In fiscal 1999/00, 10 feature film projects from the Prairie provinces received Telefilm Canada support totaling $552,674. In fiscal ’98/99, the federal funder supported six feature film projects from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, for a total contribution of $879,947.

Broken down by province, so far in ’99/00 one project from Alberta – Great North Productions’ Sahara – has received development money ($7,312) and another film, Gary Burns’ Way Downtown, received $336,000 in production funding. Three films from Alberta received development funds in ’98/99, for a combined Telefilm participation of $38,572. The projects are David Campbell’s Jury of Peers, CHAOS A Film Company’s Nothing Feels Good and Realtime Films’ Poor Superman. One feature, Red Devil Films’ Bad Money, received production funding in ’98/99 valued at $637,000.

In ’99/2000, development funds have been handed out to four Manitoba films for a total contribution of $35,284. The projects are Buffalo Gal Pictures’ Big City, The Emancipation of Emily Blake, Two Degrees and Big Daddy Beer Guts’ Hey Happy. Jon Einars-Gustafsson’s Kanadiana received production money this fiscal totaling $137,895. For Manitoba, only Marble Island Pictures’ Heater received production funds in ’98/99 ($171,500).

In Saskatchewan, Minds Eye Pictures’ The Englishman’s Boy picked up development money of $32,875 in ’98/99. In ’99/2000, Camera West Film Associates’ Mrs. X and Heartland Motion Pictures’ Through the Leaves received development funding for a combined Telefilm contribution of $36,183.

The Canadian Television Fund’s Licence Fee Program did not support any feature films from the Prairie provinces in the last round of funding.

On the provincial funding front, Saskfilm divvied up $140,000 in equity investment in 1999 among Heartland Motion Pictures’ Borderline Normal, Minds Eye Pictures’ A Lucky Shot and JR Productions’ Ryan’s Babe. Development loans totaling $86,000 were handed out to seven features – Minds Eye’s The Englishman’s Boy and The Joan Phipps Story, Edge Entertainment’s Witness, Camera West Associate’s Mrs. X, Susanne Bell and David Hanson’s Perfect Stranger, Heartland’s Through the Leaves and Bill Boyle’s The Life and Death of a Total Stranger.

Manitoba Film and Sound provided equity investment in 1999 to GFT-Paquin’s Cord, Hey Happy, and Buffalo Gal’s The Law of Enclosures and Desire. This represents combined production budgets of $10.3 million. Development funding went to Brian Drader’s Fruit Machine, Buffalo Gal’s Big City, The Emancipation of Emily Blake and Two Degrees, John Aaron Productions’ Lyric, and John Paizs’ The Man in the Dark.

In its first year of operation, the Alberta Film Development Fund did not provide grants to any feature films.

Telefilm’s Halifax-based office, serving the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland/Labrador and Prince Edward Island, only greenlit one feature film in fiscal ’99/00.

According to Ralph Holt, director of operations for the Halifax office, five films applied for funding, but only Violet out of St. John’s Nfld., directed by Rosemary House and produced by Mary Sexton, made the cut.

‘It was a surprisingly small year for features,’ says Holt. Of the four other films which applied, ‘one we passed on and the three others could never bring a complete financial package to the table, so we never really got to the point of saying yeah or nay.’

In ’98/99, Telefilm invested in three films – two English-language, one French-language.

Holt says the number of feature films sent into development in ’99/00 actually doubled from the previous fiscal. Of the 44 films that applied for development money, 20 received funding: 12 from Nova Scotia, four from Newfoundland, three from New Brunswick, and one from p.e.i.

In 1999, Telefilm’s Halifax office implemented its new Emerging Filmmakers Program to help up-and-coming filmmakers by contributing money to four films to a maximum of $15,000.