Corus buys half of Locomotion

Toronto-based Corus Entertainment has acquired a 50% interest in The Locomotion Channel, a Miami-based pay-TV service featuring action-oriented animation programming for markets in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Corus made the purchase from Claxson Interactive Group, a U.S.- and South American-based multimedia branded content provider, for, according to a statement, ‘a maximum consideration of US$10.5 million and a holdback in the event of certain economic changes that may impact revenue projections.’ The remaining 50% of Locomotion is owned by U.S. communications giant The Hearst Corporation.

According to Corus executives, the move jump starts the company’s strategy for international expansion in children’s and animation networks. Corus sees substantial growth potential for Locomotion in new and existing markets and new programming and distribution opportunities for itself through the acquisition. Locomotion, with an 18-35 demographic and a focus on Japanese anime, has acquired programming in the past from Corus-owned Nelvana.

IPF invests $2.2 million in drama series

The Independent Production Fund’s recently released annual report shows that in 2001 the IPF invested nearly $2.2 million in 13 dramatic TV series, including children’s series, representing 105 original new hours. Seven English-language series received $1.3 million, while six French-language series received $890,000. IPF executive director Andra Sheffer says about 50% of last year’s submissions were successful. IPF contributes through equity investments and records an average recoupment rate of 12%.

In 2001, IPF allocated $418,000 to 17 Alberta and Manitoba production and development projects through the one-time Videon Television Production Fund. It also manages the Cogeco Program Development Fund and Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund. The report shows the IPF has also been asked to administer the CFCN Production Fund.

Since 1991, IPF has invested more than $29.4 million in private-sector TV drama series production and $2.3 million in Canadian professional development activities, awards programs, professional conferences, festivals and markets.

IPF operates on revenues generated by a $35-million endowment established by Maclean Hunter in 1991, which was renamed IPF following MH’s acquisition by Rogers Communications in 1996.

Canuck shows snag Daytime Emmys

Canadian programs and craftspeople accounted for three creative arts award wins at the 29th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, held at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York on May 11.

Vancouver audio post house Post Modern Sound won for outstanding achievement in sound editing for its work on the Showtime Christmas MOW Off Season. The award was presented to Greg Stewart, Ian Emberton, Wendy Romano, Tony Gort and Patrick Clark. The movie was produced out of the Vancouver office of Dufferin Gate Productions.

Also in the audio realm, Toronto’s Crunch Recording Studios won for outstanding achievement in sound mixing for the children’s show The Zack Files. The award was presented to Crunch’s Ric Jurgens and Stephen Traub. The program, produced by Toronto-based DECODE Entertainment in association with RCN Entertainment, was broadcast in the U.S. last year on ABC Family.

Also, an award for outstanding individual achievement in animation was presented to Valery Mihalkov, background artist for Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, a production of Montreal’s CineGroupe. The series, about a feline in ancient China, is produced in association with Sesame Workshop and broadcast on TVOntario and PBS.

Moliflex White partners in Marseille studio

Moliflex White, a Comweb group member and operator of the Cine Cite Montreal studios, is partnering with three European firms in the management of a new 17,716-square-foot studio complex in downtown Marseille, France.

The European partners in Les studios de Marseille, named as managers of the facility on behalf of the City of Marseille, include Paris-based film rental firm Groupe TSF, which operates offices in several French cities, production and post-production company IMAGE and Marseille-based producer Les Films du Soleil. The studio will house three soundstages of 3,280, 2,624 and 1,541 square feet and an underwater effects facility.

The studio is part of a larger $42-million media complex called Le Pole Medias de la Belle de Mai.

‘This [service] partnership will be an advantage to Canadian producers looking to coproduce with France,’ says Moliflex White EVP Benoit Hogue.

The studio is expected to open in early 2003.

CFC shorts fest set to unspool in T.O.

The Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival will screen more than 170 films from 39 countries at Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre on the U of T campus and at the Royal Ontario Museum Theatre, June 4-9.

The fest’s 26 programs include: the Opening Night Gala at the Bloor Cinema, featuring international award-winning shorts; films made by or starring celebrities; outrageous Midnight Mania works; shorts about the entertainment industry; Star Wars-inspired Web shorts; comedic films on a sexual theme; the animator’s perspective, in memory of famed animator Faith Hubley; and a retrospective of Spirafilm, the Quebec City indie film and video coop celebrating its 25th anniversary.

This year’s national spotlight is on China, which experienced a significant production year in 2001. Nine of the 50 shorts produced in 2001 will be screened.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Competition will feature five programs and a total of 43 films – 20 from Ontario, 12 from Quebec, seven from B.C., and one each from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Manitoba.

Business initiatives include the Short Films, BIG IDEAS Symposium, with industry panelists discussing the art and commerce of shorts, and the Festival Marketplace, a networking opportunity with film schools, suppliers and industry organizations.

Multivan wins out

Multivan Broadcast Corp. can get back to business starting Vancouver’s first free, over-the-air multilingual station after the federal cabinet rejected an appeal of its licence May 8.

A Vancouver-based community group in support of the competing Rogers Broadcasting bid launched the appeal on the grounds that Rogers’ proposal was ‘richer’ – $30 million richer, says Senator Mobina Jaffer, an advisor to the Rogers bid.

The CRTC commissioners were split 3-2 in favor of Multivan because of the licencee’s local ownership.

Multivan, which now plans to launch in 2003, will broadcast in 22 languages.

Colin Low, NFB earn giant-screen honors

Distinguished National Film Board filmmaker Colin Low and government film commissioner and NFB chair Jacques Bensimon were in Los Angeles May 17 to accept the Abel Gance Award from the Large Format Cinema Association. The LFCA award honors ‘the pioneering spirit of large-format cinema visionaries.’

Low and the NFB were a major force in the emergence of large-format cinema and the development of IMAX. Low codirected the NFB production Labyrinth, a multi-screen exhibit produced by Roman Kroitor for Expo ’67, considered the precursor of today’s large-screen formats. Following the Montreal world’s fair, Kroitor and other former NFB colleagues formed Multiscreen Corporation and produced the first IMAX film, Tiger Child, for Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan.

The NFB has produced seven giant-screen productions, including Transitions, the world’s first 3D IMAX film; Momentum, the first high-definition film in IMAX, both codirected by Low and Tony Ianzelo; and The First Emperor of China, an NFB/Xi’an Film Studio coproduction in association with the Canadian Museum of Civilization.