Montreal: Canadian distributors and exporters have banded together in a new effort to shape up their industries on the home front. The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters/l’Association canadienne des distributeurs et exportateurs de films (formerly the National Association of Canadian Film and Video Distributors), has a new executive and fresh plans to tackle national and provincial issues facing its members.

cafde executive director Dan Johnson says it’s time, once again, to move ahead in the age-old battle over protective national legislation that would make Canada a distinct distribution territory from North America. ‘It saps money and resources that would otherwise go to Canadian distributors, and in order to have a strong Canadian production industry, we need a healthy distribution sector,’ says Johnson.

cafde members are currently pursuing federal government representatives on the issue of implementing an addition to the point system for tax credits for Canadian productions, whereby a new credit would be created for Canadian productions that have a Canadian distributor attached. There are no indications of progress to report, but Johnson is optimistic that cafde, with its new structure, will get somewhere with ‘active participation by its members.’

At the head of the executive is Rene Malo, who has been elected as chairman. Andre Link is vice-chair, Quebec, Irv Ivers is vice-chair, Ontario, and Johnson is in the exec director’s seat. Quebec committee members are Link, Marie-Christine Dufour and Pierre Latour. Ontario committee members are Ivers, Bryan Gliserman and Jeff Sackman. Andy Myers is secretary/treasurer.

Malo says the new association ‘packs the punch we need to make the contribution to Canada’s motion picture industry.’

Until recently, distributors in Canada were represented by four groups: a national association, two separate Quebec groups – an association and a rival federation – and an Ontario association.

Current cafde members are Allegro Films Distribution, Alliance Releasing, Astral Distribution, Cinepix Film Properties, Cineplex Odeon Films, Malofilm Distribution, Max Films Communications and Norstar Releasing.

cafde’s new structure includes an executive committee to manage current business, a committee for English Canada and one for the Quebec market.

The association says it will work towards the elimination of interprovincial barriers in film distribution.

Johnson says there are ‘inane’ restrictions in both Ontario and Quebec, where Bill 109 prohibits all non-Quebec-based distributors from doing business, except members of the Motion Pictures Association of America.

Johnson says cafde is ‘optimistic’ restrictions can be overcome based on meetings with government officials in both provinces.

‘Canada is a little sandbox of a market. It’s the stupidest thing in the world to sit there and have these divisions. We (the membership) are united by cultural and commercial interests. We should be spending our energy fighting the u.s., not each other,’ says Johnson.

Total annual revenues for film and video distribution in Canada are estimated at between $2 billion to $2.2 billion – $440 million in theatrical box office receipts, $1.4 billion in home-video rentals and $400 million in home-video sell-through.

Last year, Statistics Canada placed the Canadian share of the theatrical market at 6%. The figure is closer to 30% in Quebec.

Johnson says cafde, the funding institutions and producers are actively debating the definition of a Canadian theatrical film.

Distributors say the definition should extend beyond theatrical presentation and include home video, where the market is a multiple of box office revenues. Johnson says the definition should apply to any film for which a consumer makes an individual spending decision, be it buying a ticket at a theater, dialing up a pay-per-view movie from a cable company or renting a home video.

‘Our (Canadian) pictures are not performing to the extent we want them to,’ says Johnson. ‘Telefilm (Canada), producers and distributors are continuing to seek ways of developing, producing and marketing films that will find an audience, because we have problems.’

cafde members must have an active Distribution Fund envelope with Telefilm and pay a flat monthly membership fee, which Johnson describes as ‘not significant.’

‘Our membership includes the heaviest hitters in the industry but it’s not a foot-long cigar club. It’s a trade association with one vote for one member and a real interest in fairness,’ says Johnson, a Toronto entertainment lawyer, film packager and former studio executive with Norstar Entertainment and Alliance Communications.

Eith files from pamela cuthbert in Toronto.