A glitzy, glamorous Oscars-style film awards show in Canada, celebrating the best in domestic movie talent on primetime TV? Even today, the notion rails against the ingrained humility and inferiority complex that lurks inside most Canadians. Twenty-five years ago, it seemed like a wildly overambitious pipe dream.

‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ sums up CBC’s approach to the matter of standards conversion at its European operations.

Home video is currently such a crucial part of a feature film’s revenue stream that distributors have to ensure the best-quality DVD formatting. In the case of Mambo Italiano, the most successful English-Canadian film at the domestic box office since Porky’s, distrib Equinoxe Films entrusted this task to the Montreal facility of post giant Technicolor

There was a time when video duplication houses such as Toronto’s MIJO Corporation and Vancouver’s Finale Editworks had the DVD replication business all to themselves. No longer – the availability of inexpensive DVD burners and consumer-grade software such as Roxio Easy Media Creator (US$79.95) or even Apple DVD Studio Pro (US$499) has made it possible for nearly anyone with a computer to produce their own DVDs.

If the current pace of equipment rentals is any indication, the summer of 2004 should be a busy one for film and TV production from coast to coast.

Producers, broadcasters and government funding execs agree – docs are hotter than ever. The challenges for producers to secure funding for their projects remain, however, though new sources are materializing.

Quebec TV producers are cheering the provincial government’s restoration of tax credits to locally made variety and magazine TV programs. The APFTQ, Quebec’s producers association, is also pleased that Premier Jean Charest’s Liberal government has allocated $11.5 million for SODEC’s 2004/05 budget. SODEC is the provincial funding agency responsible for supporting Quebec TV and film.

Since NAB2003, some of the post systems and software manufacturers have been enjoying boom times. And they hope to only build on that momentum at this year’s show.

A writer always has an edge when he can relate to his lead character. Such was the case for Maurice Chauvet, nominated for an adapted screenplay Genie for Owning Mahowny.

For years, Massachusetts-based Avid Technology’s post-production solutions have been the industry standard-bearer. The list of this year’s Academy Award nominees only reinforces Avid’s standing, showing widespread usage of its nonlinear film and video editing systems, as well as the Pro Tools audio production system of subsidiary Digidesign and the 3D animation and FX software from its Softimage division.

It isn’t easy to produce a movie based on a video game. Not only are you competing with blockbusters such as the Tomb Raider and Resident Evil franchises, but also the very nature of these games demands an action-packed, FX-rich film.

In an ideal world, all feature films would be posted in actual movie theaters, complete with access to big screens and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Fortunately for Toronto director Sudz Sutherland, he was able to do precisely that with his debut feature Love, Sex and Eating the Bones.