Montreal: In the one-hour children’s fantasy musical Hugo and the Dragon (Hugo et le Dragon), Hugo and friends flee a rambunctious little dragon called Bijou who gobbles up all the sun and stars, plunging the whole Milky Way into darkness.

Scripted by Jacqueline Barrette from a Louis Baillargeon libretto and produced by Rene Chenier of Arico Film Communication, Hugo features 10 original songs by Libert Subirana and Jean Elliot Manning and a mix of live action and Theatre de l’Oeil puppetry, using pole and Japanese Bunraku techniques. Philippe Baylaucq (Lodela, Mystere b, Les Couleurs de Sang) and Andre Laliberte are the codirectors. The dop is Philippe Lavalette.

Produced for $1.6 million in distinct and original English and French versions, with broadcast slated for tvontario’s tfo and later Radio-Canada, Hugo was in development for more than three years.

‘The decision to use puppets and therefore miniature sets set the course for the entire production. It took a team of 15 puppet-makers three months just to build the puppets,’ says Chenier (The Wings of Fire, i & ii). The 13-day, 35mm shoot was completed this month.

Besides the elaborate puppetry, the shoot uses live-action, in-camera techniques to film a large blue-black sky screen with dangling stars in the foreground. The puppet masters are visible, giving the show ‘a faux naif’ flavor in a visual approach inspired by cinema pioneer Georges Melies. ‘Everything in the film has a handmade feel, which adds warmth, charm and whimsy to the production,’ says Baylaucq.

Cast and musical talent include Philippe Grondin and Sonja Bell as the French and English Hugos, respectively, Ranee Lee, Nanette Workman, Breen LeBoeuf, soprano Nathalie Choquette in the role of the constellation Pegasus, tenor Marc Hervieux and Fabiola Toupin.

Funders include Telefilm Canada, sodec, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative and the ctf.

Distribution La Fete is handling international sales.

More gutsy,

talented M@xers

the ‘triumph over adversity’ talent lineup for YAA! To the M@x’s 2001 season includes a daring bmx rider, a teen on Canada’s national freestyle ski team, a young Toronto clothes designer who specializes in outsized ‘rave’ wear, a b.c. animal rights activist and, last but hardly least, a totally wound-up 12-year-old Alberta yo-yo whiz.

TVA International is delivering 15 all-new half-hours of the youth series, profiling 30 new ‘M@xers’ in areas such as sports, music, business and the arts. The new season on ytv starts Feb. 11. The show garnered best children’s series Gemini Award nominations in both ’99 and 2000, and is broadcast on the wam network in the u.s.

Montrealer Jason MacDonald is the show’s ‘senior citizen’ host at age 25, with a guest celeb lineup that includes Olympic diver Anne Montminy, r&b band Jacksoul, ace stuntman Dean Gunnerson, comedy improv troupe On the Spot and nhl speedster Theron Fleury. Ten episodes were produced in each of the first two seasons.

‘These are really cool kids,’ says producer Maura Kealey. ‘I think to myself, ‘What was I doing at 12?’ I just love the fact these kids try so hard.’

Kealey, story editor Shelley Tepperman and Claire Cappelletti share the writing credits. The show’s editor is Zsolt Luka.

For the first time, all 30 kids profiled are eligible for the 10 Youth Achievement Awards (www.ytv.com/ shows). The big blowout awards showcase will be broadcast as the show’s season finale and 16th episode, ‘with a much more interactive, fun, party atmosphere,’ says Kealey. Prizes total a whopping $25,000 in cash, with the top prize at $10,000.

YAA! To the M@x is budgeted at $120,000 per episode, with funding from the ctf’s Licence Fee Program. Louis Fournier is exec producer, with additional support from Human Resources Development Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers.

Baril’s Du Pic au Coeur

celine Baril, who was trained in visual arts, will see her first feature, Du Pic au Coeur, released in theatres by France Film on Feb. 9. Directed and penned by Baril (L’Absent) and exec produced by Baril and Serge Noel of Les Films de l’Autre, Du Pic dramatizes a story of pop culture reckonings, the eternal triangle and young love. Leads include talented Prix Jutra-winner Karine Vanasse (Emporte-Moi), Tobie Pelletier, Xavier Cafeine, whose band Cafeine recently made the cover of Toronto’s now magazine, and Bobo Vian.

The film was shot on Super 16mm by dop Carlos Ferrand. Frederic Page art directed and Nathalie Lamoureux edited. The music is by Jerome Lefebvre. Investors in the $1-million film include Telefilm Canada, sodec, Conseil des Arts du Canada and the National Film Board.

Films de l’Autre’s Noel is an active member of the newly launched Coalition Culture et Long Metrage, a lobby group of indie producers and distribs.

Noel says it’s important new funding guidelines based on box-office returns – as proposed by Telefilm – also take into consideration the movie’s production budget.

‘What they should look at is box office per dollar invested into the production. That would be a real measure of performance. Under that formula, small companies like Films de l’Autre would do very well,’ says Noel.

Noel is also opposed to any potential proposal which might require smaller producers to pitch projects – and raise financing – to larger producers, essentially a predetermined group of about half a dozen producers who would be granted ‘automatic’ production funding envelopes by the federal agency. (‘Nothing is written in stone at this point,’ says Telefilm.)

‘It’s not because they’re bigger companies that they’re necessarily more efficient,’ says Noel. ‘We’re betting on dinosaurs.’

A film collective, Films de l’Autre also produced Claude Demers’ L’Invention de l’Amour, another low-budget first feature, which Demers (Le Bonheur) wrote, directed and produced. It stars David La Haye and Pascale Montpetit in a timeless tale of unhappy marriages, unrequited love and dead-end affairs. It’s been acquired for Canadian and foreign distribution by Remstar Distribution, with additional support from Les Chaines Tele-Astral and Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec.

The house also recently produced two short films, Lysanne Thibodeau’s fictionalized self-portrait Eloge du Retour and Pascal Sanchez’s Un Arbre avec un Chapeau. Eloge will have its premiere at this year’s edition of Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois, Feb. 15-25. The annual film and video production retrospective is headed by director-general Segolene Roederer and president Louise Portal.

Cinematheque offers InformAction tribute

cinematheque Quebecoise is marking the 30th anniversary of the founding of documentary producer InformAction with a retrospective of the house’s early production period, 1971 to 1983.

The program includes screenings at the Salle Claude-Jutra on Jan. 17, 24 and 31, and includes Anyanya, La Danse avec l’aveugle, Contre-censure, Le Dur desire de dire, L’Age de geurre and Mercenaires en quete d’auteurs.

InformAction’s founding members, still active, are producer Nathalie Barton, director Jean-Claude Berger and director Alain d’Aix, also known under the (non-showbiz) name Gerard Le Chene, a founder of the annual Vues d’Afrique showcase. *