ShowCanada 2003 chairperson Adina Lebo expects between 550 to 575 participants at this year’s expanded industry event, which unspools in Ottawa, April 30 to May 4.

The program includes a 42-kiosk trade show, a keynote seminar series, screenings and information on upcoming movies from both the studios and Canadian distributors, gala screenings, myriad receptions and parties as well as closed-door business meetings.

ShowCanada ’03 is organized by the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada, headed by president Rob Chase, president and CEO of Famous Players, in conjunction with this year’s host group, the Motion Picture Theatre Association of Ontario.

(Last year’s congress was held in Banff. The ’04 edition is set for Vancouver.)

The closed-door sessions include the annual four-day meeting of provincial film classification boards, business sessions between media sales executives and distributors, MPTAC meetings with the CFTPA and CAFDE on shared policy concerns and communication issues, as well as the semi-annual MPTAC board meeting between association execs and provincial representatives.

The cost of organizing ShowCanada is ‘pushing $1 million,’ says Lebo, who is also the MPTAC’s executive director.

ShowCanada 2003 seminar highlights include ‘Creating the Wow!! In Customer Service’ with retail marketing expert Pete Luckett (Thursday, May 1). On May 2, University of Toronto economist and professor David K. Foot will talk about Canadian demographic trends over the next four, eight and 12 years.

ShowCanada should also be notable this year for the more upbeat mood of Canadian exhibitors, many of whom have come through a series of corporate restructurings owing to cinema over-building and expansion during the go-go 1990s.

‘People have gotten leaner and meaner, and all are set to take advantage of the expansion from those years when capital was cheap and a building spree went on,’ remarks Lebo. ‘As well, there has been a changing of the guard at major exhibitors like Famous Players and Cineplex Odeon.’

A special ‘Producers at ShowCanada’ package covers events on May 2-3.

‘One of the challenges in the industry is getting producers and exhibitors talking,’ Lebo says. ‘Exhibitors are closest to the market, and to audiences, and know what people want to see. Telefilm Canada and Heritage Canada are using box-office data from domestic exhibitors to decide where bonus money for film producers should go. It gives incentives to producers to take a look at what people really want to see, rather than what the bureaucrats and agencies will approve.’

‘Historically, [ShowCanada] has been the occasion for the major American studios to come up to Canada to show upcoming product to Canadian exhibitors after they do ShowEast and ShowWest earlier in the spring where they touch base with all the American exhibitors,’ says CAFDE president Richard Paradis, adding, ‘For our members, this has historically been an occasion to see what the Americans have and also an occasion to get to know the exhibitors better on a one-on-one basis.’

Paradis says distribs will be unspooling Canadian output product reels for the first time (Friday, May 2), mainly because the timing is right – there’s sufficient ‘consumer-oriented Canadian films’ in the pipeline and the outlook on the English side is more promising than in the past, he says.

Gala Canadian screenings at ShowCanada include the Emile Gaudreault coming-out comedy Mambo Italiano (Equinoxe Films), which generated good business at the recent American Film Market, and Denys Arcand’s Les Invasions barbares/Barbarians at the Gate (Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm), slated for a wide 120-screen release in Quebec May 9. The program also includes the National Film Board doc The Last Round, about the brutal 1964 Chuvalo-Ali boxing marathon.

Industry Update

Speakers at the MPTAC Industry Update session (Saturday, May 3) include Howard Lichtman, president of the Lightning Group, and Doug Frith, CMPDA president, who will give an update on various issues such as classification themes and the impact of international piracy on the U.S. studio system.

A producer’s overview will be offered by Robin Cass of Triptych Media, while trends in ‘digital cinema and alternative film product,’ including new Cyan Dye track technology, and alternative programming will be addressed by David Polny, VP operations development and support services at Famous Players; Ken Prue, a marketing executive with exhibitor Galaxy Entertainment; Brian Stewart, an executive with Tribute Entertainment; and D’Arcy Pickering of Christie Digital Systems.

ShowCanada ’03 also features a 42-stand exhibit section (on May 1 and 2) for companies which supply exhibitors, from the U.S. studios selling upcoming movie product to companies selling confectionery products and technical suppliers selling the latest in seating, projection and sound systems.

Canadian profile

There are approximately 2,855 movie screens in Canada, according to recent MPTAC data. Lebo says there are still a lot of independent movie houses, regional circuits and ‘ma and pa’ theatres in Canada. StatsCan hasn’t released new information on the sector in two years, she adds.

There were 535 theatrical releases in Canada in ’02, including 44 Quebec films, 42 films originating from English Canada, 72 from France, 230 from the U.S. and 118 releases from all other sources. The average estimated ticket price, all categories, was $7.15. Admissions totaled just over $135 million. The total box office in Canada for ’02 was $945,272,195.

Showmanship Awards

Prizes in six categories in the ShowCanada Showmanship Awards (cash awards up to $500 plus travel prizes, all awarded to theatre managers) will be handed out.

The awards include the Blockbuster prize for best studio movie promotion in Canada, an award for best ‘Indie’ promo, best promotions in the English- and French-track markets, best Concession award, and an Audience Development award for best branding initiative.

The Hector H. Ross Award winners for highest grossing Canadian theatrical release in ’02 are: Seraphin: Un Homme et son peche and Men With Brooms.

-www.mptac.ca

-www.showcanada.ca

With files from Etan Vlessing