Fourteen features and four web projects have been selected for Telefilm’s fifth-annual micro-budget production program.

The program supports emerging filmmakers and creators looking to produce their first feature-length film or web project. This year, 70% of the micro-budget financing came from The Talent Fund, which is supported by individual donors as well as principal partners Bell Media and Corus Entertainment.

The maximum contribution for features and narrative web projects over 75 minutes is $127,500, while web projects under 75 minutes can receive up to $112,500. At least 15% of Telefilm’s total contribution  must be used for promotion and distribution expenses. To be eligible for funding, projects need to be distributed on at least one digital platform and can’t have a budget higher than $250,000. Technicolor is also once again offering free digital distribution encoding to finalists.

The program is comprised of three components: Main, Indigenous, and Official-Language Minority Communities.

Finalists from last year’s program include Molly McGlynn’s Mary Goes Round, which went into production last November, and Kelton Stepanowich’s The Road Behind, which recently received development funding from the Harold Greenberg Fund.

This year’s finalists in each stream are:

Indigenous: 

Della & Goliath: Heather Hatch (director, producer), Helen Knott (writer), Alberta

Pass Through: Jessie Anthony (director, writer), April Johnson (producer), British Columbia,

The Warden, web format: Roxann Whitebean (director, writer), Trudy Stewart (producer), Quebec and Saskatchewan

OLMC: 

Pour mieux t’aimer: Denise Bouchard (writer, director), Gilles Doiron (director, producer), New Brunswick

Main: 

Dawn, Her Dad, and the Tractor: Shelley Thompson (director, writer, producer), Lynn Matheson (producer), Nova Scotia

Entropic: Robert W. Gray (director, writer, producer), Jon Dewar and Matt Rogers (producers), New Brunswick

Fall Back Down: SB Edwards (director, writer), Cera Ziegler (producer), British Columbia

Gratteux: Renaud Lessard, Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr (directors, writers, producers), Ariane Falardeau St-Amour, Fanny Forest (producers), Quebec

Homecoming: BJ Verot (director), Ken Janssens (writer), Brad Crawford (producer), Manitoba

Honeymoon: Samuel Plante (director, writer), Josh Ary (producer), Ontario

How to Bee: Naomi Mark (director, writer, producer), Vivian Belik (producer), Yukon

Miranda: Sophie Bédard Marcotte (director, writer), Caroline Galipeau (producer), Quebec

P6HUT, web format: Supinder Wraich (director, writer), Matt Power (producer), Ontario

Quand l’amour se creuse un trou: Ara Ball (director, writer), Kacim Steets (producer), Quebec

Réservoir: Kim St-Pierre (director), Isabelle Pruneau-Brunet (writer), Julie Groleau (producer), Quebec

Scattered & Small: Melanie Oates (director, writer), Chris Hatcher (producer), Newfoundland and Labrador/Ontario

Tokens, web format: Winnifred Jong (director, writer, producer), Trinni Franke (producer), Ontario

Wharf Rats, web format: Jason Arsenault (director), Robbie Caruthers, Dennis Trainor and Errol Richardson (writers), Jenna MacMillan (producer), Prince Edward Island

Image via Shutterstock