Montreal: Productions La Fete and Vancouver’s Pacific Motion Pictures are coproducing partners on the four-hour a&e dramatic miniseries Barnum. pmp will distribute the $17-million production in Canada, while Hallmark Entertainment has international rights.

Producer Suzanne Girard (More Tales of the City, Whiskers) says everyone is thrilled with the series’ leads Beau Bridges (Million Dollar Babies, Maximum Bob) in the role of Barnum, Cynthia Dale as his wife Charity and Jason Bridges, Beau’s son, as the younger Barnum.

‘Our biggest concern is that [the investment] is all on the screen,’ says Girard. ‘For a&e, it’s their first really big [original] drama show produced for tv.’

The 55-day shoot opens Nov. 18 and goes to Feb. 13, with Aussie Simon Wincer (Free Willy, Lonesome Dove) directing. Locations include a historic village near Drummondville, Que., and an additional ‘hors de l’hiver’ week in Vancouver.

Scripted by industry pioneer Lionel Chetwynd (Hanoi Hilton, Two Solitudes), Barnum traces the career (1820-91) of the born hustler who started with nothing and is widely credited with inventing modern show business. The story moves from the early days of his freak-show museum in New York City to his ‘discovery’ of the 25-inch-high Tom Thumb and his appearance at the Court of Queen Victoria.

Later in his life, apparently a manic depressive, Barnum remarries, builds Iranistan, ‘the ugliest castle on Earth,’ purchases Jumbo, the biggest elephant in the London Zoo, and founds the world’s first three-ring circus, Barnum & Bailey – The Greatest Show on Earth.

Pierre Mignot (L’Ile de Sable) is the shoot’s cinematographer, Raymond Dupuis is production designer and Nicoletta Massone is the costume designer.

pmp producers are Lisa Richardson and George Horie. Girard and Kevin Tierney are producing for La Fete.

*World tour for Lepage, Hopscotch

Filmmaker Marquis Lepage’s latest feature documentary is Hopscotch and Little Girls. The filming is taking Lepage all over the planet – from Haiti to China, Africa, India and Thailand. She was in town 10 days ago before jetting off to Yemen and Burkino-Faso.

The production coincides with the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Children’s Rights Convention in 1999 and tells a story of international childhood from the perspective of eight young girls who describe the harsh conditions of their lives – circumstances like not attending school because of the need to work, worrying about amassing marriage dowries and dealing with the dread of sexual assault and disease.

The girls are as young as seven and no older than 13, an age when ‘playing hopscotch should be the most important preoccupation in their lives,’ says Lepage.

No theatrical deal has been worked out, but unicef has promised to help with international distribution.

Hopscotch and Little Girls is being produced on a budget of $693,000 by Marcel Simard of Productions Virage in association with Nicole Lamothe of the National Film Board’s French Programme. Broadcasters include TV5 and Radio-Canada, with funding from Telefilm Canada and sodec. The original story idea comes from Raymonde Provencher. Monique Simard is the line producer and Francois Vincelette is the dop.

Shooting is slated to wrap sometime next month, with a release anticipated in the fall of ’99.

*Furie wraps The Collectors

Shooting has wrapped on The Collectors, the latest film from veteran director Sidney Furie and Films St. Paul producer Jean-Marc Felio. Furie and Felio’s previous project, In Her Defense, was shot earlier this year in New Brunswick and stars the talented Marilee Matlin.

Produced under the Accountant Films label, The Collectors was shot over 18 days at a cost of $4.5 million. France Film has Canadian rights and l.a.-based Two Lions has select international rights.

In this action film story with a twist of humor, two hit men played by Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) and L.A. Lakers guard Rick Fox, a Canadian, undertake an unusual, life-changing contract in the Big Apple. Daniel Pilon stars as a New York cop.

Curtis Peterson is the dop, Richard Tasse is production designer and Helene Girard is editing at Montage Metaphore.

‘Our great hope is that the film will have a theatrical release in the u.s.,’ says Felio.

The amazingly energetic 63-year-old Furie easily outpaced everyone on the set, says the producer. Furie’s filmography includes Lady Sings the Blues, Superman iv and the lucrative Iron Eagle franchise.

Films St. Paul is one of a growing number of Montreal houses active in market-driven features. Others include Shostak Rossner Productions, Claudio Castravelli’s Taurus 7 Film Corp. and Blackwatch Communications, headed by Bill Mariani.

Felio has three feature projects in development for ’99 including a third film with Furie.

*The Bone Collector

The psychological suspense thriller The Bone Collector completed its 41-day Montreal leg Nov. 14, with two additional weeks of location photography slated for New York.

Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington (The Siege, A Soldier’s Story) plays a depressed, bed-bound quadriplegic and former nyc detective and ace forensic specialist. Faced with a serial murderer and a collection of grim, arcane clues, Washington’s character and a young, equally discouraged female officer, played by Angelina Jolie (Gia, George Wallace), are drawn into the deadly hunt, at first against their will.

Local production talent includes costume designer Odette Gadoury and unit publicist Lorraine Jamison, both of whom worked on Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes, shot here last summer.

Philip Noyce (The Saint, Clear and Present Danger) is the director of The Bone Collector. Martin Bregman (Carlito’s Way, Sea of Love), Michael S. Bregman (The Shadow, Whispers in the Dark) and Louis A. Stroller (Snake Eyes, The Rock) are the film’s producers. The distributor is Universal Pictures.

*Patron for digital artists

The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology, a private philanthropic organization endowed by digital media entrepreneur Daniel Langlois, is inviting Canadian and international digital artists and non-profit institutions to apply for grant money in the order of $1 million to $2 million.

The foundation’s broad aim is the integration of contemporary art and technology, specifically digital technology. Projects should reflect a high degree of r&d and pre-commercialization. Individual artists, scientists and non-profit institutions including educational institutions are eligible.

Four program areas are eligible for funding this year: a program for the residency and commissioning of artworks; an exhibition, distribution and performance program; grants for organizations from emerging countries; and a funding program for individual artists or scientists.

Foundation proposals must be in written form, preferably a letter no longer than five pages, with deadlines set for Jan. 31 and Sept. 30, 1999.

Jean Gagnon, associate curator of media arts with the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from 1991-98, is the foundation’s program director.

Langlois is president of Terra Incognito, a real estate company building theater and design production studios in Montreal and New York. He is the founder of Softimage, recently sold by Microsoft to AVID Technology of Tewskbury, Massachusetts, and is the recipient of the ’97 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Award. Langlois is also chairman of the International Festival of New Cinema and New Media, a major foundation beneficiary.