As mip-tv approaches, broadcasters and distributors from across Canada are gearing up to meet their international counterparts on the southern coast of beautiful France. The place, of course, is Cannes; the date is April 10-14; and the hot spot is under the Telefilm Canada umbrella, where 16 small to mid-size Canadian exhibiting companies will be well-represented.

They include: Angel Television, Breakthrough Film & Television, Canamedia Productions, Cite-Amerique International, Cochran Entertainment, Compass International, Distribution Cine Tele Action, Forefront Entertainment, Great North International, Minds Eye International, Muse Entertainment, OctaPixx Worldwide, Portfolio Entertainment, The Multimedia Group of Canada, Tube Studios and Visual Entertainment.

Although tv is still the name of the game, multimedia projects that reach beyond the television viewing audience, like Alliance Atlantis’ Drop the Beat, are sure to be making a bigger splash than ever this year, as the entire programming planet is moving toward digital.

In fact, all day, everyday, there’ll be mip Interactive Demonstrations, which will include presentations from Australia through to the u.k.

To further promote the market’s Canadian presence, Telefilm will be launching the 2000 edition of its production catalogues.

This year the federal funding agency will be publishing three catalogues, covering works that were produced with Telefilm support, in the areas of feature films, television and multimedia.