Montreal: Galafilm president Arnie Gelbart unveiled a $16-million production slate at last month’s Banff Television Festival, topped by several high-profile drama projects including a new Lea Pool movie and coproductions with partners in Ontario and Alberta. The company has also announced it has brought in Francine Allaire as executive producer.

‘I’ve been thinking for the past couple of years that I want to do more drama, from children’s and television drama to feature films,’ says Gelbart.

The producer began his career on the drama and feature film side, but is perhaps better known for his more recent work in documentaries. While the buzz is on drama, Gelbart says the house intends to pursue its work on ‘ambitious’ documentary projects. Galafilm’s share of its new 2001/02 production slate is approximately $12.5 million.

Allaire’s arrival at Galafilm is a clear sign the company intends to push primetime English-track Canadian and international film and TV drama in partnership with other producers, including French-language producers in Montreal.

Allaire’s credits include the critically acclaimed TV movie Dr. Lucille: The Lucille Teasdale Story and the multiple Hot Docs 2000 award-winning art film Riopelle.

Allaire and Gelbart are exec producing the new Lea Pool (Lost & Delirious) theatrical feature Mariposa Azul (The Blue Butterfly). The film is described as an edgy, family-style adventure but told in an adult voice. The original screenplay is by Pete McCormack, adapted from a moving, true-life story told by renowned naturalist Georges Brossard (Insectia).

The planned budget is in the order of $10 million, with principal photography slated for December on location in Montreal, Cuba and Venezuela. Cinematographer Pierre Gill is slated to shoot the film. Michel Arcand is the picture editor.

New production at Galafilm includes more than 20 hours of primetime TV programming, including two drama series.

Worst Witch at Wyrdsister College, 13 half-hours making up the show’s fourth season, is a coproduction with Global Arts and Granada Media Group of the U.K. The show has been licensed by YTV, Radio-Canada and TFO, and in the U.K. by ITV. Filming begins June 18 at Twickenham Studios in the U.K.

On the limited series front, Exposed is an official Quebec/ Ontario coproduction anthology (8 x 30) on the subject of women’s erotica. It’s coproduced by Toronto’s Back Alley Film Productions, with licences from Showcase Television, TMN-The Movie Network, Superchannel, Super Ecran and Series +. Filming begins this September on a budget of $4.8 million.

Galafilm and veteran producers Randy Bradshaw and Doug MacLeod of Alberta Filmworks are slated to shoot the $4.2-million CTV movie-of-the-week Agent of Influence. It’s based on the Ian Adams’ book on the highly mysterious Cold War circumstances surrounding the death of Canadian diplomat John Watkins.

In July, filming begins on the final two of six one-hour episodes of Chiefs, written and directed by Gil Cardinal and Brian McKenna. Each episode (‘Sitting Bull,’ ‘Pontiac,’ ‘Black Hawk’) is budgeted at close to $600,000, with licences from History Television, Historia, TVOntario, TFO and SCN. Galafilm Multimedia is producing an informative Chiefs website.

Filming begins in September on a new Radio-Canada docusoap called Ecole de Danse, six half-hours chronicling of the lives of students and teachers at a Montreal ballroom dance school.

Galafilm and the National Film Board coproduced the intimate Tanya Tree- and Merrily Weisbord-directed biography, Ted Allan: Minstrel Boy of the Twentieth Century, licensed by History Television, Bravo! and CFCF-TV.

Another doc entry, Circus of the Sewers, is a one-hour portrait of Mongolian ‘sewer’ kids who meet up with the world-famous Cirque du Soleil. It’s written and directed by Josh Freed and Miro Cernetig and licensed by CBC.

Galafilm also has two docs in delivery for the new season.

When Two Won’t Do is a revealing feature-length exploration of life’s big relationship questions, from monogamous ideals to open marriages and unfettered swinging. The film is a coproduction with Picture Perfect producers/directors Maureen Marovitch and David Finch, with licences from TVOntario, Knowledge Network in B.C. and SCN.

Niagara is a docusoap series profiling six people who live and work in and around the famous tourist destination. It’s set to premier on CBC on Monday, Sept. 17.

Development slate

At Galafilm, Allaire is responsible for developing and exec producing a wide range of projects, with the emphasis on TV drama and movies in both official languages.

Projects in development under Allaire’s supervision include a filmed adaptation of playwright David Gow’s Cherry Docs; Guests of War, a TV miniseries based on the Kit Pearson children’s novels; and St. Urbain’s Horseman, based on the award-winning novel by the late Mordecai Richler.

Gelbart is an outspoken advocate on behalf of Montreal as an important and necessary Canadian production center.

‘I think there hasn’t been a sufficient push for Montreal to have its share of English-language drama and funding for people who do Canadian content. This is something I’m being quite vocal about across the country,’ he says.

Selected Galafilm credits include The Valour and the Horror, The War of 1812, the award-winning family drama Tale of Teeka and several feature films including Two Thousand and None, The Hanging Garden and Lilies. *

-www.galafilm.com