Montreal-based distributor Remstar has opened a Toronto office and is gearing up for its first foray into feature film releasing and production in the English-language market. Vancouver’s Forefront Entertainment is in the midst of its first theatrical release and will also shoot and distribute its first feature in 1999.

With the consolidation of Canadian releasing companies into large conglomerates over the past couple of years, a number of production companies are laying bets that there is room in the marketplace for small boutique distribution operations and launching subsidiaries to release feature films in Canada.

‘The way distribution and film is evolving you have two or three mammoth companies and nothing else, so we are going to find a slot that the big guns aren’t filling,’ explains Andrew Austin, former director of home entertainment at Odeon Films who is now heading up Remstar’s Toronto office, which will release 10 to 12 films into English Canada in 1999.

The slate includes The Patriot, a $35-million picture directed by Dean Sernier, starring Steven Seagal and distributed by Buena Vista in the u.s.

Through its first-look deal with Interlight Entertainment out of l.a., Remstar has picked up the $23-million Resurrection, starring Christopher Lambert and directed by Russell Mulcahy, and Camouflage, an $18-million picture from James Keach led by Leslie Nielsen.

Remstar also has an output deal with Montreal producer Claude Leger of Transfilm, which includes Magic of Marciano, a $12.2-million film from Tony Barbieri, the $45 million feature Grey Owl from Sir Richard Attenborough and Allan Goldstein’s Home Team.

Austin says the plan is to release a few films very well. The English-language slate will never go beyond 12 pictures a year, with roughly three of these films being Canadian. The company is acquiring commercially viable, bigger budget fare with u.s. distribution attached or low-budget, edgy films from burgeoning talent.

‘We will be lean so we can be more attentive to filmmakers and the filmmaking process and nurture talent,’ says Austin. ‘This won’t be a sausage-grinder factory. By picking our slots we will devote the resources, time and expertise necessary to market and distribute quality films.’

Distribution is only a stepping stone towards Remstar’s goal of becoming a vertically integrated entertainment company.

The company’s first foray into production will be Youthquake, a $7.7 million feature scripted by newcomer Dominic Salvaggio scheduled to shoot this summer. Austin describes Youthquake as a young, urban, hip version of Clockwork Orange. Director, cast and u.s. sales agent are currently being negotiated.

George Mihalka will direct Ordinary Man, a $2-million gender-bending comedy set in a Greek community in Montreal. Remstar plans to handle international and domestic distribution on this picture.

Austin anticipates the production of four features in 1999, all of which will be distributed in Canada by Remstar. Foreign sales is another avenue the company plans to pursue.

Remstar is also set to sign a video label deal with a major distributor in Canada, utilizing the leverage of the sales partner to maximize video unit sales.

Family focus at Forefront

tv-focused Forefront has entered the releasing business in Canada through Forefront Theatrical International.

Headed by Forefront principal Helena Cynamon and Allan Locke, the company is specializing in the production and distribution of family features.

Their first release is Edge Entertainment’s Summer of the Monkeys, directed by Michael Anderson.

Before Forefront picked up Summer of the Monkeys, all the other Canadian distributors had passed on the film, saying it was not theatrically viable. Yet so far, with only an initial limited opening release, Forefront is proving the odds wrong.

Summer of the Monkeys opened theatrically in September in Saskatchewan and Alberta, playing 14 weeks at the Cineplex Odeon Centre Cinema in Saskatoon and four weeks in Calgary. The film will open in b.c. following its screening at the Reel to Reel Children’s Film Festival. Since the film targets family audiences, the release strategy involves putting the film into discount theaters. A Toronto and Ottawa release (likely the National Arts Centre) is being negotiated.

Concubine’s Children will be Forefront’s first feature-length production. Scripted by Malcom MacRury from an award-winning novel by Denise Chong, it’s the story of a woman brought over from China in the 1920s as a concubine and her struggles with society. Her efforts at survival in a harsh world serve as an inspiration for her daughters and future generations. Cynamon is exec producer, with Karen Troubetzkoy and Melanie Friesen coproducing.

Forefront Theatrical has also acquired GFT Paquin’s Silver Wolf, a Canadian film about a teenage snowboarder who befriends a wounded wolf. A wide release in all major markets is planned.

Forefront is currently signing a distribution deal for Stuart Bliss, a low-budget dark comedy about a fellow whose claim to fame is finding household uses for surplus military equipment. The film is directed by Neil Grieve and produced by Perilous Pictures in b.c.

The company is also in the midst of finalizing a deal for Francis Damberger’s Heart of the Sun, chosen as the most popular film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. The $3-million Alberta/b.c. coproduction is from Makara Pictures and Ennerdale Films and traces the history of eugenics in Alberta. Christianne Hirt, Shaun Johnston, Michael Riley and Graham Greene lead the cast.

Locke admits that competing with the majors for the family market is like ‘competing in a tank battle with a pop gun,’ but says his particular expertise is matching films with individual niche markets and finding cost-effective means to promote films.

Locke has worked for Theatre Agencies in Calgary where he booked films into theaters across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, everything from small mining towns and Mennonite communities to grain-growing locales. Locke says that by building long-term relationships with exhibitors and proving the viability of its slate, Forefront will establish itself in the releasing market.

Cynamon says Forefront plans to release internationally and is currently working out a deal whereby it will have access to screens throughout the u.s. to release their slate.

Shared expertise

Oasis Shaftesbury Releasing is an example of a production entity and foreign sales company combining their expertise in a feature film distribution arm. Launched last September by Shaftesbury Films and Oasis Pictures of Toronto, the distributor plans to acquire up to eight Canadian films with budgets ranging from $500,000 to $4 million for release in the Canadian market .

Chris Grismer’s feature directorial debut Clutch, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced by the Canadian Film Centre, is the company’s first acquisition.

Shaftesbury Films is also releasing its own product through the division. First up is Piers Haggard’s Conquest, a Canada/u.k. coproduction between Shaftesbury, Heartland Motion Pictures and Greenpoint Films. The $3.5-million feature stars Tara Fitzgerald and Lothaire Bluteau.

Conquest opens with three prints Jan. 29 at the Famous Player’s Capitol theater in Regina, the Midtown in Saskatoon and the Hollywood Theatre in Toronto. This will be followed by a wider opening in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa through Famous Players.

Foreign-language niche

Hussain Amarshi’s Toronto distribution entity Mongrel Media has been releasing foreign-language films, particularly pictures from Asian and Middle Eastern directors, for the past three years and has found considerable success through niche marketing strategies which target Canada’s multicultural communities.

In 1995, Mongrel’s first film, The Silences of the Palaces from Tunisian director Moufida Tlatli, played for eight weeks at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema and brought in a box office total of $160,000 across Canada.

Amarshi followed up with an Israeli film, The Summer of Aviya, which brought in box office receipts of $50,000 in Toronto alone. One of its most successful releases, Gabbeh from Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, played four months in Toronto then worked its way through 35 cities across English-speaking Canada, generating $200,000 in box office receipts.

In 1998, Mongrel’s slate was stepped up to 11 foreign-language films and the addition of its first Canadian film, Amnon Buchbinder’s The Fishing Trip. Mongrel Media has acquired Jennifer Baichwal’s Genie-nominated Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles for release in ’99.

Also planning to focus on foreign-language films is newcomer Beacon Releasing, which opened its doors last September with the plan to release six to eight films per year, handling theatrical, video and tv sales. Acquiring Canadian product is also high on the agenda.

Its first release was Drifting Clouds, a 1996 Palme d’Or finalist from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki. The film played for three weeks at Toronto’s Carlton, followed by eight screenings through the Festival chains. A one-week run just finished at Vancouver’s Pacific Cinemateque. Drifting Clouds will now make its way across the rest of Canada.

Strength in numbers

Richard Paradis at cafde anticipates that many of these upsarts will eventually merge into mid-sized companies to pool resources and release a larger slate of films.

‘It’s tough to go into the market and sell two or three films when someone else has 300,’ he says.

With higher volume, a merged company can invest more in marketing and market exploitation and sell package deals, especially with the onslaught of new specialty channels, says Paradis.

‘It is going to be extremely difficult for these smaller companies to have a profitable distribution business in the short to midterm, which is why these alliances may happen,’ he says.

Paradis also points out that the major u.s. distributors have control of over 85% of the market in Canada, so the Canadian companies are all competing for the same 15% of the pie.

The success of these new companies will depend on their ability to determine the market potential of their release slate, says Paradis. Over the past few years, he says, Canada’s major distributors have increasingly undertaken market studies before releasing their Canadian films to target potential audiences and the best way to reach them.