Fonds MS-3-40 - imX Communications Inc. fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

imX Communications Inc. fonds

General material designation

  • Moving images
  • Moving images (electronic)
  • Sound recording
  • Sound recording (electronic)
  • Textual record
  • Textual record (electronic)

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Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

MS-3-40

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1985-2009 (Creation)

Physical description area

Physical description

115 m of multiple media. - 65 metres of textual materials. - 21 GB (55,514 files) of electronic material. - 18,776 photographs, negatives, slides, and digital photographs. - 3,692 digital graphics images. - 65 posters. - 27 architectural drawings. - ca. 250,000 ft of cinefilm : negative, positive, printing elements. - 1,010 videocassettes, audiocasettes, and optical discs. - 190 DVDs. - 5 artifacts.

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1988-2008)

Administrative history

imX Communications Inc. was a Halifax-based film and television production company formed in 1998 by Christopher Zimmer, the company president. His original company, Imagex, was incorporated in 1985 and was placed under the larger umbrella of imX Communications in 1998 to produce feature films, made-for-television movies, documentaries, and animation. The feature films Margaret’s Museum and New Waterford Girl received considerable critical acclaim.

Zimmer had a thorough grounding in television, advertising, and film production in New York and Los Angeles. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Film Festival, the Canadian Film and TV Producers Association, and on the Canadian Government’s Advisory Committee on Feature Films. Along with the Donovan brothers, Zimmer has played a major role in transforming Halifax into a major Canadian entertainment production centre.

imX has co-produced and fully produced feature films, animated productions, and television series and features. The company has also developed service and executive productions. It has become known for its many co-productions with international companies in the U.K., Spain, Germany, Poland, France, the U.S.A., the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Belgium. imX also had a base in St. John’s, Newfoundland for several years and was a partner in the Double Helix Animation Studios (Halifax and Sydney) and the CineSite Film & TV Production Centre (Halifax). Its productions are noted for authentic settings, Canadian stories, and their use of local and Canadian talent.

Both Zimmer and imX films have earned numerous industry awards. Some of these include over twenty-five Gemini nominations, seven Leo Awards, and awards from the Seattle International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Taos Talking Picture Film Festival, Biarritz Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Havana International Film Festival, the Montreal Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Atlantic Film Festival. imX was bought by DHX Media in July 2008.

Custodial history

Records were acquired in two accessions (accessions #2008-051 and #2008-054). The bulk of the materials were acquired in the first accession, which included textual materials, still and moving image materials, audio materials, posters, and publications. The second accession included film and material from The Divine Ryans. Prior to that, the records were in the custody of Christopher Zimmer, President of imX Communications Inc.

Additional materials were received in two accessions in 2010 (accessions #2010-013 and #2010-017) but they are not described in this finding aid.

Scope and content

Fonds consists of records regarding imX’s corporate operations, productions, and other projects between 1985 and 2008. Corporate operations include imX Communications and its subsidiary companies: ImageX, Helix Animation, and North/Northeast Ventures. Film productions include theatrical full-length or short films, including documentaries. Television productions include made-for-television movies and documentaries, stand-alone productions, and series. Animated productions include feature length, television series, and shorts.

This fonds comprises ninety-four series which are arranged alphabetically by the name of the corporate entity, production, and project. Textual files contain a wide range of documents including scripts, call sheets and daily production reports, funding applications, cast and crew employment contracts, notes on location scouting, co-production agreements, marketing plans, budgets, music cue sheets, insurance coverage, and correspondence. Electronic mail (4.57 GB) downloaded from the e-mail server at imX corporate headquarters in Halifax contains 32,134 individual messages in 1,054 folders covering all aspects of corporate operations and business transactions. There are also 23,368 electronic files (15.6GB) that support the activities of imX, imageX, and Helix Animation documents in use between 1990 and 2008. Together with the text files, they represent a complete record of the activities of imX Communications and its affiliates.

Most corporate records have been retained in order to provide a full picture of what it is like to run a film production company in Nova Scotia. In addition, the records for three feature film productions, The Divine Ryans, Margaret’s Museum, and Love and Death on Long Island, have also been fully retained. 134 linear feet of textual material was not retained.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

The first transfer of materials from imX Communications occurred on August 28, 2008.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into the following series: After Dresden Air Guitar in Oulu And I Loved Them Madly Bailey The Beastery Big Top Under a Northern Sky Bird Artist Buddy and Hoss Cadillac Girls The Can Cashfire Cassandra's Wedding Celtic Mass for the Sea Christmas Story Clothesline Patch Crafty Cow Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey/Drug Warrior The Divine Ryans The Divine Ryans : The Series Doc McLelland Dr. Rock and Roll East of the Moon Elephant Winter Eliot Rocket The Event Evil Dwarf Flight: Searching for Scotland Folle Embellie For Better or For Worse Formerly, Gus McPhee Great Butterfly Hunt Hank and Jimmie Helix Animation Hetty Adams House of Mirth Human Amusements I Am the Walrus ImageX imX In Service Is The King Really Gone? Julie Walking Home Keep Away from Me The Last Dwarf Latitudes Laughabout Lawyers in Love Les Deux Charles Love and Death on Long Island Love, Sex and Eating the Bones Margaret's Museum Matthew McBeth's Midday Sun Mindshadows The Movies Come to Gull Point My Little Eye New Waterford Girl No One Thinks of Greenland/Guy X North/Northeast Ventures One Love The Other Side of the Pole Partition The Peggy Perseverance Pier 19 Pierre Boulez : The Rite of Spring The Pilot's Wife Politoons Quilts The Real Howard Spitz/Writer's Block The Red Glove Rita MacNeil in Japan The River King Safety Glass Santa Jr Seats 3A & 3C Shelter Shroom Boom The Sickle and the Stranger Songs In Ordinary Time Stanley's Palace Stargazing Stay Tooned Stolen Lives Sweet Angel Mine Take That The Greg Malone Show Those Guys Tineke's Art Title Shot : The Life and Times of Sam Langford Travelling Medicine Show Trial at Fortitude Bay Una Casa con Vista al Mar Weight of Water Wise Girls

Language of material

  • Multiple Languages

Script of material

Language and script note

English and some French and Spanish.

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Files containing personal information have been closed. All other materials are open for research.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Materials do not circulate and must be used in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room. Materials may be under copyright. Contact departmental staff for guidance on reproduction.

Finding aids

A database containing file-level descriptions of these records is available in the Dalhousie University Archives for staff use.

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Further accruals are not expected.

General note

Preferred citation: [Identification of item], imX Communications Inc. fonds, MS-3-40, Box [box number], Folder [folder number], Dalhousie University Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

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