After garnering the highest per screen average in North America on its opening weekend, New Waterford Girl, which debuted in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax June 2, began its expansion across the country June 16 in Victoria, Calgary, Moncton and Sydney.

In its first 16 days, the film earned $166,118 on 15 screens across Canada. But even more impressive is when the film debuted on the June 2-4 weekend on two screens in Toronto and Vancouver, it garnered $11,007 per screen, beating out the premiere of Mission: Impossible 2, which earned a per-screen average of $10,249 on its 2,600 screens.

‘The film’s success is a combination of two things,’ says Mark Slone, vp of marketing and publicity at distrib Odeon Films. ‘It has an incredible new face in the form of Liane Balaban, who is so captivating on-screen, the audiences are really warming up to her; and more importantly, it’s an out-and-out comedy. It’s not auteur-driven and it’s not good for you. It’s a fun comedy that’s garnered the word-of-mouth publicity any film needs to break out.’

Also, in the months leading up to its release, Odeon initiated an extensive publicity push, where the film made it into every major daily in Toronto. There were also free screenings to get the word of mouth kick-started in advance. ‘The fact that it’s Canadian is a nice surprise, but it’s not a patriotism thing,’ confirms Slone.

By the end of June, the film will be open in Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Guelph and Waterloo. And at the end of July, it will screen at the Film Forum in New York.

Coproduced by Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny of Toronto’s Sienna Films and Chris Zimmer of Halifax-based imX communications, and directed by Alan Moyle (Pump Up the Volume), New Waterford Girl explores the relationship and coming-of-age of two young girls trapped by the moral fibre of small-town Atlantic Canada.

‘It was a good and fruitful partnership,’ says Sereny of Sienna’s coproduction partnership with imX. So good, the two companies are back at it with a new series in development for ctv. Entitled Stanley’s Palace, it’s a one-hour dramedy that takes an often dark and comical look at the casino as a microcosm of the modern world. Michael Melski and just completed the pilot.

Sereny and Kawaja are also very excited about their new feature film slate, which includes a handful of movies set in the Martimes. But they say it’s too soon to talk about any of them.