Good for us

Newspaper and magazine writers have created one of the worst editorial traffic jams of all time with incessant talk of this pending data turnpike.

Time to take an exit ramp.

At this moment, we’re just a little more interested in what Canadians are producing and seeing than in saying absolutely anything else about coaxial cable or twisted pair.

We have Gemini nominations reflecting tremendous variety and quality, with strong new programs, concepts and people giving the perennial nominees a run for their money. Looking through them, it’s easy to see our production community has tremendous bench strength and our broadcasters display the courage to take some new concepts and run with them. That’s not to say we have lost any ground in our traditional strongholds of news and current affairs programming – CBC Prime Time News and CTV News account for some 19 nominations, to say nothing of nominations for such shows as W5 with Eric Malling and the 5th estate.

Canadians have four newly minted Oscar nominations, as identified by Telefilm Canada, and they each represent a different area of film production. A CBC/HBO Films production called The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter, David Paperny and Arthur Ginsberg producers, is up in the documentary features category. From the film Schindler’s List, Canadian Christina Smith, along with two others, is nominated for best makeup. Radio-Canada’s Frederic Back and Hubert Tison are nominated for their animated short, The Mighty River. Fourthly, from the film Philadelphia, legendary singer/songwriter Neil Young is up for best achievement in music-original song for the music and lyrics to Philadelphia.

Even agencies such as the National Film Board, sometimes shy to promote international sales, is ‘pursuing new opportunities more aggressively,’ both in terms of selling and developing relationships with broadcasters elsewhere. With a new deal in hand to give the u.s. Arts and Entertainment network access to its programming, the film board is busy seeking new international partners. Adding to established associations with Channel 4 in England, la Sept in France, among others, it’s investigating opportunities in Mexico and others in the u.s. following discussions at Sundance. In Japan, nhk just aired an nfb project, a two-part tv program called The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The board’s international offices number a fraction of former days, but it’s looking to extend its sales presence nonetheless.

And not content to rest on Canada’s international laurels, Montreal’s Desclez Productions, producer of Iris the Happy Professor, a 156-episode, 15-minute puppet show (which is viewed across Canada, the u.s., Europe and the Pacific Rim) has decided to pursue further penetration through the exploitation of interactive technologies. Hasbro launches the Iris doll this month, and cd-rom is among the other markets being explored.