For Canadian filmmakers, the significance of the Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Atlantic film festivals, about to pass in rapid succession, can not be overstated. Especially for first-time filmmakers, often working with seemingly impossible budgets, the festival season provides an opportunity for recognition and a vital portal into an often hard-to-crack industry.

Martin Malina, programmer with the Montreal World Film Festival, understands the festival’s importance for the future of new Canadian filmmakers. Of the 30 Canadian titles at the 2002 WFF, 13 are first features. In this country, says Malina, ‘It’s easier to make a first feature now, especially with digital equipment, but to get it out to market is very difficult.’

First features at WFF this year include Edmonton-born playwright Brad Fraser’s Leaving Metropolis from Winnipeg’s Original Pictures and York University grad Boris Mojsobski’s Three and a Half from Toronto’s Summer Pictures. The world premiere of Home, a first feature from Montreal’s Phyllis Katrapani, gains unique exposure as it will be simultaneously screened and transmitted on the Internet live, an initiative sponsored by Telus.

Being included in one of Canada’s major film festivals has the potential to help advance these filmmakers’ careers as, for example, the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival did for Andrea Dorfman, who made her feature-film debut with the $65,000 drama Parsley Days.

‘When I made Parsley Days, there were no expectations because no one knew I was doing it. I just kind of surreptitiously made this little film,’ says Dorfman, who recently wrapped her $850,000 sophomore feature Love That Boy for Halifax’s imX communications. ‘I was happy, shocked, amazed and scared shitless when the film was accepted [to screen at

TIFF2000] because we didn’t have the money for the blow-up at that point.’ For finishing funds, Dorfman approached Telefilm, which, she says, was willing to finance in part because the film had been accepted into the festival and was thus more likely to be noticed by distributors and recoup investment.

The film’s acceptance into the festival also played a significant role in Mongrel Media’s decision to distribute, she adds.

Dorfman hopes Love That Boy will hit next year’s festival circuit but says the competition is getting stiffer every year. More and more people are applying to Canadian film festivals each year, and with the advent of digital technology, the number of first features is growing dramatically, making it even more difficult for a first-timer to get that all-important foot in the door.

Stacey Donen, co-programmer for TIFF’s Perspective Canada program, has noticed a marked increase in the number of first-time films applying to screen at the festival.

‘In the last five years, there hasbeen a whole new crop of first-time filmmakers that has access to making films, which is really making the quality of filmmaking in this country a lot higher from top to bottom,’ he says.

Donen has also noticed another group of first-time feature filmmakers emerging. He characterizes them as more mature filmmakers with established contacts and experience in the industry. They are able to work with higher budgets, often exceeding $1 million, partially as a result of funding initiatives for first-time filmmakers, such as the National Screen Institute/Telefilm Features First program created in 1997.

‘I think the Telefilm fund has given some new voices the opportunity to use a little higher-quality talent, more time [and] better equipment,’ says Donen.

An example of a more established first-time filmmaker is Wiebke von Carolsfeld. She gained experience and made contacts in the industry as an editor (The Five Senses) before directing her first feature, Marion Bridge, coproduced with Toronto’s Sienna Films and Bill Niven’s Idlewild Films in Halifax, which premieres at TIFF this year. Marion Bridge is budgeted at approximately $2 million and comes to the festival with distributor Mongrel Media attached.

Despite the increasing competition for space in Canada’s major festivals, being showcased at these venues remains an important way of boosting the country’s homegrown industry.

‘In terms of percentages, it’s a small amount [of film entries] that get into the festival, period, but I think we go out of our way to promote and support first-timers,’ says Donen. ‘There are a lot of industry buyers and sellers, so playing at this festival as a first-time filmmaker really opens up a lot of doors. It definitely validates the film.’

This proved true for producer Simone Urdl, whose first feature Jack and Jill, from writer/director/actor John Kalangis and with a budget of $300,000, premiered at TIFF1998. Urdl says the exposure Jack and Jill got from the festival helped push her film into the marketplace and bolstered her career.

‘You tend to spend a lot of time and effort doing everything yourself on a first film. It was just such a nice reward at the end of all that to be invited to Toronto,’ says Urdl. ‘Once you get your first film done and you do a good job at it, then the door is open for you to come back, so long as the project is good and you bring the right financing.’

Urdl says exposure at the festival helped her establish important relationships with distributors and financers. The fact that Jack and Jill was delivered on time, on budget and was received well at the festival, has been an advantage in her subsequent projects.

After Jack and Jill, Urdl established the prodco Film Farm with partner Jennifer Weiss and produced the short film Soul Cages, which was screened at TIFF2000. Urdl is now well underway on her $2-million sophomore feature Luck by writer/director Peter Wellington.

‘I would absolutely not want Luck released until after we at least see if we get into the festival next year,’ she says.

Director Mina Shum is another filmmaker who benefited from first-time exposure at a major festival. Her first feature, Double Happiness, premiered at TIFF 1994.

Before securing the funding for Double Happiness, $1 million from a BC Film/Telefilm initiative designed for first-time filmmakers, Shum went to all the usual suspects for funding, but quickly realized that financing a film with all Asian faces was not going to be easy. Nonetheless, the film was a surprise hit at the festival, receiving a special jury citation. Shum says that at the film’s premiere, the audience was full of domestic, American and international buyers.

‘The success of [Double Happiness] opened doors for sure,’ says Shum. ‘Investors were willing to trust that I was going to go out on a limb and spread my wings because the first film was so well-received.’ Although Shum’s second feature, Drive, She Said, went largely unnoticed, the $3-million Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity, Shum’s third feature, debuts this year at the TIFF with Odeon attached as distributor.