Montreal: Telefilm Canada committed just over $25.3 million in 55 new Canadian film, television and multimedia projects in the period Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 1998. The total investment by the federal funding agency since April 1 is $99.2 million.

The eip tv share is $19.6 million for 37 projects while the combined EIP-Feature/Feature Film Fund share for five projects is $4.4 million. Over $1.3 million was invested in 12 multimedia projects.

Thirteen projects out of the Toronto operations office received $9.9 million including the Alliance Atlantis/Serendipity Point drama/miniseries Cover Me ($1.39 million), the Shaftesbury Films mow External Affairs ($1 million) and the aac series/ pilot Justice ($700,000), filmed on location in Ottawa.

Eight projects representing $1.5 million in funding were supported by the Halifax office including Little Something Productions’ drama Shelter ($195,480) from producers Jono Nemethy and Christopher Zimmer, and the Triad/Flame Productions documentary The Spark and the Keeper of the Flame, producer Peter d’Entremont.

Eleven projects out of the Vancouver office received $5.2 million during the period, including the Milestone/aac drama series Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy ($3 million), the Arms Length Productions miniseries These Arms of Mine ($702,164) from producer Phil Savath, and the Heartland Motion Pictures/SDA Productions’ kids’ series The Maximum Dimension ($550,000).

Twenty-two projects were funded out of the Montreal operations office, including the Galafilm/u.k. children’s coproduction The Worst Witch ($700,000), the Pixcom/ Cineteve doc series Insectia ($451,500), the Cactus/Ellipse animation series Bob Morane and Blake & Mortimer ($360,000), the Distribution Rozon variety series Juste pour Rire ($320,287), and the Max Films Television doc La Lumiere des Oiseaux ($219,040).

Other Quebec business includes the Emergence drama series Reseaux ($3 million), the Zukerman Productions/Cinar Corporation miniseries Revenge of the Land ($2 million), the Alan Handel Productions doc The Reichmanns ($200,000), and the Amerimage Spectra variety special L’Univers de Jean Leloup ($147,000.)

Feature films with Telefilm funding include the Serendipity Point Films/u.k. coproduction eXistenZ ($1.5 million, distributor – Alliance Atlantis Releasing), directed by David Cronenberg; Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses ($1,375,000, aar); the Red Ochre Productions/Scandinavia coproduction Misery Harbour ($735,000, aar), directed by Nils Gaups; Keoni Waxman’s The Highwayman ($663,247, Behaviour Distribution), producer Peter Simpson; and the Winnipeg mow Heater ($171,500), produced by Richard Findlay.