Montreal: Several new approaches to feature film funding emerged this year at Telefilm Canada’s Quebec operations office. The emphasis on auteur movies remained unchanged, but the agency apparently found a way to disgruntle a number of older established producers by greenlighting five low-budget films, investing $1.4 million in the films or 15% of all French-track production money, and perhaps more significantly, by greenlighting an unprecedented 13 films from first-time directors. Six coproductions were also accepted, including three minority coproductions.

Telefilm’s Quebec operations greenlit a total of 22 feature film projects in ’99/2000. Seventeen have completed their financing, almost all on the French side, and have been shot or will be shot this winter.

The agency allotted just over $8 million from the Feature Film Fund and $2.5 million from the Equity Investment Program to 18 French-language feature projects out of 50 production applications, and $2.65 million, 16% of the total, to four English-language movies out of a total of 12 applications.

‘We know who the players are – Telefilm Canada, sodec, tax credits and distribution companies – there is basically no other way to finance French feature films,’ says Joelle Levie, Telefilm’s Quebec operations director.

The need for wider presale or gap-financing requirements or marquee talent make English-track movies more difficult to finance, Levie adds.

She says more movies were funded this year because Telefilm’s per film investment was lower than in previous years and because producers typically asked a richer sodec for more money. Telefilm’s Quebec office financed 15 movies in ’98/99 and 18 in ’97/98.

Besides sodec, which financed one movie without Telefilm participation in ’99/2000, additional funds came from broadcasters Radio-Canada, Reseau tva and Super Ecran, the pay-tv movie service.

Levie says this year her office ‘responded to the demand, so we made decisions in relation to projects that were submitted. We’ve received an enormous number of first-time projects and relatively few from established directors.’ She says with one or two exceptions, applications from established directors were, in fact, accepted, including films from Charles Biname, Robert Favreau, Arto Paragamian, Pierre Falardeau and Gabriel Pelletier.

‘This year we looked at all the applications in the same way – content, financing, distribution,’ explains Levie. ‘We arrived at a type of points system [ranking], which helped us to determine which projects were a priority in terms of our financing resources, reaching a target audience, generating revenues or festivals.’

Levie says the industry here is such that the agency cannot guarantee a filmmaker a movie every two years, nor can it predict when new directing or screenwriting talent will emerge.

In the oversubscribed development category, Telefilm’s Quebec office had accepted 22 screenplay projects out of 64 funding requests as of September. The total rose to more than 70, with about 30 accepted, when the development envelope was shut down in October. Fifteen projects were funded on the English side. The French-language development budget this year was close to $600,000, which includes a number of ‘automatic’ envelopes reserved for producers (capped at $75,000) who had delivered three films in the past five years with minimum cumulative box-office receipts of $450,000.

Levie says the ‘automatic’ or reserved development envelopes reflect the kind of performance criteria policies likely to be introduced in a new consolidated feature film fund.

Nine films with average budgets of $3.2 million were greenlit and shot in ’99/2000:

* Charles Biname’s La Beaute de Pandore (produced by Cite-Amerique and distributed by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm), which came in considerably under the $3.2-million budget average;

* Mario Chabot’s Mechant Party (Productions Jeux D’Ombres/Film Tonic), also under the budget average;

* Denise Filiatreault’s comedy sequel Laura Cadieux…la suite (Cinemaginaire/aav);

* Denis Villeneuve’s Maelstrom (Max Films/aav);

* Robert Favreau’s Les Muses Orphelines (Lyla Films/Film Tonic);

* Ghyslaine Cote’s kiddies movie PinPon en Camping (Films Vision 4/Films Lions Gate);

* Arto Paragamian’s Two Thousand and None (Galafilm/Behaviour), well over the budget average;

* Gabriel Pelletier’s romantic comedy La Vie apres l’amour (Max Films/aav), also over the budget average; and

* Pierre Falardeau’s historical drama 15 Fevrier 1839 (acpav), which is being shot this coming winter.

Five films with average budgets of $1 million or less (with one exception) were greenlit and shot in ’99. The films are all from first-time feature directors: Michel Jette’s Hochelaga (Films Baliverna/Cinema Libre), Celine Baril’s Instant Fatal (Films de l’Autre/ France Film), Claude Demers’ L’Invention de l’amour (Films de l’Autre/Remstar Distribution), Philippe Falardeau’s La Moitie gauche du frigo (Films 4X4/Film Tonic) and Pierre Greco’s Petit vent de panique (Productions Thalie/Films Lions Gate).

Among Quebec film coproductions, three have been shot, three more – two in English – are pending, and one with Ontario was canceled.

The three shot coproductions are Yves Hancher’s En Vacanes (Productions egm/Film Tonic), a minority feature with France and Belgium; first-time director Jean-Sebastien Lord’s Le Petit Ciel (Aska Films/ Aska Film Distribution); and Chris Vander Stappen’s romantic drama Petit Fete (Films Vision 4/Films Lions Gate), also a minority coproduction with France and Belgium.

Films accepted by Telefilm in ’99 but not fully financed or not yet shot include a minority coproduction with France, English-track feature debuts from producers Amerique Film and Cine Qua Non, and a first feature from a Quebec director that’s slated to be produced by acpav.

Telefilm intends to establish sector-to-sector advisory committees in anticipation of a consolidated feature film fund.