Industry experts raised the red flag on the state of film funding in Canada during a panel discussion at the Playback Film Summit.

“What I think a lot of people don’t realize is we’re actually on the edge of a cliff right now,” said Kyle Irving, co-owner and executive producer at Winnipeg-based Eagle Vision, during the session titled “Going modern: will C-11 breathe new life into Canadian film?,” which discussed how Bill C-11, a.k.a the Online Streaming Act, may impact Canada’s indie film sector.

The panel was moderated by Elevation Pictures co-president Noah Segal, and also included KarmaFilm producer Anand Ramayya, and the founder and executive director of the Reelworld Foundation Tonya Williams.

Irving discussed how institutions such as Telefilm Canada and the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) have not received confirmation of permanent additional funding beyond the 2023-24 fiscal year.

“They’re [Telefilm] are going to be operating as if they’ve lost a third of their funding. And in the case of the ISO, they’ll theoretically need to start winding down the organization. So these are what I’m most worried about right now,” he continued.

The industry is currently looking to Bill C-11, which was passed into law in April and modernizes the Broadcasting Act to inject cash into an oversubscribed funding system. The law gives the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) the authority to require digital streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon’s Prime Video to contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian and Indigenous content.

“I think what everyone wants to hear is that there’s going to be more money in the system from the new players who weren’t previously contributing,” said Irving. “Many of these new players, like Netflix, for example, produce a lot of movies.”

Williams said Reelworld was also “feeling the effects” of the funding crunch, noting that organizations such as the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, “who have had a huge impact for filmmakers in Canada and getting their work out there, they’re just hanging on … to see what these decisions are going to be.”

The CRTC will be holding a three-week hearing, starting Nov. 20, as part of the first phase of consultations around new Broadcasting Act regulations. The hearings are focused on how the CRTC should develop a framework for contributions from traditional broadcasters and streaming platforms.

“I know the government tends to work slow and they want to be effective. But they do need to also understand there’s an urgency here and a lot of us are just waiting to know what these changes are and when we can have access to any of this funding,” said Williams.

When discussing the possibility of flexible contributions for broadcasters and streaming services, Ramayya said that the focus should be to “build upwards, as opposed to trying to maintain the status quo through different mechanisms.”

“One of my fears is that this potential influx of new money into the system relieves a bit of pressure from the broadcasters and the government, and the current mechanisms that are there to provide financing,” he continued, noting that any new money in the system should be used to help the industry “as opposed to filling in a gap that someone else has decided to sort of pull away from.”

WATCH THE ENTIRE PANEL CONVERSATION: Available to Playback Film Summit virtual pass holders: log in to the agenda, or register for the event.

Pictured (L-R): Noah Segal, Tonya Williams (top); Kyle Irving, Anand Ramayya (bottom)