Montreal: Hans Fraikin admits he’s got his hands full. The film commissioner for the new Quebec Film and Television Council, marking his first six months in office, is working on a number of fronts, but most importantly in helping to resolve the dispute between the two technicians unions in the province.

The QFTC was established last year to promote the collective needs of the 35,000 people in Quebec’s film and TV business. In addition to taking a leadership role in the concerns of domestic stakeholders, a big part of the organization’s mandate is to lure more foreign service shoots.

But an ongoing roadblock to attracting Hollywood business is the conflict between the upstart IATSE union and the Alliance québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son (AQTIS). The latter has long represented the province’s technical workers on foreign service productions, and argues that it has the exclusive legal right to do so. Meanwhile, IATSE, which operates in every other province in the country, has long looked to set up shop in Quebec. Last year it opened a local, leading to a series of legal challenges from AQTIS.

‘This conflict was, in some respects, inevitable, because IATSE wanted into Quebec so badly,’ Fraikin says. ‘But while coming to an agreement is bound to be difficult, there has got to be one at some point. This has got to be buried – the question is when that will occur.’

While there is still a ways to go, AQTIS for its part remains optimistic.

‘We are hoping for an agreement soon,’ says union president Richard Saint-Pierre. ‘Hans has been doing a good job of trying to bring the two sides together.’

IATSE declined to comment for this story.

Fraikin, who has continued talking to both parties, earlier suggested bringing Senator Francis Fox in to mediate the situation, and Quebec Culture and Communications Minister Line Beauchamp followed through. But talks fell apart.

In the summer, AQTIS offered a compromise that would have allowed IATSE, a well-known entity to Hollywood producers, to crew big-budget studio films in Quebec, while AQTIS would continue working on U.S. indie shoots. IATSE rejected the offer and brought the conflict before the Quebec Labour Board – a traditionally long and laborious process – where it currently remains.

The commissioner still hopes the matter can be resolved out of court. Montreal noted a decline in Hollywood shoots through much of 2005 and early 2006, which many observers blamed in part on U.S. studios wanting to avoid picking sides in the dispute.

But there were signs of cooperation from AQTIS when the $110-million Paramount Pictures fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles announced it was coming to town for a fall shoot. In order to keep the significant payday in the province, AQTIS stepped back and allowed IATSE to crew the project, while it worked the U.S. indie flicks Journey 3D and I’m Not There.

Fraikin believes that the standoff is not significantly hurting production volumes.

‘It’s impossible to say for sure how much business we’ve lost. But my strong sense is that people are still eager to shoot in Quebec,’ he says.

In another effort to boost the province’s fortunes, QFTC is gearing up for the January launch of Phototech, a lab where productions can view shots of locations around the province – a service aimed at both domestic and foreign projects.

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