Telefilm commitments total $6.9 million in Feb.

Telefilm Canada commitments for February totaled $6.9 million for 12 projects.

Receiving funding under the Canadian Broadcast Program Development Fund were: L’Annee noire, a documentary anthology produced by Gilles Losier at Moncton’s Les Productions du Phare Est ($350,000); Les Productions Point de mire in Montreal for Les Choix d’une nation ii, a documentary series produced by Raymond Gauthier, Claude Rochette and Jean-Francois Mercier ($275,000); Les Contes du chat perche, a children’s series from Cinar produced by Ronald A. Weinberg and Christian Davis ($350,000); the mow/pilot Horseman, produced by Julia Keatley of Vancouver’s Trustworthy Films for WIC Western International Communications ($1 million); Nunavik Exiles, a documentary produced by Barry Howells and George Hargrave of Nutaaq Media in Montreal ($55,000); and Ready or Not, the Insight Production series produced by John Brunton and Alyse Rosenberg ($1,603,901).

Through the Feature Film Fund, Telefilm committed to Double Happiness, produced by Rose Waddell and Stephen Hegyes of First Generation Film in Vancouver and directed by Mina Shum ($305,639); Garden of Eden, a feature from Montreal’s Verseau International in coproduction with Macondo Cine-Video S.A. of Mexico, produced by Jorge Sanchez Sosa and Lyse Lafontaine and directed by Maria Novaro ($282,221); Soul Survivor, produced by Paul Brown of Miracle Pictures in Toronto and directed by Stephen Williams ($665,000); La Vie d’un heros from Montreal’s Les Productions La Fete, produced by Rock Demers and directed by Micheline Lanctot ($1,200,000); and director Patricia Rozema for her latest film, When Night is Falling, produced by Barbara Tranter through Crucial Pictures in Toronto ( $1,026,550).

One project, Le Retraite, a short film from Les Films Lacerte in Montreal, received $17,500 through the Regular Fund Investments. Robert Lacerte is producing, Yves Belanger directing.

Soul Survivor gets shot

Principal photography on Soul Survivor, a feature film written and directed by Stephen Williams, began March 27 in Toronto. Williams is a former Canadian Film Centre resident and director of the short film A Variation on the Key 2 Life. Soul Survivor is produced by Paul Brown of Miracle Pictures. Brown produced last year’s I Love a Man in Uniform. Norstar Releasing will distribute the feature worldwide.

International Tele-Film is new BBC distributor

Canadian non-theatrical distribution company International Tele-film Enterprises is now the exclusive non-theatrical distributor for bbc programming in Canada. The agreement, signed with BBC Enterprises (Canada), includes documentaries, drama and other programming, as well as business and training titles.