Montreal: Telefilm Canada has announced support for nine English and two French projects as part of its new Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program.

The agency says it’s been overwhelmed with applications. As of the Jan. 31 submission deadline, 70 eligible projects (62 in English, eight in French), representing a total potential investment of nearly $14 million, had been received.

"Unfortunately, some excellent projects had to be turned down," says Peter Katadotis, Telefilm’s director of Canadian operations. "Since the number of applications for productions in English was particularly high, we wanted to achieve a fair regional representation. Although French productions did not receive a third of the available resources, we will see that this balance is re-established in future years."

The annual $1.7-million low-budget program is director-based in terms of creative control. Project budgets typically range from $300,000 to $750,000. There is an 8/10 CAVCO point-rating threshold but no specific requirement for a distribution agreement.

Projects accepted in 2000/01 are:

* From Quebec: Marcel Simard’s Toujours a part des autres, Denis Boivin’s Attache ta tuque, Ziad Touma’s Saved by the Belles and Matt Bissonnette’s Looking for Leonard.

* From Ontario: Anais Granofsky’s On Their Knees, Michael Snow’s Corpus Callosum, Wyeth Clarkson’s deadend and Soo Lyu’s Rub &Tug.

* From the Western region: David Hansen’s Shot in the Face and Jeff Solylo’s East of Euclid.

* From the Atlantic region: Scott Simpson’s Touch and Go. *