Vancouver: The Canada Feature Film Fund will undergo an overhaul in its sophomore year now that Telefilm Canada has accepted a handful of recommendations from a 24-member advisory group. But the details will have to wait until the new guidelines are announced early this year.

‘The recommendations will ripple through the regulations,’ promises Tom Rowe, executive VP, creative affairs at Vancouver’s Sextant Entertainment and cochair of the advisory group, which has met twice since September and reconvenes in February in Ottawa. ‘After a year of seeing how the fund works and listening to industry concerns, the regulations will be more comprehensive.’

Dates, deadlines, box-office tracking, development lead times for producers and other issues were considered in the suggested changes. The contentious issue of eligibility that excluded box-office champs The Art of War and Air Bud from the top performers’ list was apparently not up for discussion, however. Both films were one point shy of the minimum Canadian content thresholds required for the inaugural performance lists topped by The Red Violin on the English side and Les Boys on the French side. The seemingly arbitrary restrictions kept incensed rights holders International Keystone (Air Bud) and TVA International (Art of War) from maxing out their CFFF allotments.

Telefilm has recommended keeping the performance component of deciding which producers get what money at its current 50% for 2002/03, upping it to 60% for 2003/04. The CFFF is ultimately hoping that by supporting producers with a proven track record for commercially viable movies, Canadian films will grow to represent 5% of our domestic box office, up from the approximately 2% it now occupies.

Also under review is a recommendation to remove a provision that the lead character in a coproduction be Canadian. Telefilm has also offered to provide further development funds if a distributor commits to picking up 15% of all development costs.

The people’s money

‘Ultimately, when you are using the people’s money as a filtering system there is more demand than supply,’ says Rowe.

Overall, the CFFF paid out $30.8 million to producers and $9.8 million to distributors from the performance envelope in 2001/02. The selective envelope will pay out $30.8 million in production and development and $1.2 million to distributors.

Producers that get performance funding have used the windfall to step up production or spread the glory.

Marie-Claude Poulin, VP production at Montreal’s Melenny Productions, which made the Les Boys comedies, has $7 million to bank on with the $3.5 million from 2001/02’s CFFF and the $3.5 million she already knows the company is getting from the next CFFF.

‘It’s a big advantage knowing in advance you have the money and you don’t have to go into competition with 25 other producers,’ says Poulin.

Melenny will use the money for the $20-million historical drama La Corriveau, based on a Quebec legend about an 18th century woman who allegedly killed two husbands, and whose ghost tormented locals after she was executed. Melenny is the majority partner in the 80/20 Canada/France copro that begins shooting next September.

In June, meanwhile, production should begin on La ballade les dangereuses, a $5-million comedy by Les Boys director Louis Saia, and by May production should begin on the $5-million English-language thriller Star 69, a Canada/U.K. copro.

‘We’re in a more powerful position [with the CFFF],’ says Poulin. ‘We probably wouldn’t [otherwise] have been able to do both French films this year.’

On the strength of The Red Violin and Last Night, Toronto’s Rhombus Media gets its maximum $3.5 million from CFFF and will be able to triple its average annual feature output, says Philippa King, head of business affairs.

The $10-million Canada/U.K. copro The Stone Diaries, based on the Carol Shields book, and The Saddest Music in the World, directed by Guy Maddin, are both scheduled for production this year. The $3.2-million feature Perfect Pie, based on Judith Thompson’s play and directed by Barbara Willis Sweete, is in post-production.

‘Development is a lot less speculative,’ says King. And the CFFF funding means Rhombus doesn’t have to presell rights around the globe, making the back end of a successful film much more significant for the producer, she adds.

The Red Violin, for instance, sold every territory except the U.S. to finance the $13-million production, a situation that wouldn’t have to happen today, says King. ‘We still have to have a significant presale, but we can be selective.’

Vancouver’s Boneyard Films has $455,000 to spend based on the commercial success of Kissed, the debut feature by director and company partner Lynne Stopkewich.

‘We’re using it for local productions, to develop screenplays and finance our next production,’ says partner Dean English. ‘We’re going to squeeze it as far as it will go.’

Boneyard, consequently, has taken an executive producer role on the Vancouver-made feature Flower and Garnet, just wrapped by producer Trish Dolman, and Punch, the first feature from producer team Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson. Boneyard also has veteran story editor John Frizzell working with a new writer on the development of a script.

‘We’ve all gotten to where we are because of the support of others,’ says English. ‘It’s the least we can do to help the people who helped us. [The CFFF] really makes us feel rewarded and recognized.’

Stopkewich will direct her next feature in Vancouver this year, says English.

Meanwhile, Le Piege d’Issoudun (Stopfilm Inc.), written and directed by Micheline Lanctot; Pinocchio 3001 (CineGroupe), directed by Claude Scasso; and Le Gout des jeunes filles (Production Jeux D’Ombres) by John L’Ecuyer are the last films of the year to be accepted into the CFFF’s selective envelope.

Upcoming deadlines for French-language films looking for money from the selective envelope are Jan. 28 (with decisions April 12), April 29 (decisions June 28) and Sept. 16 (decisions Nov. 15). Low-budget independent features, either French- or English-language, must apply for funding by April 15 (decisions May 31).

-www.telefilm.gc.ca