Small Places, Small Homes The first feature documentary for Toronto based filmmaker Julia Fong of Mitzi Productions, Small Places, Small Homes explores the lives of visible minority immigrants who choose to live in Canadian rural communities. While many newcomers choose to reside in major urban centres, the four families profiled in Small Places, Small Homes took a different path. Small Places, Small Homes journeys across Canada to meet: · Vila Smith of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario – from Malaysia, came to Canada in 1977; · Cesar and Rosita Gonsalez of Brandon, Manitoba – came from the Philippines in 1967; · Ann Haliday of Digby, Nova Scotia - Thai, who immigrated to Canada in 2001; · Julie Wong, also of Digby, NS -- 1st generation Canadian of Chinese descent; How they chose where to live and how this choice has affected their lives reveals common themes: the feeling of isolation in a largely Caucasian rural Canada; the notion of sacrifice, of working very hard at creating a new life in this vast country, and what it means to become a Canadian. “I wanted to capture the stories of immigrant families as a ‘day in the life’ -- their struggles, discoveries and recollections of moving to Canada,” says Julia Fong, Director and Producer of Small Places, Small Homes. “Thanks to OMNI’s Independent Producers’ Initiative, now these inspiring tales can reach beyond their rural confines and be shared with diverse audiences.” To maximize viewership, Small Places, Small Homes has been versioned in Cantonese and Hindi, both of which will air on OMNI.2 (in October and November, respectively), as well as French. “We are grateful Julia chose to approach OMNI Television with Small Places, Small Homes, a seldom seen look at visible minority communities living in rural Canada,” says Malcolm Dunlop, Vice President of Programming and Marketing for Rogers Media: Television. “These stories cross culture to touch everyone; precisely why we put in place our funding initiatives.” Small Places, Small Homes was exclusively funded through OMNI's Independent Producers Initiative, a $32.5 million independent production fund that to date has supported over 200 new documentary programmes. Interested producers can access funding criteria at OMNI Television’s web site http://www.omnitv.ca/ontario/info/funds . Languages:Hindi, Cantonese, French, English