TVA Films will distribute three pictures by three of Canada’s top filmmakers next year, bringing new works by Guy Maddin, Francois Girard and Don McKellar to screens with a heavy P&A push. The Montreal distributor acquired all Canadian rights to all three films – with total budgets of roughly $17 million – from Toronto’s Rhombus Media and announced the details at a press conference on Sept. 12.

‘It’s not a business deal in the sense that what we wanted to do was work with someone who was dedicated to film,’ said TVA president Pierre Lampron, gesturing to Rhombus’ Niv Fichman. ‘We do this because there is a market out there. It’s not a pain in the ass to distribute Canadian films, it’s a really good business to be in.’

The company plans to heavily promote all three projects, adds TVA executive VP Marie-Claude Poulin, in keeping with Telefilm Canada’s efforts to boost revenue at the domestic box office. Poulin won’t say how big those pushes will be until TVA has seen the finished products. But she’s optimistic that, with some smart spending, even the frequently inaccessible Maddin (Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary) can find a wider audience.

‘We’re hoping this film will have wider appeal without losing Guy Maddin’s identity,’ she says. ‘It’s still his movie, but the subject matter and the story have a wide appeal…and we’ll give it all the push it deserves.’

Maddin will start work in January in Winnipeg on the $3-million shoot of The Saddest Music in the World, working with a script by Remains of the Day scribe Kazuo Ishiguro. That same month, Girard will be in China to start principal photography on The Far Road, a Canada/Hong Kong coproduction based on the 1963 novel and his first film since 1998’s acclaimed The Red Violin. Production is expected to run roughly $9 million. Rounding out the package is Child Star, a satire to be helmed by McKellar this spring in Toronto on an approximate $5-million budget.

McKellar, perpetually busy but not having helmed a feature since 1998’s Last Night, says he’s eager to direct again. ‘It’s been frustrating,’ he laments. ‘I want directing to be the creative spine of my career, [but] the most frustrating thing about directing is it takes up so much time.’

This is the latest in a year of big deals for TVA, which in June formed JV Media in a joint-venture with Lions Gate Film Corp., and in April formed Topaze Communications with Christal Films Distribution. JV and Topaze market to the theatrical, home and TV markets in English and French Canada, respectively.

-www.rhombusmedia.com