Currently shooting in Newfoundland, The Shipping News represents the most action the province has seen in quite some time….

Independent Canadian production posted a $104-million increase in 2000, according to the 13th Playback Independent Production Survey.
The annual survey reported $1,831,382,668 in production figures for 2000, compared to 1999’s $1,727,355,660. Even with slightly fewer responses to the survey than last year (114 to 2000’s 134), the cumulative total of the companies’ reported production has outstripped last year’s figures.
Growth is particularly apparent in certain genres: MOW/pilot/miniseries and drama features gained significant ground over the past 12 months. The category that includes MOWs, pilots and miniseries far outstripped the other areas of growth, increasing by more than $64 million on last year’s numbers, while the rise in spending on drama features stands at a little over $10 million. The figures for development monies also showed a $10-million spike over last year.

Calgary: The big winner at the 27th AMPIA Awards, held in Calgary April 28, was Gary Burns’ directorial debut waydowntown, which walked off with a slew of Rosies, including the prestigious Best of Festival award….

The nominations for the Golden Sheafs, to be awarded at the Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival (May 24-27), are out and include multi-nominations for some filmmakers, making them odds-on favorites for taking home at least one prize….

The Manitoba Film and Video Production Tax Credit will continue until 2005. The extension of the expiry date, originally set for early 2002, will lend consistency to the provincial industry, says Manitoba Film and Sound’s manager, film programs, Alexa Rosentreter….

Feature film Max and the Lioness will move production to the Mick Phillips St. Station Casino in Winnipeg June 4-6, the first production ever to do so. A coprod between Winnipeg’s Buffalo Gal Pictures, Montreal’s Les Film de l’Isle and Moncton’s Transmar Films, the $3.2-million ‘twisted psycho thriller’ follows a couple on the road in a story of complicated relationships that culminates in murder.
The casino scene ‘involves huge stages and thousands of people. It’s an integral scene, a huge part of the film,’ says Shawn Watson, producer for Buffalo Gal. ‘In the film, it’s somewhere near Yellowknife on an aboriginal reserve and no such casino exists. It’s an important part of the film; we meet a central character in the movie in that scene and slowly unfold the drama about to take place in the casino.’

Demand for docs is high, but so is the pressure to market them in exactly the right money-spinning way. And guess what? ‘Reality’ is SO documentary, at least that’s what some say.
Stephen Ellis, president of Ellis Entertainment in Toronto, sees a trend brought about by a strong marketplace.
‘We’ve certainly had a growth of the majority of U.S. powerhouses: Discovery, A&E, Biography…all with grouped channels, and that is having a profound effect on the market,’ says Ellis.
‘You’ve got to produce something very focused for History or Biography or TLC, and it may be so specific that it’s a tougher sell to a terrestrial. The terrestrial guys are still working to a large audience, they are not as tuned to a narrow demographic as the specialties, which are geared to almost a psychographic.

A happy couple strolls in the country on a summer afternoon; it is an idyllic scene, until suddenly, disaster strikes. A rake.
In the completely deadpan mockumentary Rakes, the gardening implement is a silent killer that lurks among us. And rakes can strike anywhere, anytime. Footage shows rakes striking the unaware in yards, offices and even the bathroom.
David Manning, who works as an editor for comedy programs, is the brains (director, producer and editor) behind Rakes. He describes his mock doc as ‘very similar to a documentary about landmines except rakes are…quieter. It’s a parody of any Hard Copy-style, one-sided story about some horrible thing in the world that’s a danger to everyone.’

Could the collision of the Internet and the form of documentary see the end to ‘comatose’ viewers? Peter Wintonick, filmmaker and cocreator of new media conference Cutting Truths, thinks so. …

Last year, to howls of intervening protest, the prize of a digital licence for a documentary channel was awarded to Corus Entertainment of Toronto….

The film that walked off with the Palme D’Or at Cannes last year almost didn’t get made….

Hot Docs, running April 30 to May 6 in Toronto, has a bundle of new components this year….