Gatineau, QC: More than 300 Quebec producers, distributors and broadcasters met here for the APFTQ’s annual convention April 26-27, where the emphasis was on maximizing the potential of international markets.

‘Congrès 2005 was a remarkable success,’ says Céline Pelletier, the event’s organizer and APFTQ director of communications. ‘It gave the industry a chance to think about the larger issues of international distribution and appeal. I think the fact that we had record attendance and participation reflects the real desire for producers to seek out new international markets and new sources of investment.’

Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson addressed the crowd at an April 26 dinner, where he contended that the concerns of Quebec producers reflect the concerns he has at Telefilm. ‘As I looked over the APFTQ’s themes for this convention,’ he began his speech, ‘global trends in television, exports, documentaries, features – I said to myself, ‘This is like a Telefilm meeting.”

Clarkson went on to argue that government intervention in the areas of film and TV is ‘absolutely essential,’ calling for reform of the governance of the CTF. ‘My preference is for a public/private model,’ he told the crowd, ‘with one board of directors – the CTF – and a single administrator, Telefilm.’

Clarkson’s speech also highlighted the Two Solitudes of the Canadian film biz: Quebec films make up 21% of the French market in Quebec, while English Canada is still struggling to attain even 2% of the English-Canadian market. Telefilm is still trying to find a way to boost Canadian features to 5% of the overall box office in this country.

‘Canadian cinema has made enormous strides in the past five years. And it’s increasingly clear to me that we mustn’t be satisfied with the 5% goal,’ he said, noting that other countries manage to attain fairly high ratios of homegrown product in their cinemas, including Germany (24%), Sweden (22%) and the U.K. (18%).

He also insisted that the walls between English and French Canada must be broken down further. He pointed to a new tour of French films through English Canada – slated to begin this year – as one of the initiatives Telefilm is taking, and cited The Barbarian Invasions and Seducing Doctor Lewis as Quebecois films that did more than reasonable box office ($1 million and $800,000, respectively) in English Canada.

In addition to Clarkson’s speech, members attended panel discussions on selling product abroad, reality TV and documentary filmmaking.

‘This was a particularly strong meeting. I was very impressed with the amount of material that was crammed into a full day,’ says Montreal’s Zone3 executive producer and VP production Vincent Leduc. ‘Beyond the networking and brainstorming you expect, which are important, there were a lot of new things discussed. I realized, for example, that reality TV programming really is here to stay – I don’t think of it as a passing fad anymore. And I hadn’t really realized the extent of English Canada’s problems in terms of film distribution. This is something that needs to be addressed.’

-www.apftq.qc.ca