Guru Studio, Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and Inner City Releasing are among 20 recipients set to receive a share of nearly $7.8 million in funding from the new Creative Export Canada program.

First unveiled last June, the program provides funding towards high-potential projects that help amplify the international reach of Canada’s creative industries. Eligible projects must come from Canadian-owned companies or organizations, with projects coming from a wide range of cultural industries such as publishing, design, music, film and TV. Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez made the inaugural funding announcement in Montreal yesterday (April 15).

Guru Studio will use its portion of the funding to support the export of its family-focused brands, including True and the Rainbow Kingdom, to global broadcasters, distributors, retailers, game platforms and theme parks.

With the additional funding, Toronto’s Inner City Releasing will work to develop a new business model for distributing films developed by its production arm, Inner City Films, allowing the company to maintain control over its distribution stream. Meanwhile, VIFF will direct its funding toward the VIFF Immersed Exhibition, a three-day event that showcases VR, AR and mixed-reality content.

Another festival receiving funding is Montreal-based Fantasia International Film Festival. With the funding, Fantasia will produce programming for its Frontieres coproduction forum in Helsinki, Finland. The Frontieres forum is an annual three-day event that sees selected producers meet with industry leaders for roundtable strategy sessions, one-on-one meetings and more. In addition, the festival will direct some of the funding towards its Frontieres platform in Cannes, France, an international coproduction market and networking initiative aimed at facilitating business between Europe and North America.

Other companies selected to receive a portion of the $7.8 million include Trio Orange and Squeeze Animation Studio. Squeeze will launch two of its animated series, Cracké and Jax, internationally, as well as promoting and growing its business in global markets. Finally, Trio Orange will produce TV programs that can be exported, with productions being translated via dubbing and/or subtitles in an effort to expand Trio Orange’s revenues and international reach.

The second funding application window opens up this fall.