Cannes: Coproduction activity by Canadian companies attending mip-tv last month may not rival the volume of straight sales racked up on the Riviera, but it surely holds its own in terms of diversity and scope.

Producers roamed the halls of the Palais des Festivals offering investment and creative opportunities on everything from a doc series on ‘the remnants and detritus of cultural imperialism’ in Vietnam to a series of half-hours featuring ‘a singing, bug-sucking’ scientist.

Breakthroughs and philanthropic overtones were also in the air. At Great North Releasing for instance, principal Andy Thomson was reporting first-time interest in his projects from South America and describing opportunities to talk to a group of European Community producers at a single sitting.

At Atlantis Communications, where many large fish were being fried, executive Michael MacMillan spoke of the importance of supporting emerging talent in South Africa.

Canadian ventures truly ran the gamut.

Patricia Phillips, Great North’s manager of creative affairs, raised the issue of the bug-sucking scientist when she described a 13-part series of half-hours her company is doing with cfrn-tv Calgary called Acorn the Nature Nut. It features scientist John Acorn and his light-hearted take on science in the urban and rural environments. Phillips, who will direct and coproduce, says Acorn will write and perform and cfrn’s Deborah Forst will coproduce.

The Promised Land

Phillips, along with Thomson, will also coproduce a four-hour dramatic miniseries with Arthur Lappin (coproducer, In The Name of The Father) of fand, Ireland, called The Promised Land. The CTV Television Network has signed on as has RTE Ireland. One other broadcaster is a strong maybe.

Great North also expects shooting will start in June on the first of a pair of hour-long documentaries it’s doing for ctv. This Thing Called Love will be written and directed by Robert Duncan of Vancouver. The second doc, About Being Single, will go before the cameras in August with Calgary’s Nancy Marano writing and directing.

And finally, Great North is developing a feature, McClaren’s Ride, to be coproduced with Pieter Kroonenburg of Montreal/l.a. company Kingsborough Pictures. A fall shoot is planned for this tale of a Northwest Mounted police officer. Stanford Whitmore and Bernard Taper wrote the original story but Sharon Buckingham of Ottawa will write the film script.

The Dark Zone

Salter Films International went to mip looking for production partners for The Dark Zone, a humorous sci-fi series Salter is coproducing with Northern Lights Entertainment. Envisioning a 20-part hour-long series with the first eight ready by next March, Paul Donovan describes the series as an effort to bring modern-day cynicism to the campy world of sci-fi tv. He likens the series, a blend of boundary pushing computer animation and live action, to Beavis and Butthead in space. He adds that Telcast International, Munich, will be the German production company.

Salter has also bought the rights to The Emily Stories from the estate of Lucy Maud Montgomery and was promoting this property at mip as a 2×2 tv movie or as a 12×1-hour tv series.

Sullivan Entertainment announced it’s developing a four-hour miniseries, The Earth Abideth, based on the book by George Dell and starring Peter Strauss. In the spirit of Sarah Plain and Tall and O Pioneer, it’s an American farm saga set in the late 1800s and will have an $8 million to $10 million budget. cbs is the coproduction partner and will hold u.s. distribution rights, with all other territorial rights staying with Sullivan Entertainment International. Kevin Sullivan will direct on a spring/summer ’95 shoot.

And Sullivan is also preparing for a spring/summer ’95 shoot for the last of its Anne stories, a four-hour miniseries with the working title Anne and Her Children. Director, locations and broadcasters are all tba, but indications are Sullivan will approach its usual Canadian choice, cbc.

Falconry doc

Montreal’s Filmoption International signed some broadcast presale deals at mip for a coproduction it’s doing with Jacek Strek (Charlottes, Islands Out Of Time) of Vancouver’s Ivory Tower Studios. Filmmaker Strek is putting together a 52-minute documentary (to be ready for mipcom) on ‘the art and science of falconry’ and he has already traveled to more than a dozen locations to shoot it. Called Falconry, the film has already been sold to Canal Plus in Belgium, TV1 in Finland and to TV5 and Knowledge Network in Canada.

The Multimedia Group of Canada had two coproductions to discuss. It’s working with Marathon International of France and Pixart of Montreal on Unforgettable Romances, 26 half-hours mixing archival and original footage to chronicle such famous romances as Grace Kelly and Monaco’s Prince Rainier. Budget is $5.3 million. As well, Multimedia was looking for 10 partners for a 100×1-minute package of comedy clips called Local World News.

Animated series

According to Nelvana’s head of coproduction, David Ferguson, Nelvana signed an agreement at mip to be a minority coproduction partner with zdf Germany and Tabaluga Gmbh on a 26 half-hour animated series called Tabaluga. From a book by Helme Heine, Tabaluga is a little dragon learning to survive in a paradise being frozen by bad guy Arktos. Heine and German singing/musical sensation Peter Maffay are part of the creative team for the series, budgeted at about $10 million, which should be delivered in the fall of ’95.

Ferguson also says Nelvana may work with one of the itv contractors in the u.k. on a 13- or 26-part animated series of half-hours based on a set of movies about St. Trinians private girls school. Made as movies for adults, the coproduction partners will adapt the stories for children’s fare. Another project in development in that vein is based on the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Minus the sexual innuendo, the 13×30 animated series will keep the film’s characters and aim to stamp out uniformity.

Lastly, Ferguson says Nelvana has England’s Central Television as its partner for a 13×30 animated series called Erik The Viking. Based on a book by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, the series may simply be a Canada/u.k. coproduction or may grow to include more partners.

Woman jockey

Regina’s Minds Eye Pictures has teamed up with Isambard Productions of New Zealand in a 50:50 official coproduction to produce The Joan Phipps Story, an mow about a woman jockey who struggled in a sport steeped in sexism to lead the way for her gender on three continents. Set to shoot in Saskatchewan and New Zealand in the spring of ’95, Minds Eye’s Kevin DeWalt and Isambard’s Tom Parkinson will executive produce.

Aimee Danis of Verseau International says her company has been working with French producer Son et Lumiere on four tv movies; the two completed are Trois Femmes et L’Amour and Coeur a prendre. Of the two ongoing, one is entitled L’Intru and the other has no formal title. Budgets are in the $1 million range. Verseau is also doing a double shoot coproduction in English and French this fall called Red River, with Daniel Vigne (Martin Guerre) directing. France is the major partner on Red River, which also has Italian participation. The film, set in the Canadian West in the early 20th century, is based on a novel written by a Frenchman.

Shorts

Terry McEvoy, formerly Ottawa film commissioner and film liaison officer, is now working as head of production at Studio Une Productions, the Canadian production arm of United Film and Video Holdings. Among other deals done at mip, McEvoy reports Studio Une will coproduce and distribute an international coproduction of shorts called Women in the Metro Around the World. It consists of 21×7- or 3.5-minute pieces.

In addition to product Studio Une was selling at mip – such as Expressions of Hope, a documentary concerning ‘the remnants and detritus of cultural imperialism’ in Vietnam – it also sported coproductions, including Passage To America, an mow/miniseries about three boys who come to America at the turn of the century. It’s a coproduction with China’s Guangzhou Television to be shot 80% in Vancouver and 20% in China and posted in Vancouver.

Barbara Barde of Why Not Productions brought several projects to mip, including a pair of hour-long documentaries (Voices of Change) to be readied in time for the September 1995 un world conference on women in Beijing. Fighting financing battles on these for four years, Barde is seeing more interest now that the conference is approaching. They will address ‘what brings about change in women’s lives, stories of grandmothers, mothers and daughters,’ says Barde. Pre-licenses are in place with abc Australia, cbc, and pbs. She says the National Film Board is a financial partner along with sundry other groups.

Why Not is also working on Broad Topics, a series of six one-hour auteur documentaries by women directors from Manitoba, including Norma Bailey, Nancy Trites Botkin, Bonnie Dickie, Shereen Jerrett, Elise Swerhone and Tracy Traeger. Barde will executive produce and Winter Rodes’ Phyllis Laing and Traeger will produce. The docs will cover an eclectic range of subjects, all focusing on how women see the world. Barde says the project is in development with cbc.

Montreal’s Prisma Productions put together a coproduction deal with GUM Germany to create 52×15 or 26×30 shows called Anna Banana, following the ‘wild and comic adventures’ of seven characters including Anna. With a $2.7 million budget, the shows, conceived by Paul Risacher and to be produced by Prisma’s Marie-Claude Beauchamp, are set to shoot from this month (May) until September. Broadcasters are Canal Famille and Family Channel.

Caroline Heroux of Communications Claude Heroux says the company is considering straying from drama to do a children’s series, a Canada/France coproduction with Paris producer Quartier Latin.