MONTREAL — Radio-Canada is investing $12 million in French-language feature films over the next three years, providing a chunk of the financing pie Quebec producers say is becoming increasingly essential to get their projects off the ground.

Feature film development, production and acquisition will get $9 million, while the remainder will be spent on promoting features on the pubcaster’s various platforms and at festivals and televised galas, explained the EVP of Radio-Canada, Sylvain Lafrance, at a glitzy press conference Tuesday at the network’s headquarters in Montreal’s east end.

‘It’s important for us to be involved in making films… particularly in Quebec, where there is a great deal of crossover between TV and film,’ Lafrance told the crowd of roughly 200, which included a number of big names in Quebec cinema: Denise Filiatrault (Ma vie en cinémascope), Fabienne Larouche (Rivard), Philippe Falardeau (Congorama) and Denise Robert (Mambo Italiano, The Barbarian Invasions).

Robert says SRC’s support is key at the production stage but also after the film has had its run in theaters: ‘Getting our films shown in primetime is really important. We can reach a great deal of people.’

Financing from the net helped director/writer Philippe Falardeau’s latest project, the $4.8-million C’est pas moi, je le jure, get to the shooting stage. ‘Since SODEC and Telefilm usually give less than what we ask for, Radio-Canada is there to fill in the gap,’ the Jutra-winning filmmaker told Playback Daily.

Although Falardeau is pleased with the new cash for features, he’s not sure if Radio-Canada is serious about promoting auteur films. ‘When they broadcast my film La moité gauche du frigo, it was on really late at night. I only found out about it when I looked in the TV guide.’

The pubcaster began financing features in 1999 and to date has invested $33 million in around 100 homegrown films, both documentary and fiction. With today’s announcement, this figure will shoot to $45 million by 2010.