Montreal: Quebec film and TV producers have a long pioneering history of coproduction with Europe, mostly with France but increasingly with the U.K. And 2002 is no exception.

Among the most active Quebec houses in coproduction are Transfilm, CineGroupe, Cite-Amerique, Cinemaginaire, Max Films, Mediatoon, Pixcom Productions, Muse Entertainment, Tooncan, Galafilm, Park Ex Pictures, Remstar Productions, Equinox Entertainment and Cinar Corp.

The recently launched National Film Board International Co-Production Unit also has an ambitious program and has unveiled new partnerships with France 2 and other producers.

Recent Quebec drama coproductions with Europe include Tonie Marshall’s Au plus pres du paradis (Cinemaginaire in Canada, with majority French and Spanish partners), the new Denys Arcand feature Les Invasions barbares (Cinemaginaire), the Michel Boujenah feature Pere et fils (Max Films), the French resistance drama Jean Moulin (Transfilm), the mini-series Robinson Crusoe and the $55-million historical drama Napoleon, directed by Yves Simoneau and coproduced by Transfilm, Spice Factory of the U.K. and GMT Productions of France, a subsidiary of the powerful Hachette media group.

Transfilm, as well as producer Claude Leger, is arguably the country’s top coproduction partner again in 2002.

The house coproduced the Jacob Berger road movie Aime ton pere, budgeted at $9 million and starring Gerard Depardieu, and is preparing to start shooting shortly on Polyesterday, a $10.5-million Canada/U.K. coproduction from director Carole Giacobbi. The film stars Jonny Lee Miller, Selma Blair and Rhys Ifans in a story about a 30-year-old woman who tries to uncover the murder of her unknown father.

Coproductions in 2002

Quebec-based film and TV coproductions in 2002 with advanced rulings include:

* Two Studio 48 (producers Marcel Giroux, Carl Samson) projects: the feature film The Actress, a majority Canada/U.K. coproduction budgeted at close to $2.5 million, and the 25-part short film series Urban Myth Chillers, a $4-million minority (40%) Canada/France coproduction

* Cinar’s minority coproduction with France, The Baskervilles – 26 animated half-hours budgeted at close to $12.5 million

* Chroniques du Canada, 12 half-hours for TV coproduced in Canada by Productions Espace Vert, an Ontario-based producer, and French partners. Espace Vert and French partners are also coproducing the TV series La Cinquieme Dimension

* The John L’Ecuyer feature film La Gout des jeunes filles (Productions Jeux d’Ombre), a $2.4-million coproduction with France slated to film later in 2002 or early 2003

* La-Haut (Productions Boobam), a $4-million minority feature film coproduction with France

* Miniseries Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Remstar), a $32-million minority Canada/France/U.K. prod that recently completed location shooting in Quebec

* The Many Trials of One Jane Doe, an MOW about a rape victim who sues the police, coproduced with the U.K., Toronto’s Indian Grove (Bernie Zukerman) and Montreal’s Muse Entertainment (Michael Prupas)

* The Lea Pool feature Blue Butterfly (aka Mariposa Azul), a $12.5-million majority Canada/U.K. coproduction from Galafilm producers Arnie Gelbart and Francine Allaire, which recently completed location shooting in Costa Rica and Quebec

* The three-hour Productions Pixcom human evolution series L’Odyssee de l’Espece, a $3.6-million minority coproduction with France

* Cineflix’s 13 half-hour docudrama series Pilot Season, a chronicle of young talents trying to make it in Hollywood, is a $2-million majority Canada/U.K. coproduction

* The $12-million animated feature Pinocchio 3000, coproduced by CineGroupe and French and Spanish partners

* Rapido, a $10-million minority Canada/France children’s series (52 x 15) from Montreal’s Productions Tooncan (producer Paul Cadieux), which is also doing two children’s short-form series, Snailympics II with Spanish partners and X-DuckX II with French partners

* Rencontres avec Madame A., a one-hour documentary coproduction with France from Montreal’s Productions Virage

* CineGroupe’s Images’ series Seriously Weird, 26 half-hours coproduced with the U.K.’s Granada and budgeted at $15 million

* The Tele-Cinema Taurus series Undressed, from producers Claudio Castravelli and Roland Joffe, a $15-million majority Canada/U.K. coproduction which filmed on location in Montreal earlier this summer

* Cinar is coproducing the $4.7-million majority Canada/China animation series Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings with Chinese partners. Cinar and U.K. partners are also coproducing 13 new episodes of The Twins, budgeted at $5.5 million.

Canadian overview

Telefilm Canada’s newly named International Development and Promotion unit had issued advanced rulings for 52 Canadian film and TV coproductions as of July 22, basically in line with the 56 projects certified around this time last year.

However, many of the projects listed in 2002 were actually filed in 2001, and among the 140 or more projects filed with Telefilm this year, as few as 15% to 20% have yet to receive advanced rulings.

Telefilm staff may be working overtime in an effort to catch up, but in many instances the delays in issuance reflect arduous financing conditions, particularly for new TV coproductions with the U.K. and all forms of projects with Germany. In fact, no official coproductions with Germany have received advanced rulings in 2002.

The cumulative budget of 51 film and TV coproductions in 2002 (as of July 19) is $361 million, with $214.2 million of the financing (59%) from Canada, $131.6 million from primary coproducing sources and more than $15 million from third-party country sources.

Of the 51 coproductions, 40 are TV productions with combined budgets of $275.7 million ($183 million of the financing from Canada) and 11 are feature films with combined budgets of $84.9 million ($47.2 million of the financing from Canada). Seventeen of the projects are documentaries ($23.5 million) and 12 are animated series or features ($90.7 million, with $48.7 million of the financing from Canada).

To date in 2002, three coproductions with combined budgets of $50.3 million will be shot in high-definition format.

Expanded European mandate

Telefilm recently appointed Sheila de La Varende, director of its European office, to the concurrent post of director, international development and promotion.

Based in Paris, de La Varende and the Paris team are responsible for promoting and ensuring the visibility of the Canadian industry abroad, especially regarding international festivals and markets. The Paris office is also charged with encouraging partnerships with Europe. This series of initiatives includes the annual European Industry Immersion program.

The June-July editorial in ZOOM, Telefilm’s European newsletter, says independent film and TV producers in France face many obstacles financing major projects, and coproduction is an increasingly important option.

‘Although the Centre national de la cinematographie’s report for 2001 shows that French cinema has rarely been more vigorous, French industry professionals – especially the independents – have rarely been more apprehensive. Given the steady stream of European pay-TV failures and the wide-reaching shake-up at Vivendi Universal – Canal+ (which irreparably undermines the French film financing system), the mood is one of gloom. For its part, the new government appears determined to reassure the destabilized profession and to bring new solutions to an industry where cultural diversity is increasingly under threat. With France’s film and television players seeking stability before undertaking major projects, international coproduction is more than ever a means of choice for budget financing.’