Montreal: Flush with the success of recent releases such as March of the Penguins and Manners of Dying, Montreal-based Christal Films has expanded its operations and opened a Toronto office, to be run by former Telefilm Canada analyst Tony Wosk.

‘My goals are to find strong English-language feature product, international films, and to get more Quebec films noticed in English Canada,’ says Wosk, now the region’s director of acquisitions and development.

Publicist Elisabeth-Anne Butikofer has also been promoted to director of PR for Canadian and international markets.

‘I am most excited about this, in particular the mysterious western Canadian market,’ says Butikofer. ‘This seems an especially difficult market to crack, but we’re intent on doing so. There is much greater interest in Quebec films now, due to their success at home. We’d like to see that success expanded into English Canada and beyond.’

Upcoming Christal English-Canadian releases include the multiple Genie nominee Familia, date still to be announced, and Hard Candy on April 14.

‘We are very excited about Familia,’ says Wosk.

Founded in 2001, Christal was originally, primarily, a distributor of Lionsgate films in Quebec. The company now releases films throughout English Canada, and has moved into production. Though now independent from Lionsgate, it still distributes all LG films within Quebec.

www.christalfilms.com