Montreal: In marked contrast to sister Canadian provinces, and indeed, countries across Europe, funding for Quebec’s cultural industries agency is holding at current levels.

sodec president Pierre Lampron unveiled the agency’s 1996/97 action plan at a press conference April 29, warning Quebec’s cultural industries face unprecedented competition in the years ahead.

‘We (Quebec producers) have to maintain our share of the (domestic) market, and I continue to think the best investment is to be present on the international market,’ he says.

This year, sodec intends to move away from piecemeal support for exports, and has launched a new program called Sodexport. Companies which otherwise qualify for sodec funds and present a viable business plan may qualify for Sodexport funding, says Lampron.

Talks are underway between sodec and the industry to transfer funds from the sodec-administered Quebec Film & TV Office to Initiative Quebec, a private-sector promotions/location umbrella group.

sodec took over from sogic and Institut quebecois du cinema a little over a year ago and has a film and tv envelope of $10.2 million in ’96/97. This year, the number of programs has been reduced to four: screenwriting, production, promotion and distribution, and assistance to young artists (known as the Jeunes Createurs program).

sodec also continues to manage a $20 million annual industrial loan program. Last year it provided $26 million in interim loans to film and tv producers.

The agency’s maximum investment in feature-length films is $500,000, $250,000 for medium-length and short films, with a minimum of $350,000 ($15,000 maximum for features, $10,000 for tv) available to established screenwriters and writer/directors.

Lampron says sodec will favor more strategic investments in mid-range film and tv projects and cut spending on big-budget tv series production to zero.

Instead, he says, it makes more sense to participate in development financing.

‘sodec was investing $100,000 in (tv) projects which cost $9 million. Imagine, we were doing the exact same analysis as Telefilm. We’re going to evacuate this (field). He says the decision is ‘a compromise that has also been accepted (by the industry).’

An element of the more focused strategy touches on talented feature film directors who Lampron says have nowhere to go after an initial success. ‘They should have the same opportunity as filmmakers like Patricia Rozema and Atom Egoyan,’ he says.

Lampron adds the agency’s vastly improved relations with the industry can be directly traced to the ‘permanent state of negotiations’ inside the agency’s sectorial advisory commissions.