Keen to explore the cutting edge of marketing? Do you have a film that will be heading to market in the next few months? Did Telefilm Canada help finance it? Is it in French? If you answer ‘yes’ to all four questions, Web-Ciné 360 is for you.

Unveiled at Ciné-Québec — the province’s annual film industry confab — Telefilm’s latest pilot program encourages film distribs to tap social media and the web to market their pictures. Bear in mind, this is only a test, for now Telefilm is targeting its own clients and only French-language pictures six to eight months from their ‘old media’ launch. And the money isn’t huge. Telefilm will advance applicants an interest-free loan of up to $50,000, representing 75% of the online spend.

Eligible Web-Ciné 360 expenses could include web design or enhancement, search engine optimization, content creation for blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and online advertising, including keyword and banner buys. Of those eligible expenses, 75% must be spent in Canada and any specialized firm must be approved by Telefilm prior to engagement — no hiring your Twitter-savvy niece. The agency’s financing will be repayable as the last recoupment tier after full recoupment of the distrib’s minimum guarantee and other allowable distribution expenses.

In return for this largesse, Telefilm is hoping to evolve its web-marketing know-how. Successful applicants will be expected to deliver market intelligence, including user stats, and make it available to Telefilm’s analysts.

Speaking with Playback Daily from Ciné-Québec in St-Sauveur, QC, Telefilm director of project financing Michel Pradier said social media is an ideal marketing tool for film. ‘An astonishing number of people of all ages are using these social networks, they are marvelous for creating ‘bouche à oreille’ [word of mouth].’

Asked why the pilot program is directed to French-language projects, he said the success of Quebecois cinema with Quebec audiences, the more established relationships between Quebecois producers and distributors, and the smaller size of the market make it easier to implement. ‘We can see how [the program] works, how to improve it, and then we can extend it to the English market.’

Distributors can submit projects to Web-Ciné 360 until April 2. But make haste: Pradier says Telefilm is looking to support only four or five projects.