Astral Television Networks, through TMN-The Movie Network and Super Ecran, has announced equity investments in six new Canadian feature films totaling $1.4 million, a major drop from last year’s activities.

In fiscal 1999, tmn invested more than $2.4 million in seven features and Super Ecran made equity investments worth $1.2 million in five films, for a total of more than $3.6 million in 12 films.

The roughly $2.2-million decline in investment is a direct result of the increased cost of licensing fees and on-air interstitials, says Astral spokesperson Karen Spierkel. ‘Our programming rights just skyrocketed, so you see that kind of difference. But over the last five years, we’ve invested a total of over $17 million in the Canadian movie business.’

Equity investments for fiscal 2000 include:

* Bruce Sweeney’s The Last Wedding, produced by Stephen Hegyes and distributed by Blackwatch Releasing. This film follows a group of thirtysomething professionals and the highs and lows they each experience in their relationships.

* William Phillips’ Treed Murray, produced by Helen du Toit and Mehra Meh. A well-to-do advertising exec confronts a youth gang and is subsequently trapped in a tree overnight.

* Lea Pool’s Lost and Delirious, produced by Lorraine Richard (Cite Amerique) and Greg Dummett (Dummett Films), and distributed by Seville Pictures. Based on the novel The Wives of Bath, the film tells the story of three girls’ determination to maintain their individuality against the conservative backdrop of an all-girls private school.

* Productions La Fete’s La Fortresse Suspendue, produced by Rock Demers, is the story of a group of children who play a game of Indians and conquistadors.

* Productions Thalie’s La Ciel Sur la Tete, produced by Michel Martel, follows the life of a young blind girl in the small Quebec town of St. Armand.

* Go Films’ Karmina II: Les Zombies, produced by Nicole Robert, is the sequel to a film about vampires settling in a small city in Quebec. *

-www.astral.com