Telefilm Canada is investing $17.75 million across 12 features through its Production Program for the French market in both its high- and low-budget streams.

This round of funding represents 65% of Telefilm’s French-language film budget. The balance of the budget will be allocated following the second round’s deadline. The English market decisions for the big-budget stream of the Production Program stream is expected to be announced next week, a Telefilm spokesperson told Playback Daily.

All but three of the selected films were included among a recent funding announcement from La Société de développement des entreprises culturelles for its production aid and emerging creation assistance programs.

Out of the 12 features supported six are dramas, including three distributed by Montreal’s h264: writer-director Nadine Gomez’ Créatures du hasard, produced by Rocio Barba Fuentes and Giacomo Nudi; La fille du manguier from filmmaker Marilyn Cooke and produced by Kélyna N. Lauzier; and Denis Côté’s Violence du corps de l’autre, produced by Guillaume Vasseur.

Kim Nguyen’s Canada/Spain coproduction Le Sablier (Item 7, Fasten Films), distributed by Les Films Opale and produced by Pierre Even, rounds out the drama selections along with the historical dramas Les filles du Roy (La maison de prod, Némésis Films, Avenue B Productions), produced by Dominique Dussault and Stéphanie Morissette, and Pauline Julien : Femme pays (Bravo Charlie), produced by Étienne Hansez.

Les filles du Roy, a Canada/France coproduction, is directed by Pascal Plante and written by Plante and Dussault while Pauline Julien : Femme pays is directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavallette and written by Véronique Côté and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavallette. They are distributed by Entract Films and Axla Films, respectively.

Four comedies were selected for funding including writer-director Ian Lagarde’s Ce qu’on respire sur Tatouine (Voyelle Films Productions), produced by Gabrielle Tougas Fréchette and distributed by Maison 4:3 and Best Friend Forever; and the Louis Morissette- and Rachel Graton-directed Sortie de zone (KO24). The feature is produced by Marie-Claude Beaulieu and Louis-Philippe Drolet, written by Jean-François Léger and distributed by KO Distribution and Les Films Opale.

The remaining comedies include director Rafaël Ouellet’s Hantée (A Média Films), written by India Desjardins and produced by Guillaume Lespérance with Immina Films as its distributor. Folichonneries comes from writer-director Éric K. Boulianne and writer Alexandre Auger. The film is produced by Hany Ouichou, Laurie Pominville and Boulianne, with Entract Films as its distributor.

The final two selections are the action-adventure film Histoire de fous (10e Ave Productions) from directors  Émilie Rosas and Christine Dallaire-Dupont and the mystery police crime film Le prince (Couronne Nord, Srab Films) from writer-director Nicolas Krief .

Histoire de fous is written by Rosas and produced by Nancy Florence Savard with distribution from Maison 4:3, while the Canada/France coproduction Le prince is produced by Julie Groleau, Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral with h264 distributing.

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