Montreal: Michel Cote and Jean Lapointe star in the Erik Canuel psychological suspense Le Dernier Tunnel (working title), which completed 30 days of principal photography (with two additional days for re-shoots) earlier this month. Cote plays real-life bank-heist mastermind (and ex-con and author) Marcel Talon. Cast also includes Chris Heyerdahl, Nicolas Canuel, Sebastien Huberdeau, Marie-France Marcotte and Celine Bonnier in the role of a probation officer.

The $4.7-million Bloom Films feature, developed over seven long years, is from producers Pierre Gendron and Christian Larouche. The screenplay, by Paul Ohl and Mario Bolduc, with the participation of Helene Leclerc, is loosely based on Talon’s book Et que ca saute! about an extraordinary, fact-based robbery scheme to tunnel under the streets of Old Montreal into a bank vault holding a cool $200 million.

Le Dernier Tunnel is Canuel’s third feature after La loi du cochon (1999) and the comedy-romance Nez Rouge (1993).

Cinematographer Bernard Couture is originating on Kodak 35mm (three-spocket/16:9 format). Jean-Francois Bergeron (Nez Rouge) is the picture editor. Jean Becotte is the art director, Francesca Chamberland is the costume designer and Jean Frenette is the stunt coordinator. Lab services are by Technicolor – Creative Service Montreal.

Funders include Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Radio-Canada, Astral Media specialty services Super Ecran and Astral Tele Reseaux, and the Quebec and federal tax-credit programs.

Christal Films Distribution anticipates a spring ’04 release.

Gendron, head of production at Christal Films Productions, is prepping the Francois Bouvier feature Maman Last Call, based on a screenplay by La Presse columnist Nathalie Petrowski and starring Sophie Lorain.

Claudia Ferri stars in Ciao Bella

Shooting is underway on the summer leg (42 days) of the 13 half-hour series Ciao Bella, a single-camera, Italian-flavored dramatic comedy under the direction of Patrice Sauve. An additional block gets underway in September and goes through to Oct. 31. All episodes are being shot simultaneously in English and French, a first for Cirrus Communications, says president Jacques Blain.

Cirrus (Les Aventures tumultueuses de Jack Carter, Tabou I & II) is producing on a budget of $500,000 (per English/French episode) in association with CBC and Radio-Canada. Funding sources include the Licence Fee Program and Telefilm Canada.

Playwright/screenwriter Steve Galluccio and director Emile Gaudreault (Nuits de Noces, Mambo Italiano) created the series. Josee Vallee and Andre Beraud, head of drama/comedy at Cirrus, are producing and Blain and Richard Speer are the exec producers. The French scripts were written by Andree Pelletier.

Set in the heart of Montreal’s vibrant Little Italy, with much of the filming taking place in a little cafe on Dante Street, Ciao Bella tells the story of Elena, played by Claudia Ferri (Mambo Italiano, The Assignment). Elena is a young, unmarried Italian-Canadian who lives with her parents. And while she seemingly has a lot going for her – attractive, smart – she feels the pull of self-discovery after surviving a serious accident.

Players include Jessica Heafey as Elena’s sister Carmie, Peter Miller as Elena’s love interest, Julie Le Breton in the role of a close friend and Johnny Falcone as a visiting cousin from Italy. The cast also includes Ellen David, Tony Calabretta, Carl Alacchi and Louis-Philippe Dandenault.

DOP Louis Durocher is shooting in HD. Jean Babin is the art director and Sylvie Trudel is supervising producer.

Drama production this season at Cirrus, one of the industry’s fastest-growing prodcos, includes Hommes en quarantaine II, six one-hours under the direction of Stephane Lapointe, licensed by Series+ and Reseau TVA (second window), and a new series, Temps Dur, from hot director Louis Choquette.

Temps Dur is a 10-hour prison-based drama scripted by Jean-Marc Dalpe (Trick or Treat) and licensed by SRC. It shoots in HD for about three months, starting Aug. 18. The per-episode budget is in the $975,000 range, says Blain.

The house is also shooting Sexual Anthology, eight fictional half-hours pegged as ‘light comedy,’ directed by Paul Carierre and produced for Showcase Television and Oxygen in the U.S.

War of the Sexes/La Guerre des sexes is a new five-hour doc series about the behavior between men and women, commissioned by CBC and SRC, with support from EIP and LFP.

Amerimage-Spectra, NHK shoot HD jazz concerts

Amerimage-Spectra and Japanese public broadcaster NHK partnered on two HD concert shoots taped during the recently wrapped Festival International de Jazz de Montreal.

The shows, Bobby McFerrin at the Festival and Le Grand Evenement General Motors, featuring the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, were recorded with seven HD cameras, including two crane cameras. Alain Chicoine directed the Bobby McFerrin special, with art direction by Andre Menard. The Spanish Harlem Orchestra piece was directed by Pierre Seguin and art directed by Laurent Saulnier. Producers are Pierre L. Touchette and Alain Simard, L’Equipe Spectra president. Luc Chatelain is the exec producer.

This year’s festival, a production of L’Equipe Spectra, also featured simultaneous HD projections on six giant outdoor screens.

NHK, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is a global pioneer in HD technology, broadcasting in HD for the past 15 years. The broadcaster operates five channels, including one reserved exclusively for HD programs and distributed by satellite to more than four million Japanese homes equipped with HDTV. Nobuo Isobe is NHK’s HD channel exec producer.

Letourneau’s Chronique urbaine

Chronique urbaine is writer/director Yanick Letourneau’s debut documentary feature, an 80-minute cinema-verite story of urban franco Hip Hop culture. The film, distributed by Cinema Libre in its original French-language version with English subtitles, opens at Ex-Centris Aug. 1-14 and at Le Clap repertory cinema in Quebec City Aug. 8-15.

Chronique urbaine chronicles the story of Kamenga Mbikay, alias SP, founder of the Hip Hop outfit Sans Pression. While SP and the gang had a surprise hit, selling 30,000 copies of their first CD underground, Letourneau’s doc tells an intimate, street-side story of frustration, part-time jobs and impoverishment as the group, some three years later, attempts to launch a second album with little or no support from the mainstream music industry, radio or other media.

Peripheria Productions, comprised of principals Letourneau and producer Diego Briceno, developed and produced the project over three years. The doc was originated in DV and Super 16 film over 90 shooting days between summer ’01 and winter ’03, generating 120 hours of material.

A one-hour TV version airs on the new Radio-Canada doc showcase Camera temoin Aug. 2, and later on Reseau de l’Information.

Sylvie Van Brabant of Productions Rapide Blanc was the shoot’s screenwriting consultant. Isaac Isitan of Productions ISCA was the production consultant.

Peripheria in association with Bluesponge, with funding from Telefilm Canada, have produced a virtual magazine based on the documentary’s themes of youth culture and diversity, www.chroniquesurbaines.com.

Funding support comes from SRC and RDI, Fond Canadien du Cinema et de la Video Independant, SODEC – Jeunes Createurs, the National Film Board’s Aide au cinema independant program and the Office franco-quebecois pour la jeunesse.