Lindsay resident Christian Cooke will be heading to London’s Royal Albert Hall in February for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards.

Along with Brad Zoern, Nathan Robitaille, and Peterborough native Glen Gauthier, Cooke is one of the team nominated for a BAFTA — the British equivalent of the Oscar — for best sound for the critically acclaimed The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Cooke and Zoern are sound re-recording mixers at Deluxe Toronto, part of the Deluxe Entertainment Services Group. For post-production on The Shape of Water, del Toro went to Deluxe Toronto, which he had used for previous projects including Crimson Peak  and Pan’s Labyrinth.

The Shape of Water  leads the BAFTA Awards with nominations in 12 categories, including best film, director, cinematography, and sound. For sound, it’s up against some tough competition, with the other nominees being Baby Driver, Blade Runner 2049, Dunkirk, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Cooke first began working in sound mixing in 1978, when he filled in for a couple of weeks at SoundMix, his father’s company. He never looked back and, in the past 40 years, has worked on many feature films, television movies, and television series including Hamburger Hill, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Dieppe, Ready or Not, Billable Hours, Being Erica, and Bomb Girls.

He’s won multiple awards in the past, including Gemini Awards for sound for Being Erica (2010 and 2011), Billable Hours (2009), and Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story (2007), as well as Genie awards for A Dangerous Method (2012) and Eastern Promises (2008).

In 2012, both Cooke and Zoern won an Emmy for sound mixing for the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries on the History Channel, and also won a Cinema Audio Society in 2013 for their work on the series. Cooke was nominated for an Emmy in 2015 for his work on Texas Rising.

Former Peterborough resident Glen Gauthier is also part of the sound team nominated for the BAFTA Award.

Gauthier, who left Peterborough as a teenager, also has a long list of film and television credits, including IT, Molly’s Game, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Spotlight, Pixels, Being Erica, A History of Violence, Dolores Clairborne, The Shipping News, and Parenthood. He also previously worked on Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 robot epic Pacific Rim. He has won multiple Gemini and Genie awards for his work.

Gauthier, who runs his own sound company Noise Boys Inc., is a location sound mixer. A member of the film crew who’s responsible for recording all sound on set during film-making, his work includes minimizing extraneous noise during filming rather than in post-production.

“There was always running water and steam pipes and lots of visual effects that create a lot of noise,” Gauthier says of The Shape of Water, in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, The Shape of Water is an other-worldly fable set against the backdrop of Cold War era America in the early 1960s. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.

VIDEO: The Shape of Water Trailer

The film, which has been nominated for seven Golden Globes, received the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.

The BAFTA Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, February 18th at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. Absolutely Fabulous actress Joanna Lumley will host the ceremony.

Jeff Day, former executive director of Community Futures Peterborough, is planning to run for Peterborough City Council in 2018.

In an exclusive interview with kawarthaNOW, Day said he wanted to explain why he decided to resign from the economic development organization in December.

“I have political aspirations,” Day says. “I simply could not have continued in my role as executive director while pursuing those longer term goals.”

The Community Futures Peterborough board gave no reason for Day’s December resignation, which came only two months after Kim Appleton resigned as chair of the board before her tenure was completed. This prompted some speculation about possible conflict within the organization.

“I want to set the record straight,” Day says. “There is no drama with Community Futures, the board, or the organization.”

Day’s last day at Community Futures Peterborough is Friday, January 12th. He has accepted a position as general manager with Protoplast Inc., a plastic injection molding company in Cobourg, a move that will return him to his extensive manufacturing background.

“This opportunity arose at Protoplast and it aligned with my longer term goals,” Day says.

He has extensive business development experience in both the automotive and aerospace sectors, and started from the ground up as a tool and die-maker. His most recent position before joining Community Futures Peterborough was as a global business turn-around specialist.

Day was originally appointed to the position of executive director of Community Futures Peterborough in September 2016. On December 20th, the organization’s board announced Day would be resigning. On January 5th, the board appointed Gail Moorhouse as interim executive director until a permanent one can be recruited.

“I feel that Community Futures is well positioned with their current team,” Day says. “With Gail stepping in as interim ED, they have an opportunity to build stability.”

Day is currently working on his campaign strategy for the upcoming municipal election, which will be held on Monday, October 22, 2018. Nominations will open on Tuesday, May 1st and close on Friday, July 27th.

The Women’s Business Network of Peterborough (WBN) has donated $20,064.84 to YWCA Peterborough Haliburton.

Through their annual fundraising gala held in December, WBN has supported the YWCA Crossroads Shelter for more that 30 years. The funds raised at the 2017 gala, held this past December, will be used to support the nutritional well-being program at YWCA Crossroads Shelter, which supports local women and children fleeing violence who are in crisis.

“We feel it’s vital to support and give back to our community, especially to the women and children who utilize Crossroads Shelter and its nutritional well-being program,” says Lori McKee, WBN’s Program Director. “I got to witness first-hand the high energy and generous contributions handed out by members, donors and volunteers from the day we started planning right up to the night of the Gala.”

“To our members, guests, donors and volunteers, thank you for all your donations, hard work and support so we could reach our fundraising goal.”

WBN revealed the final donation amount tonight (Janaury 10) at its January members’ meeting at Highland Park Funeral Centre, where McKee and WBN Program Director Sana Virji presented the cheque to Corinna Campbell, YWCA Associate, Events & Annual Giving and Anne Arnold, YWCA Development Assistant.

“At the YWCA, we invest in both safety and nourishment to help women and children feel welcome and protected,” says Jen Cureton, YWCA Director of Philanthropy and Communications. “The Women’s Business Network has been a vital partner in helping women and children escape violence and build new lives.

“We’re so grateful to work with WBN each year through their Holiday Gala to drive our vision to see all women and children thriving.”

YWCA’s Nutritional Well-Being program at Crossroads Shelter provides healthy food, supplements, and vitamins to women and their children, 365 days a year. Last year, 25,413 meals were prepared and served to women and children living at Crossroads.

The program also helps families learn about meal planning, food preparation, principles of nutrition, preparing main meals and encouraging participation from women and children too. They help women to address their health goals with healthy food, and cook tasty affordable dishes that are possible on a modest budget.

WBN is a networking channel for women who wish to enhance and expand their business contacts and grow their businesses. Formed in 1961 as the Peterborough Chapter of the Canadian Advertising and Sales Association, the network has evolved into a dynamic and growing membership of women with diverse backgrounds and careers who meet to share their knowledge and experience and promote their businesses.

For more information about WBN and to read profiles of selected members, visit our special editorial section.

The City of Peterborough is seeking feedback from residents on two possible routes for a new community bus.

Beginning in March, the community bus will serve malls, grocery stores, seniors’ homes, medical clinics, and the Peterborough Regional Health Centre. It will operate hourly Monday through Sunday from 9:20 a.m. to 5:20 p.m.

The community bus will be available to all residents, and will also provide an additional transit option for people who normally use the Handi-Van or find using the regular bus challenging.

The service will use a mini-bus that has no stairs and has seats for 10 to 15 passengers, along with four spots for wheelchairs.

Through public consultation last summer, transit users indicated many places they would like to go on the community bus.

Based on community feedback, Peterborough Transit has created two potential routes for the bus and is seeking additional feedback on which route would be preferred by potential users.

An online survey to provide your input is available at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ptbocommunitybus.

Details on the route options and the survey are also available at the transit terminal in downtown Peterborough.

Peterborough Transit staff will also be at the Community Counter of Lansdowne Place on Thursday, January 18th to answer questions about the Community Bus. Copies of the survey will be available there as well.

All survey responses should be submitted by Friday, January 26th. Once the route has been finalized, the map and schedule for the community bus service will be made available.

Two people died in a fire this morning (January 10) in Brighton in Northumberland County, 41 kilometres east of Cobourg.

The fire broke out inside a home on Harbour Street overlooking Presqu’ile Bay at around 7:25 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed by flames.

While battling the fire, firefighters found one of the victims outside the home in the backyard and located the second victim inside the home after the fire had been extinguished.

The names of the victims have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and it is unknown whether the home had smoke alarms and if they were working.

The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal has been contacted to investigate the fire.

Over the past two weeks, the Peterborough Public Library has been busy moving into its newly renovated and expanded Aylmer Street location.

The $12 million renovation and expansion took 18 months to complete, about six months longer than expected due to unforeseen complications with the building.

New shelving and furniture was installed in December, and the library expects to complete the move of the library collection, office furniture, and other items by Saturday, January 20th.

The library has not yet announced an official grand opening date, but library CEO Jennifer Jones expects the opening will happen during the last week of January.

The Peterborough Square temporary location permanently closed on December 30th (the book drop will remain open there until the renovated library opens).

According to library CEO Jennifer Jones, old shelves and unneeded furniture from the temporary location will first be offered to other departments of the City of Peterborough, and then to other libraries or non-profit organizations.

The renovated library includes 6,000 square feet of new space, for a total of 9,000 square feet of public space.

One of the most striking features of the new library is the prominent and naturally lit central staircase that runs from the library’s street level down to the children’s books area on the lower level. The open concept design allows for a lot of natural light on both levels.

The new location also includes two enclosed individual study rooms on the main level, designed for independent learning and one-on-one meetings, as well as one group study room.

There are also new administration offices, a new café location, and two new accessible elevators.

In the spring, the lot beside the library will be transformed into green space.

On-street parking will be available, as well as a few accessible parking spaces in the green space area when it is completed.

While the books and office furniture are being moved into the new location and library staff stock the new shelves, workers are making finishing touches on the interior in advance of the opening.