Winning Indie Ignition Businesses Take Home over $50k in Start-up Cash at Bow Valley College

Eleven film and animation teams gave their best pitch to a panel of expert industry judges April 25, with half of them landing a share of the $54-thousand prize pool.

Banana Planet Films took home the $12,000 prize for first place.

“They've done these videos forever and given talks at like San Diego Comic-Con,” says Michael Lohaus, Manager, Digital Entertainment Nexus at Bow Valley College. “Their film was called ‘Garbage Boy Goes to Space’ and it's like Mary Poppins with absurdist humour - it’s very fantastical.”

Soonias Industries took $10-thousand for second place. Semper Fidelis Films Inc. came in third with an $8-thousand payout.

Prize money was made possible through a grant fromOpportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF).

TC Energy Prize for Female Founders in Innovation and Technology went to Mad Hattress Studio, Bombshell Creative, and Prickly Rose Entertainment. Each prize was worth $8-thousand.

Mad Hattress Studio is working on a film called The Dreamer which uses a fine arts visual language that combines real sets and costumes pulled together with deft visual effects and film techniques to create a rich, imaginative world in just a few minutes of screen time.

Bombshell Creative is a service company with a record of creatingvideo game trailers for major titles and a few indies as well.

“Making trailers for video games is a different process,” Lohaus says. “It’s very different than doing a trailer for a movie because a movie is already cut. You have all the footage.”

“When you're doing a trailer for a video game, you need the character in the game to react a certain way so you can get the footage. It’s interactive and challenging.”

Since its inception in September of 2024, the intensive 12-week Indie Ignition Accelerator program has supported about 60 digital startups with tools, marketing and legal advice and access to industry experts to help grow Calgary’s digital creative economy.

Indie Ignition is currently a free program, open to the public with prize money and legal support for incorporating a company available for all participants. The next cohort will be for video game developers and will start sometime in late summer.

Information on the program and how to apply can be found on the Indie Ignition website.

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