– Telefilm invests $33.7M

Telefilm Canada reports funding commitments of $33.7 million in 56 new Canadian film and television productions for the period April 1 to June 30.

The agency invested $22.1 million from its ctcpf eip envelope in 42 tv productions and $11 million from eip funds in eight feature productions.

On a regional basis, Telefilm invested $16.1 million in 34 Quebec projects including five feature films, Les Boys 2, Emporte-moi, L’Ile de sable, Miracle a Memphis and Odieuse felicite; $8.2 million in 10 Ontario projects including four documentaries, Amorok’s Song Series, Flightpath iii, My Son the Tattoo Artist and Thai Girls; just under $3.7 million in four Atlantic region projects including the feature The Divine Ryans; and $3.4 million in eight Western region projects including two features, Bad Money and Tail Lights Fade.

– Fatal accident on Crow set

Stunt coordinator Mark Akerstream died Aug. 16 in Vancouver from injuries sustained in a freak accident that occurred Aug. 14 on the set of the Crescent Entertainment series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven.

An rcmp press release said that Akerstream, 44, was struck in the head by a piece of flying debris after a small, controlled explosion in a rowboat on a Squamish, b.c. shoreline.

Akerstream was reportedly not involved with coordinating the explosion and was standing well behind a safety rope when the debris struck him.

Squamish rcmp and the b.c. coroner’s office are investigating the accident.

Filming on the series was temporarily shut down.

– Virgo wins best pic

Director Clement Virgo’s The Planet of Junior Brown won the best picture Jury Prize at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York City earlier this month.

The Film Works production faced stiff competition against u.s. studio offerings including Miramax’s Down In The Delta, 20th Century Fox’s How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Warner Bros.’ Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

Urbanworld showcases the work of Black and Latin filmmakers.

– Shoemaker big in Germany

Director Colleen Murphy’s feature debut Shoemaker, produced by the Canadian Film Centre’s Feature Film Project, is getting a theatrical release in Germany.

On the strength of winning three prizes at the 1997 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival – the Audience Award, the Award of Independent Cinema Owners and the Ecumenic Jury Award – Shoemaker will open on three screens in Berlin on Oct. 22.

Murphy and Shoemaker producer Elizabeth Yake have presold their next project, the feature desire, to German broadcaster zdf-arte. desire will be coproduced by Germany-based Bioskop Film and is slated to shoot in the spring of 1999.

– Kenny kills for Comedy Net

The Comedy Network’s second-window rights acquisition of South Park appears to be paying off, with a one-week marathon of the irreverent cartoon yielding an all-time ratings record for the channel with viewers 2+.

On Aug. 6, 242,000 viewers per average minute watched the South Park epsiode ‘Volcano.’ The rating is the highest received for any program that has aired on Comedy since its inception 10 months ago.

For the first seven nights of Comedy’s South Park marathon, which began Aug 4, the per-minute average number of nightly viewers 2+ was 194,286. A total of 1,357,000 viewers 2+ watched South Park during the seven-day period.

– Titanic ratings for Discovery

Titanic Live, a two-hour live broadcast from the wreck of the Titanic, has garnered the highest program ratings in Discovery Canada history.

The Aug. 16 program pulled in an average per-minute audience of 596,000 viewers across the country, scoring an overall reach of 1.5 million viewers 2+.

The ratings are nearly double Discovery’s previous top-ranked show, Polar Bear, which had an average per-minute audience of 325,000 viewers in January 1995 during the specialtys’ first week on air.

Discovery president Trina McQueen says more Titanic exploration programming is planned for this winter.

– Dalton is new MPB prez

The Motion Picture Bond Company has appointed industry veteran Christopher Dalton as president, Canada and Europe.

Dalton was senior vp and head of production at Montreal’s Telescene Film Group.

Diane Arcand will move up from her previous position as associate head of production at Telescene to take over Dalton’s position as head of production.

Arcand has worked on various Telescene productions including Student Bodies, Going to Kansas City, Nightmare Man and Escape from Wildcat Canyon.

And Jeanine Basile has been appointed to the newly created position of manager of public relations at Telescene.

– Alliance first quarter

With the discontinuation of its tax-shelter business, Alliance Communications’ first-quarter net operating earnings were down slightly to $4.1 million compared to $4.8 million for the same period last year.

Earnings per share for the period ended June 30 also dipped, to $0.26 from last year’s $0.36. Alliance says when Alliance Equicap’s tax-shelter operations are excluded from results, core businesses, including television, motion picture and broadcasting, show continued growth.

Revenues from Alliance Television increased significantly to $33 million in the quarter from $12 million for the same period last year, a gain of 175%.

Alliance Broadcasting also posted revenue gains with the launch of History Television and increased ad revenues from Showcase. Broadcasting revenues for the quarter were $9 million, a 59% increase over last year’s $5.6 million.

Alliance Motion Picture revenues for the quarter declined 10% to $38 million from $42 million last year. The film division’s revenue decrease is due mostly to the strong performance of last year’s The Sweet Hereafter and flat revenues for distribution arm Alliance Releasing.

– People

– Former ctv group vp programming Gary Maavara has been appointed director of special projects for CanWest Global Communications.

Maavara, who steps into the position Sept. 1, will be based at CanWest’s Toronto offices where he will work on corporate development initiatives as well as regulatory and multimedia strategies.

– Toronto’s Breakthrough Entertainment has appointed Caroline Murphy vp finance and Shari Cohen manager, legal and business affairs.

– Alliance Pictures has named Nick La Terza senior vp, head of legal and business affairs, West Coast.

– Atlantis Broadcasting has appointed Cindy Witten to the position of production executive.

– Mercedes Watson has been appointed director of ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society for the ACTRA Performers Guild.

– Janice Kaye has joined ctv as publicist for CTV News and CTV News 1.