Montreal: This fall Montreal is playing host to The Education of Little Tree, a us$14 million feature film from producer Jake Eberts and director Richard Friedenberg, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter on A River Runs Through It.

The nine-week shoot g’es throughout September and October in and around Harrington, Que., a region west of Montreal which doubles for the smoky hills of east Tennessee.

A moving family drama set in the Great Depression, the film stars James Cromwell (Babe, L.A. Confidential) and Canadian actors Tantoo Cardinal and Graham Greene. Joseph Ashton (Little Rascals, Stinkers) plays Little Tree, a young boy taken away from his loved ones and cruelly placed in a ‘proper’ Indian school.

Eberts says he wanted to produce a movie in Quebec ‘to see what it was like.’

‘We found the absolute perfect location. I defy people from Tennessee to come here and tell me it d’esn’t look like the Smokys.’

The Education of Little Tree will be delivered in May ’97 and will be distributed by Guild Distribution in the u.k. and Tobis Filmkunst in Germany, ‘cousin operations’ with Eberts’ company, Allied Filmmakers. (They have a common shareholder, Pathe Films of Paris.)

But Eberts says he d’esn’t usually settle u.s. distribution until after shooting.

‘I’d like to have distribution for our films before we start shootingŠbut that’s not very often the case. We tend to make films that people aren’t that excited about until we make them. On A River Runs Through It, we actually delivered the picture before we got a u.s. deal, and with Dances with Wolves, we were well into shooting before we got a (studio) deal.’

Eberts’ success is based on ‘believing in all aspects of the movie, from cast to crew, from director to screenwriter.’

‘There are a couple things I’d like to point out,’ he says. ‘We are not taking advantage of the tax incentives here (on Little Tree). If we make a film and if by chance it happens to fit the requirements for the tax incentive, fine.

‘But one shouldn’t compromise the film in order to get the tax deal. That’s a little different in television where you are operating under completely different economic constraints. But don’t make a film because it qualifies for all those benefits, because you’re bound to make a lousy film.

‘Just look at the record. Not one single film has worked because a deal was available.’

Eberts and Lord Richard Attenborough plan to coproduce (with Attenborough directing) the feature film Grey Owl in the Montreal region starting next May, with most of the filming following in August.

The film was prepped here last year but postponed when one of the leads fell seriously ill.

Eberts has executive produced feature films in many diverse locations ­ Montana (A River Runs Through It), Georgia (Driving Miss Daisy), South Dakota (Dances with Wolves), San Francisco (James and the Giant Peach) and London, Eng. (The Wind in the Willows), but offers high marks for his Montreal crew.

‘I’m absolutely delighted shooting here. I think the crew is terrific, the energy, enthusiasm.

‘Of course, every film has problems, otherwise there would be no need for producers. If you didn’t have any problems, that might mean you’re making a lousy movie.’

Craft credits go to coproducers Lenny Young and Montrealer Louise Gendron, production designer Dan Bishop (Lone Star), dop Anastas Michos and costume designer Renee April.

‘April is an absolute Oscar-quality costume designerŠthe costumes in this film are breathtaking, she’s doing a sensational job,’ says the producer.

Eberts says he’s pleased with the ways things are working out for first-time director Friedenberg, who also wrote the screenplay.

Quebec-born and raised, Eberts, a creative and financing force in the movie business, also cofinanced the Alliance Communications historical feature Black Robe, shot in Quebec.