Montreal: Dimension Films, the genre division of Hollywood powerhouse Miramax Films and distributor of the Scary Movie and Spy Kids franchises, has signed a deal with Go Films producer Nicole Robert to acquire remake rights to the Eric Tessier thriller Sur le seuil.

Distributed by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, which also has world sales rights, the original Sur le seuil (Evil Woods in English) pulled in $486,000 on 70 screens, ranking number one at the Quebec box office over its Oct. 3-5 opening weekend. As of Oct. 26, the film had receipts of over $1.5 million, tops among homegrown thrillers, surpassing Jean-Marc Vallee’s La Liste noire, which took in close to $1.2 million.

L.A. producer Roy Lee, a remake specialist who delivered The Ring in 2002, a re-do of the 1998 Japanese film Ringu, and who has a first-look deal with Miramax, has hired Steven Susco (The Grudge) to write the script, tentatively titled The Threshold. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sur le seuil stars Michel Cote as a shrink and Patrick Huard as a writer in a slick, paranormal tale about a horror novelist who envisions terribly gory events before they happen.

The film was shot on a budget of $3.3 million and is based on the Patrick Senecal novel of the same name. Tessier and Senecal wrote the screenplay. Denis Mostert was the film’s DOP and David Pelletier was the art director.

Robert (Betty Fisher et autres histoires) and her partner Gabriel Pelletier (La Vie apres l’amour) are in early preprod for a March 8 startup on Yves Pelletier’s feature film debut Les Aimants, a light romantic-comedy starring Isabelle Blais (Quebec-Montreal).

Pelletier was a member of the very successful Rock et Belles Oreilles comedy outfit and played the zany vamp Vlad in Gabriel Pelletier’s Karmina and K2, sharing a screenwriting credit with the director on both films.

Les Aimants will shoot over 23 days in Montreal on a budget $2.4 million. AAV will distribute.

Robert also produced Richard Trogi’s surprise ’02 hit Quebec-Montreal, which took in just over $1 million at the box office.

Ma voisine danse le ska premieres

Nathalie Saint-Pierre’s first feature film Ma voisine danse le ska had its world premiere at the recently wrapped Festival du cinema international en Abitibi-Temiscamingue and opened in theatres in Montreal and Quebec City Nov. 7.

The film is produced by Les Films de l’autre and distributed by K-Films Amerique.

In this rather unusual story, which Saint-Pierre also produced and cowrote with actor Frederic Desager. Desager plays a provocative Euro-photographer type who decides to kill himself following the deaths of his wife and child. After months of wandering aimlessly about the city, one day he enters a public washroom where he begins to string himself high from the rafters. Of course, all bets are off when he encounters a highly libidinous woman, played by Alexandrine Agostini, fortuitously en-stalled nearby.

Saint-Pierre’s short film credits include Quand j’ai eu trente ans ou comment j’ai vire su’ l’top (2001) and L’Abime appelle l’abime (1996).

Third-round funding for Quebec features

Both Telefilm Canada and cultural funding agency SODEC recently announced third-round funding decisions for upcoming Quebec feature films.

Telefilm has committed over $4.1 million from the selective component envelope to four new projects (and an additional $900,000 from the performance resource), including a $200,000 participation in Moving, the first feature-length drama from the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS).

Moving, an existential comedy, unfolds over one long July 1, traditionally moving day in Quebec. Philippe Gagnon is directing from a screenplay by Mylene Lauzon and Jean-Francois Lepage. INIS producer is Sebastien Montour. Industry veteran Louise Gendron (recently named director of programming at Tele-Quebec) is the film’s supervising producer. Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm will distribute.

Telefilm’s selections also include The Outsider, an ambitious historical drama based on the classic Quebec novel and radio/TV adaptation Le Survenant. The project is from Films Vision 4 producers Claude Veillet and Jacques Bonin. Erik Canuel (Nez Rouge) will direct from a Diane Cailhier screenplay and AAV will distribute.

The agency is also backing Les Etats-Unis d’Albert, Marc Andre Forcier’s tale of an eager young actor who heads to Hollywood and stardom. Quebec City-based Thalie Productions and producer Yves Fortin will shoot with EU partners in Quebec City and Mexico. Forcier and Linda Pinet are the screenwriters and Christal Films Distribution will distribute.

Telefilm is investing $1 million in the Forcier film and $2.75 million in The Outsider, including $1.9 million from the selective resource and $900,000 from Vision 4’s performance envelope.

Memoires Affectives, director Francis Leclerc’s second feature, is billed as a psychological thriller and is being produced by Palomar’s Barbara Shrier. Leclerc and Marcel Beaulieu wrote the screenplay and AAV will distribute.

SODEC announced financing support for eight new feature film productions.

The agency is backing Yves Pelletier’s feature directing debut Les Aimants.

Novelist Dany Laferriere’s feature debut is Comment conquerir l’Amerique en une nuit?, described as a ‘poetic look at women, food, and of course, sex’ from producer Daniel Morin of Productions cinematographiques Boreal films. The distrib is Equinoxe Films (Mambo Italiano).

SODEC is also investing in the family film sequel L’Incomparable Mademoiselle C., with Richard Ciupka directing from novelist Dominique Demers’ screenplay. It wrapped principal photography Nov. 8. Vision 4’s Veillet and Bonin are the producers. Christal is the distributor.

Auteur-style projects receiving SODEC third-round support include Familia, a musical from first-time director Louise Archambault, with Luc Dery of micro_scope producing and Christal distributing; and C.R.A.Z.Y., a family saga told over four decades from director Jean-Marc Vallee (La Liste noire) and Cirrus Productions producers Pierre Even and Jacques Blain (Ciao Bella, Vendus), with TVA Films distributing.

Ma Vie en cinemascope is the story of Quebec music-hall legend Alys Robi and the fourth feature from Denise Filiatrault, who directed the successful Laura Cadieux and Alice Tremblay films. Denise Robert and Daniel Louis of Cinemaginaire are producing. Shoots dates are Nov. 17 to Dec. 19. AAV will distribute.

SODEC is also investing in first-time director/actor Robin Aubert’s St-Martyrs-des-damnes, a suspense revolving around the theme of human cloning, with Max Films’ Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal producing and Christal distributing; and Carole Laure’s second feature film, Trop pres du sol, a portrait of three generations of women set against a backdrop of arts, cinema and dance. Laure of Productions Laure Furey and Lorraine Richard (Monica la mitraille) of Cite-Amerique are producing. Trop pres du sol wraps five weeks of filming Nov. 28. The distrib is Film Tonic.

Over three rounds, SODEC, under Joelle Levie, director-general of film and television production, has announced funding support for 21 feature projects out of a total of 46 applications, not including an undisclosed number of applications filed for the third round.

SODEC has approximately $8.5 million this year to invest in French-language feature films, documentaries and short films, the lion’s share, $7.5 million, for features.

In three rounds, Telefilm, under Michel Pradier, director of the Quebec office, has committed more than $22 million in production financing to 17 feature film projects, out of a total of 57 projects filed. The commitments include approximately $11 million from the Canada Feature Film Fund selective component, $8.8 million from the reserved or performance component and about $2.5 million from the Licence Fee Program feature film envelope.