ron White) in an Alberta prairie town.
Strange and Rich
Three soldiers of fortune get together for one last job. However, one of them falls for a drug-addicted hooker, and when her crazed pimp gets involved, complications ensue.