+ Ricky Gervais will take the top comedy prize at Banff, where the British actor is set to receive the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award. The annual award for top-shelf comic talent went to Mark McKinney last year. ‘This is probably the greatest honour of my career,’ said Gervais. ‘Only the Nobel Peace Prize can top this, but I will only accept that in person if the ceremony is held somewhere as beautiful as Banff.’

+ Quebec cinema continues to make a splash on the festival circuit south of the border, where the Santa Barbara International Film Festival featured 13 films from la belle province, seven of which screened in official competition.

– Though blessed by the hand of reality queen Julie Snyder, the much-hyped La série Montréal-Québec likely won’t go down in the annals of Quebec TV as a success. Only 1.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the first game on TVA, roughly 400,000, or 24%, less than the debut episode which introduced the players.

– Toronto-based disc maker Cinram has lost its biggest contract, Warner Home Video, which was worth some 28% of its total annual revenue.