Montreal: 1763. The end of the old French regime and the first days of the British conquest is the setting for the latest Cite-Amerique historical saga, Marguerite Volant.

And while the conquest freed les Canadiens from the oppressive French mercantile system, it also excluded them from the affairs of state, and made them subject to foreign law and language.

Produced in the award-winning tradition of Les Filles de Caleb and Blanche, this 11-hour series reunites director Charles Biname (Blanche) and producer Lorraine Richard.

Catherine Senart plays the story’s central character, Marguerite Volant, an impetuous 20-year-old seigneur’s daughter determined to save her family’s and nation’s honor despite a threat of exile.

The fascinating cast includes Gilbert Sicotte as Seigneur Volant, a broken man humiliated by the British victory, Pascale Bussieres as Marguerite’s older sister, and British actor Michael Sapieha in the role of Captain James Elliot, the man the proud Margeurite can resist only so long. Other leading players are Pierre Curzi, Pascale Montpetit (Eldorado), Benoit Briere and Jean Emery.

‘It’s a story of emotions and adventure. There’s intrigue and passion, and because it’s our history, it’s still very much alive,’ says Richard. ‘The way it’s being shot is very modernistic, lots of shoulder shots and long shots. You really feel you’re right there. You can almost smell the food on the plate. The pace is fast. There is an average of about 60 scenes (per 45-minute episode) compared to Les Filles de Caleb, which had 20 scenes.’

Margeurite Volant is an original story from writer Jacques Jacob (Scoop, Super sans plomb, Lance et compte) and coscriptwriter Monique H. Messier, a partner with Richard and producer Michel Gauthier in Cite-Amerique.

Craft credits go to dop Pierre Gill, visual designer Andre Guimond, costume designer Michele Hamel, sound recordist Claude La Haye, editor Michel Arcand, and Gemeaux-winning composer Richard Gregoire.

The first leg of the 99-day shoot ends in early December, with more filming in rural Saint-Paulin, near Louiseville, in late February. Additional location and studio dates are slated for mid-April and June.

Investors are Telefilm Canada ($2.9 million), Radio-Canada, Cite-Amerique Distribution, the Quebec and federal tax credit programs, the Cable Production Fund and the production house. Film Finances Canada is the guarantor. Sponsors and the exporter will be named shortly.

The $11.2 million series will be broadcast on Radio-Canada in the fall/winter of 1996/97.

Svatek’s Sci-Fighters

In the sci-fi horror feature Sci-Fighters, alien parasites invade the body of an escaped killer on the run from futuristic black-shield cops, a no-holds-barred constabulary and law unto themselves. The year is 2009.

First shoot out of the gate at recently formed Shostak/Rossner Productions, Sci-Fighters is budgeted at $2.6 million and is being directed by veteran f/x specialist Peter Svatek. The shoot dates are Nov. 13 to Dec. 7, with Murray Shostak and Danny Rossner producing. Mark Balsam and Ed Shapero of New York-based Workin’ Man Films are the executive producers. The same company has u.s. distribution rights; CFP Distribution will distribute in Canada.

Cast includes American thespian Roddy Piper (They Live, Jungle Ground), Jane Heitmeyer, Billy Drago in the role of Adrian the escaped and contaminated killer, and Toronto-based actor Tyrone Benskin (Soul Survivor, Scanners 2) in the role of Washington.

Craft credits go to screenwriter Mark Sevi, dop Barry Gravelle, art director Michael Devine, f/x makeup artist Adrien Morot (Screamers, Hiroshima), mechanical f/x specialist Pierre ‘Bill’ Rivard and pm Luc Campeau. cgi is being handled by Brad Blake of Sonolab and unit publicity by Novek Belanger Communications.

Lachapelle stars in Innocence

Two of Quebec’s leading stage and television actresses, Andree Lachapelle (Scoop, La Maison Deschenes) and Mireille Deyglun (Jalna, Bonheur d’occasion), star as mother and daughter in Innocence, a four-hour emotion-laden Productions sda psychological drama. This series premiers during the winter sweeps on Television Quatre Saisons starting March 5, 1996.

The 39-day shoot began Oct. 15 and goes through to Dec. 7 under the direction of Alain Chartrand (Scoop, Les Grands proces). Robert Menard is producing and sda president Francois Champagne is the executive producer.

In this story, penned by the prolific writing team of Fabienne Larouche and Rejean Tremblay, a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship (Deyglun’s character is a 34-year-old psychiatrist deeply alienated from her mother since her teen years) is the subplot to a mystery which unravels only after the death of the husband/father, a rich and apparently respected entrepreneur and home builder.

Cast includes Rejean Lefrancois, Monique Mercure, Raymond Bouchard as a detective hired to investigate the husband’s increasingly suspicious death, Jacques Godin (Being at Home With Claude), Gilles Renaud, Guy Thauvette, Michel Goyette and Nancy D’Amour.

Menard, who has his own company, Productions Videofilm, says he decided to work with sda ‘because of the quality of the script, because I like mother-daughter stories, and because of the positive experience (as creative producer) on Scoop iv. I like to produce. It gives me a rest,’ he muses. Menard was the director and coproducer with Roger Frappier on the recent Film Tonic release L’Enfant d’eau.

Menard says Innocence ‘is a writer’s story,’ and ‘more classic’ in stylization and editing pace (it’s being shot with one camera) than other new film series such as 10-07.

Selected craft credits go to dop Michel Caron, scriptwriter Monique Champagne, art director Francois Lamontagne, pm Martine Allard and sound recordist Marcel Chouinard.

Investors include Telefilm Canada (about $800,000), tqs ($880,000), the Cable Production Fund ($392,000), Fonds de Television Maclean Hunter, both applicable tax credits, and the house and its sponsorship partners ($200,000). The budget is $3.2 million.

Menard says he and producer/broadcaster Robert Guy Scully, the world-traveling interviewer and host of the cbc business magazine Venture, are developing a five-hour, $4.5 million miniseries based on the life and times of Canadiens hockey legend Maurice ‘The Rocket’ Richard. Preproduction is slated for next fall, with the goal to shoot in early ’97. Rejean Tremblay is the screenwriter.

Hawk’s chopsocky revenge

Filming wraps Nov. 22 after 22 days on Hawk’s Vengeance, a $2 million-plus action-adventure thriller from Solo Productions and producers Andre Link and John Dunning.

Directed by Marc Voizard, this martial arts pic stars u.k. actor and former kickboxing champ Gary Daniels as ‘Hawk’ and Canadian Cass Magda in the role of a crime boss. Montreal actress Jayne Heitmeyer (Sirens) also appears, as detective Lizzie Hampton.

A tale of ‘reprisal and destruction,’ Hawk, a British Royal Marine, chops-n-socks his way through vicious skinhead street gangs and human flesh marketers on a mission to avenge a fallen brother.

Daniels and Magda are bona fide martial arts experts, each with a unique fighting tradition: for Brit Daniels it’s the Chinese Shaolin Wong Ka Kung, which uses feet and hands; for Magda, it’s the frightening Philippine discipline of sticks and blade combat known as Jeet Kune Do.

Craft credits go to dop John Berrie, art director Donna Noonan, line producer Pierre Laberge and editor Mark Sanders. The shoot is crewed by the stcvq. Hawk’s Vengeance is distributed by CFP Distribution.

Cinepix producers Dunning and Link have distinguished themselves over the years with their ‘high concept’ vision of commercial filmmaking and have produced or coproduced films as diverse as Denis Heroux’s soft-porn feature Valerie, the first Quebec film to earn $1 million at the box office, and the critically acclaimed National Film Board drama, Princes in Exile. The two partners shared the 1993 Air Canada career achievement award.