While the overall volume of international coproductions rose 11% between 1997 and 1998, foreign partnerships on feature films decreased slightly, to 21 films in ’98 from 26 projects a year earlier.

While more feature films were were given advance ruling by Telefilm’s coproduction office in 1997, actual spending in Canada on treaty coproductions rose in 1998.

Of the $205 million-plus in international feature film coproductions registered with Telefilm in 1998, 58% or $120 million of the combined budgets were spent in Canada. In 1997, only $109 million in production spending took place in Canada, 51% of the total $213 million in budgets.

Deborah Drisdell, director of international relations at Telefilm, says the slight decrease in feature film joint ventures is not a sign of a downturn and that overall feature film coproduction activity is fairly stable.

Of the 1998 projects, 13 are English-language films, with 68% or $100 million of the $148 million in budgets spent in Canada. The 1997 breakdown was 12 English-language films, with 54% or $31 million of the $57 million spent in Canada.

Seven French-language films spent 28% or $34 million of a $50 million budget total in 1997 as compared to six films spending 34% or $17 million of a $48 million total in Canada last year.

In ’97, eight combined French/English films were recorded, with $61 million or 57% of the total $108 million in budgets landing in Canada. Only one such project occurred in 1998, spending 77% or $5.4 million of a $7-million budget in Canada.

In 1998, coproductions with Canada’s major partners, France and the u.k., were weighted more favorably for the Canadian side, with a larger share of the production budgets landing here.

French partnerships rose in 1998 to nine projects from eight the previous year. This past year, $27 million or 46% of the total budgets was spent in Canada, while in 1997 only 34% of the budgets was spent here, but the budget total was $38 million.

Eight projects were produced with the u.k. in ’98, with 67% of the budget or $87 million spent in Canada. The 1997, the total was 57% or $88 million worth of spending taking place at home.

In 1998, Canadians also partnered with Germany, Italy, Norway and the Czech Republic.

Drisdell predicts a rise in coproductions with Germany over the next couple of years, with signs of increased activity already underway.

‘Germany is a territory where our feature films have historically been well positioned in the marketplace and always fared well,’ she says. In previous years, most of the activity with Germany was in presales, but Drisdell says this is moving into coproductions.

On tap for ’99

International coproductions shooting in 1999 include Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films’ $10-million Canada/France/Germany project titled Deeper Into Jennifer. The feature, a joint venture with France and German production company fmh, will be directed and cowritten by Andre Bonzel (Man Bites Dog) of France. ujc is handling world sales. Preproduction begins in February.

The black comedy/thriller centers on an intelligence agent who returns from an undercover assignment and finds the world has gone mad in his absence.

Shaftesbury and u.k.-based Greenpoint Films will coproduce The Boggart, budgeted at $8 million to $10 million. Based on the novel by British author Susan Cooper, who is also penning the script, the film centers on a mysterious creature of old magic. The shoot is scheduled for Toronto and Scotland in April.

Peter Simpson is in post on Stuart Raffill’s Grizzly Falls, a $10-million majority Canadian (80%) coproduction with Allan Scott of the u.k. Brian Brown and Daniel Clark lead the cast in this western tale of a father who takes his son on an adventure to capture a grizzly bear.

The film was financed with presales to Taurus in Germany and Canal Plus in France, with Behaviour holding Canadian and international sales. rights

Simpson will shoot another western with Allen Scott late spring or early fall. The as yet untitled project is written by Scott and is a tale of gold fever and lust set in Alberta. Budget is $4.5 million.

Leader Media, a Toronto-based production company which has been in business since 1979, has wrapped a joint venture with Italian company Solaris Cinematografica. Titled Greener Fields, the film is weighted 30% Canadian and tells the story of a young boy who comes to Canada from Italy and is coached into becoming a great soccer player. Catalyst is distributing.

Leader president Carlo Liconti says his company will also partner with Italian producers this year on Ubaldina’s Menu, a $5-million romantic comedy in which a woman who visits her son in Canada accidentally ends up starting a restaurant.

Leader is considering starting up its own distribution arm to handle the release of its feature slate.

Another majority Canadian project with an Italian coproducer is set for an early summer shoot with Italian director Anthony Richards. The $4-million film is set in the Canadian wilderness where a boy who witnesses a murder hides out. The Undesirables, a 50/50 Canada/Italy venture is an $8-million picture about the 1951 commission which expatriated Italian mobsters.

Dogwood Pictures, a new company formed in Vancouver, will go to camera on its first international coproduction Feb. 8. The Guilty is a partnership with J and M Entertainment out of the u.k. and stars American actor Bill Pullman, Devon Sawa, a Vancouver native, and Gabrielle Anwar of the u.k. Anthony Waller (American Werewolf in Paris) is directing a script from Wil Davies.

The Guilty is weighted 70% Canadian.

Dogwood is owned by Lisa Richardson. Muse Entertainment in Quebec is a minority shareholder in the new company.

The Intruder is a $7.6-million joint venture between GFT Kingsborough and Steve Walsh Productions in the u.k. currently shooting in Montreal (see Quebec Scene, p. 14).

Financial coproductions have become a popular trend between European producers over the past couple of years. As opposed to typical treaty coproductions, these ventures involve a smaller financial investment and creative control from the minority partner. They also require a strict balance: for every financial partnership involving a majority Canadian producer with a u.k. minority company, for example, a situation would quickly have to follow where a u.k. producer takes a majority stake in a financial coproduction with a Canadian.

Canada is currently involved in a two-year financial coproduction test project with France for the production of big-budget French-language films.

Drisdell reports that European producers are anxious to develop financial coproductions with Canadian partners. Increasingly, German, u.k., Spanish and Dutch producers are voicing particular concerns that Canada should open up the possibility of this new arrangement. Over the next couple of months Telefilm plans to again broach the subject with the cftpa and aftpq and formulate a Canadian position.

Drisdell says the idea of financial coproductions has been discussed with the cftpa and other organizations but as yet a consensus on the issue has not been achieved and the decision was made to monitor how the venture is working in Europe.

The benefits of such an arrangement would be in allowing Canadian producers to access international financing on a project which is completely Canadian in creative as there is no need to pick up several points in Europe to satisfy the treaty.

The setup would also allow Canadian producers to get involved in big-budget inter-European coproductions which are looking to pick up a final 10% of the budget in Canada. This could offer Canadians a foot in the door for future partnerships.

Over the next year, Telefilm will also be promoting recently signed treaties with the Nordic countries of Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.