non-profit operation since 1987, Montreal animation co-op Cine-Clic has specialized in psa spots, using the assignments to train young people and non-professionals.

Cine-Clic cofounder, director and screenwriter Robert Dubuc, says make-work programs have helped subsidize trainee salaries while filling a serious skill gap left wide open by technical schools and universities.

The co-op’s animated psa spot work includes assignments for the Red Cross, Greenpeace, an MUC Police anti-drug campaign, and a fire-prevention spot.

Cine-Clic and Dubuc are associated with another small, commercially oriented animation producer, Vilains Garnements, headed by president Martin Boucher.

In 1995, the two outfits intend to expand their priorities, moving away from their training mission and psa focus to develop an animated tv series called Perri et Mina, a comedic and moral tale about a parrot and a mynah bird couple who share a penchant for endearing embellishments and general dissimulation.

Dubuc and series creator Helene Moreault are preparing a bible and scripts for multiple 15-minute episodes, and looking for development funding. They’ve approached Canal Famille, the French-track children’s specialty channel.

Otherwise, this determined outfit has just wrapped a 10-minute short called Napoleon et Fortune. Using old-time upa and Warner Bros. animation styles from the late 1940s and ’50s, this humorous short explores the real-life enmity between the tiny French emperor and Fortune, Josephine’s beloved dog.

Pierre Grenier directed the $300,000 short, Cine-Clic’s biggest production to date, with financing help from sogic, the Quebec tax-credit program and TV5 Quebec Canada. Dubuc produced.

Dubuc hopes to sell Napoleon et Fortune internationally with a screening at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France in June.

If current projects click and funds become available, Dubuc says he’ll gladly trade in his traditional cel animation setup for a computerized version, and explore the potential of cd-rom production.