The Bell Fund is committing more than $2.2 million to the latest round of its Slate Development Program, which offers financial support for the development of Canadian intellectual property on various platforms to help grow and foster the independent production industry.

The funding will go toward 90 projects from 34 independent production companies, 26 of which are English-language and eight of which are French-language. The companies hail from British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

The Bell Fund board of directors says 35% of the funded companies are majority-owned by people identifying as Black, Indigenous and people of colour; and 65% are majority-owned by women.

Launched four years ago, Bell Fund has supported a total of 149 Canadian independent production companies with over $8 million in development funding for over 300 projects, which have included Sienna Films’ The Porter (pictured), marblemedia’s Overlord and the Underwoods, Longhope Media’s Abroad, Picbois Productions’ Trafic, and Sphère Média’s Épidémie.

The majority of the English-language companies funded in the latest round are from Ontario: 3B Content; Adani Pictures; Alibi DevCor; Ballinran Entertainment; Caribbean Tales Media Group; Ceres Productions; Devonshire Productions; Eva Thomas Inc.; Fae Pictures; Husk Media; LoCo Motion; Sunflower Studios; Window Dreams Productions; and Yap Films.

A good chunk are also from British Columbia: From the Shadows; Honalee Productions; Lark Productions; Make Believe Media; Omni Film Drama Development; SILO Entertainment and Timeless Pictures.

Hailing from Quebec are Apartment 11 Productions and Noble Television. Nova Scotia is represented in Gorgeous Mistake Productions and Rachel Bower Productions. And from Manitoba is Eagle Vision.

French-language companies reciving funding include: Avanti|Toast; Carpediem Film & TV; Encore Télévision; Idéacom International; Major Productions; Pamplemousse Productions; Productions Ocho; and Productions ToRoS.