+ Maple Pictures has come on board Eli Craig’s offbeat comedy Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, picking up Canadian distribution rights at Sundance, where it bowed in the Midnight program. The deal was negotiated by Maple’s SVP of acquisitions John Bain and Nicolas Chartier of Voltage Pictures, who are representing the filmmakers.

+ The Banff World Television Festival has established a new prize to recognize French-language TV. Open to Canadian and international French-language projects, the best francophone grand prize will be handed out at the annual Banff World Television Awards on June 9.

+ E1 Entertainment head Darren Throop has issued a bullish trading forecast, predicting the Canadian-based producer/distributor’s upcoming full-year results will exceed market expectations after a strong third quarter. E1 has released 97 films in Canada, the U.K. and the Benelux so far in fiscal 2009, including Twilight Saga: New Moon. Despite higher revenues, E1 posted a loss for the six months to Sept. 30 on increased costs and one-time items, however, analysts now forecast E1 will post a profit for full-year 2010 on higher revenue and the strong performance of its film slate.