As hundreds of Banff Television Festival delegates wade into coproduction discussions next week, Telefilm Canada reports that five months into 1998, 34 international coproductions are already underway, 10 of which involve u.k. partners.

‘Britain is one of the fastest growing markets,’ says Telefilm’s international relations director Deborah Drisdall, who has just returned from meetings with u.k., French and German delegates at the Cannes Film Festival and has a full coproduction agenda set for Banff.

But, at Cannes, British officials expressed concern over the inequitable balance in the weighting of Canada-u.k. partnerships, reports Drisdall.

The official treaty calls for a 20% minimum position for each partner, but of the 32 British/Canadian projects registered with Telefilm since 1996, 21 were weighted with the majority of the budget expended in Canada.

The financing situation in the u.k. makes it difficult for British producers to structure deals which give them a majority stake in copros with Canada, explains Drisdall. It is easier for producers to raise financing in Canada as opposed to Britain.

British officials could try to restrict majority Canadian corpos but they have agreed not to now, she says. Telefilm will continue to monitor the situation.

British authorities also proposed entering into a financial coproduction arrangement with Canada which does not require any creative-input clause.

‘We are quite hesitant to do this,’ says Drisdall. ‘I said we will go back to the Canadian industry and see if they are interested.’

Although on the production side, it would offer more flexibility in structuring partnerships, Drisdall is concerned it will increase the number of projects where Canadians have the majority of equity.

‘Canadians could go to the u.k. and attract investors to take minority positions whereas it would be much more difficult for a majority u.k. project to pick up financing in Canada without offering creative control.

This would exacerbate the current problems, she says.

More international coprod opps

At Cannes, a two-year pilot project was finalized with France which will reduce the 20% minimum participation for big-budget, French-language productions to a 10% stake. The market for French-language films in Canada is small, so with a lower commitment, Drisdall says, producers will have the opportunity to become involved in higher-budget French films.

Discussions at Cannes were forwarded to include tv in the Canada/Spain treaty, which currently recognizes only feature films. Animation producers in Canada are particularly eager to work with Spanish production companies on the tv front. Spain supported the proposal, Drisdall says, and a commission in the fall will look at cementing an agreement.

Animation is also a hot genre for coproductions, with 12 projects recorded at Telefilm in 1998 and a total of 20 the previous year.

Discussions with Germany at Cannes were aimed at the formal inclusion of television projects in the international treaty. Currently tv is appended to the treaty as an agreed minute but not necessarily recognized by German film authorities, says Drisdall.

Canada is also seeking to reduce the minimum project participation from 30% to 20%, the standard level of most treaties. Telefilm is working with regional funders in Germany and provincial film agencies in Canada to discuss ways they can work together to spur partnerships.

Discussions will be followed up at Banff where a conference on the German market will be staged.

The Chinese are actively seeking Canadian producers, says Drisdall, and with a strong delegation of Shang Hai tv execs expected at Banff, networking opps are being arranged.

A common market for the Latin American film industry is under consideration and will include incentives to promote coproductions between these countries and their foreign partners. Canada has been an observer at these negotiations, says Drisdall, to ensure Canadian producers can access the proposed program.

Since January, international treaties have been signed with Norway, Denmark, Cuba, Iceland and Greece.

Newfoundland’s Red Ochre Productions is a 20% participant in the first official venture with Norway under the treaty, the $ 7.5-million feature Misery Harbour, based on the novel by Norwegian writer Aksel Sandmose. A Danish and Swedish production company also have equity in the project.

The story involves some shooting in Newfoundland and the Norwegian company approached Red Ochre’s Ken Pittman about the project at mipcom. Norwegian Nils Gaud is directing.

Although Pittman has only a minority interest in the film, he says it provides him the opportunity to forge relationships with producers and broadcasters in Norway and become involved in an attractive project. Six script offers from Danish and Norwegian filmmakers have since crossed his desk, says Pittman.

Film Institute in Norway, Denmark and Sweden has put a mix of equity investment and loans into the budget, as have the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation and Telefilm. Alliance Releasing is distributing in Canada and Goldwyn Films of the u.k. has rights outside of Scandinavia. Eurimage, a funding organization for Economic Union companies, is also funding the project.

Negotiations are ongoing to sign treaties with India where there is a lot of interest to develop coventures.

Annette Mangaard, for example, recently screened her feature Fishtail Soup at a festival in the Kerala region of India. She says the production values and acting quality of the film industry in this southwestern area is topnotch, and the cost of crew, equipment and post in the region is low. The Kerala Film Development Corporation offers up to $400,000 to coproduced projects and runs a studio.

However, she adds, potential projects must be approved by the film commission and satisfy their politics. She is considering producing her next film in India. Mangaard will write and direct and is seeking a coproducer.