Children’s and information programming will be big as Canadian producers and distributors get ready to parlez with customers in Cannes, France, at the annual MIPTV trade spectacle, April 11-15.

According to Telefilm Canada, which hosts the prominent Canada Pavilion, there are 84 Canadian participants registered with them – up about 4% from the year before. The bulk of delegates are from Ontario, 39, and Quebec, 23, while B.C. is contributing 10 participants.

For Toronto-based Portfolio Entertainment, MIP will provide the first look at its animated series Carl Squared, a 26-episode first season for the ‘tween’ market. Produced for Teletoon, Carl Squared is about a teen slacker who acquires a clone online.

Picture Box of Toronto will be selling completed youth series Edgemont and This is Daniel Cook, but is also developing the 22 half-hour series Seadogs (Creative Atlantic), which has French partners and Radio-Canada already aboard. Production is expected to begin in the summer of 2006.

‘Increasingly, producers are turning to us to help find that last 20% to 30% of the budget. Luckily, we’ve come across some really quality properties and the international interest has been strong.’ says Marilyn Kynaston, director of international sales at Picture Box. ‘We are always looking for those shows that can work creatively in multiple territories.’

Picture Box is also representing News2Me (26 half-hours by Heroic Film Company in Toronto) and Saving Einstein, a presale opportunity for May Street Group in Victoria.

Nelvana, meanwhile, will be working out the details on its new deal with L.A.-based Mighty Fine for a 26 x 30 3D series for the six- to 12-year-old audience based on its brand Ruby Gloom – the story of ‘the happiest girl in the world’ living in Gloomsville with characters like the crow trio Edgar, Allan and Poe.

Vancouver’s Mainframe Entertainment will have kids-oriented product on sale via IDT Entertainment Sales, part of Mainframe’s U.S. parent company. The live-action series Harriet the Spy, the 26-episode live-action/CGI series Zixx and 2D-CG hybrid feature Spawn are included in the inventory.

‘These properties will fill a need that broadcasters have for exciting programming featuring celebrated brands and celebrities which have fans worldwide and a broad entertainment appeal,’ says Vancouver-based Rick Mischel, IDT CEO.

MIP, the main event, expects to attract 11,000 industry professionals.

Topics for the 2005 event include ‘Advertising: Future of Brands within Content,’ ‘Special Focus on Korea,’ ‘Future of Digital Home Entertainment,’ ‘Mobile Entertainment Opportunities,’ ‘On Demand TV Developments’ and ‘Interactive DVD Screenings.’ And for the second year, MIPTV also features MILIA – which focuses on interactive content for TV, mobile and broadband.

Also at MIP, CHUM Television International will bring style to France – at least on the programming side. In Fashion (24 x 30 by FashionTelevision) focuses on the innovators of the fashion world, Inside Your Threads (1 x 60 from MuchMusic) examines apparel sweatshop employees in Mexico and Bangladesh through the eyes of music stars, and John Malkovich: Flipping Uncle Kimono (1 x 60 from FashionTelevision) documents the actor’s unconventional menswear line debut in Milan.

CHUM adds the reality TV trend with Starstruck (13 x 30), which turns movie and TV fans into entertainment reporters. Oversexed (19 x 60 from SexTV), meanwhile, features episodes such as ‘The Big O’ and ‘Exotic Brothels,’ while Private Parties: Lives Exposed (6 x 60) peeks behind closed doors to showcase the personal and professional lives of people who are exploring their sexuality.

MIP will honor Peter Orton, founder and chairman of HIT Entertainment and a pioneer in kids programming (such as Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock), with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meanwhile, MIPDOC kicks off this year’s market April 9-10 and is expected to attract 350 international buyers. In 2004, MIPDOC attracted 14% more participants (almost 540 delegates) than in 2003 and 51% more companies.

MIPDOC, RealScreen Magazine (Playback’s sister publication) and the National Film Board team up for the discussion panel ‘What’s Hot in Docs,’ including new technical developments, innovative storytelling techniques and new avenues for distribution and marketing.

RealScreen is also co-organizing ‘Programmer’s Showcase,’ which will provide documentary producers with the chance to listen and talk to key channel programmers as they detail their acquisition and programming policies, and is overseeing the MIPDOC Co-production Challenge.

Other MIPDOC workshop topics include high-definition international coproduction deals.

Toronto based Markham Street Films will attend both MIPDOC and MIPTV with three programs – Penis Dementia: The Search for the Perfect Penis – a one-hour search that is self-explanatory – along with the one-hour documentary Fag Hags, about the women who love gay men, and Meet the Sumdees, a documentary about WASP Canadian parents who become the in-laws of an Islamic woman.

Portfolio Entertainment will be selling vets-in-training reality series Campus Vets (26 x 30) by Peach Arch Entertainment division The Eyes in Vancouver. Also out of Vancouver and on Portfolio’s inventory is 26 x 30 technology information series Dave Chalk Connected and Techtips (also by Chalk Media), which are 600 one-minute interstitials.

Portfolio is returning to MIP with more established programs, including the gay travel show Bump! (39 x 30), Taipei Diaries, a 29-episode reality series, and Punch Like a Girl, also sold to Reality TV for worldwide broadcast.

Along with its performance specials at MIP, Spectra International Distribution will also feature programs for sale at MIPDOC. Bullet Proof (BBR Productions) is a one-hour doc on forensic investigations. Past Lives (BBR) is a 39 x 30 series that reunites Canadians with their pasts and with living relatives. Women of Music (Amérimage-Spectra) is a 13 x 30 series featuring prominent female classical musicians from around the world.

-www.miptv.com

-www.mipdoc.com