Dan Lyon is Vice-President Distribution, Astral Entertainment Group, Toronto.

Congratulations to Playback on its 10th anniversary, and kudos to the entire industry for surviving (as per the Chinese curse) these ‘interesting times.’

The good news is that more excellent, fascinating and entertaining Canadian feature films have been produced in the last 10 years than in any previous period. The bad news is that English-language feature production remains as vulnerable as ever, and Canadian distributors are competing more intensely than ever for a dwindling number of commercially viable features available from the worldwide pool (ie not acquired for Canada by multinational companies).

Feature film production and distribution is (in economic terms) dwarfed by television, and significant lobbying has been required in order to ensure that features continue to obtain their fair share of available funding.

Legislation to protect the separation of the Canadian market is unlikely to be reintroduced. Even the existing Investment Canada policy to protect the independent distribution industry does not have the support of every key member of Cabinet.

Canadian politicians (and others) continue to be seduced by multinational interests claiming to have the best interests of Canada at heart.

In the late 1940s, Canadian politicians and the mpaa agreed that in return for the government’s exempting motion pictures from any quota regime or requirement to invest a percentage of theatrical profits in Canadian production, references to Canada would be inserted into as many Hollywood features and newsreels as possible in order to attract American tourists to Canada.

This ‘Canadian Cooperation Project’ was quietly terminated in 1958; its only tangible effect can be seen on late-night flicks containing references to convicts escaping to Canada, and other bizarre gems.

In 1996, the president of PolyGram viciously patronized our industry in a ballroom full of producers, and was greeted with a quietly polite reception (with the exception of vigorous opposition by two professional lobbyists).

If we remain too good-natured to defend ourselves, perhaps we don’t deserve a viable industry.

Government support and protection, while important, are not the only issues here. While Canadian theatrical films are marginalized in our own country due to the structural constraints of squeezing limited screen time in between the studio product, the films themselves are becoming increasingly marginalized by esoteric subject matter.

In a desperate attempt to capture the attention of critics and audiences, our 1996 releases include films about necrophilia and the sexuality of automobile crashes. Canadian culture? Absolutelybut it’s sad and puzzling that the audience is so difficult to capture for Canadian films about more recognizable relationships and behavior.

The Montreal and Toronto festivals this year featured sweet American films like She’s The One and That Thing You Do, both of which will find an audience; sweet Canadian films tend to sink without a trace.

One of the most fascinating elements of the past decade is the false promise (or perhaps, the premature promise) of the impact of new technologies on the consumer entertainment market.

If interactive television means the ability to affect the outcome of stories on tv, almost nobody seems interested. Laser discs are collected by a small minority of film aficionados. Digital video discs have been delayed for yet another Christmas. cd-roms are great for students of all ages, but otherwise seem to be a technology in search of a purpose. dth? Coming soon, we’ve been told for quite some time.

Pundits have been threatening video stores with imminent demise for at least the past five years. Meanwhile, neighborhood stores are larger and more attractive than ever, the video chains are becoming more powerful, and no one knows when widespread video-on-demand will be available in our homes.

In any case, just as television did not kill off theatrical, and videocassettes did not kill off television, new electronic delivery systems will not kill off video.

Many consumers will refuse to abandon the experience of going outside the home to find filmed entertainment, as well as the pleasure of obtaining tangible items for gifts and personal pleasure.

Notwithstanding my general optimism about the future of home video, the market has deteriorated dramatically for ‘b’ movies in the past few years. A title which would have sold 2,500 units in Canada five years ago, this year might sell 600 or less. Made-for-television movies are particularly difficult to market in the current environment. However, the sell-through market has grown exponentially during the same period, providing great opportunities for children’s, sports, and other video product.

The freedom of choice available to Canadian television audiences due to the proliferation of new channels has never been greater. Due to the new channels, Canadians are watching more hours of television than ever. Many households are looking forward to the availability of the most recently licensed services, including cartoons, comedy, and sci-fi. However, specialty channels generally pay low licence fees, and the value of distributors’ libraries may not be as high as anticipated.

To summarize: tough times for independent feature production and distribution, vacillating political will, polite citizens, occasionally bizarre films, often ignored films, false or delayed technological gods, dwindling markets for some product and wonderful opportunities for others. The past 10 years have been frustrating, amusing, enlightening, occasionally maddeningand never dull.