The CFTPA will hand out its annual industry awards at Prime Time in Ottawa on Feb. 4, starting at 12:30 p.m. at the Westin hotel. This year’s winners are Halifax prodco Collideascope Digital Productions and Toronto producer Stephen Ellis.

The two major film stock manufacturers have new color negative stocks for filmmakers.

CTV’s two-part MOW Lives of the Saints, starring Sophia Loren and directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, drew a very strong average of 1.45 million viewers over Jan. 2 and 3, according to Nielsen Media Research, playing well to stay-at-home post-holiday crowds after heavy promotion throughout December. Ratings dipped slightly on the second night, however, from 1.46 million to 1.42 million.

Telefilm Canada’s Canada Feature Film Fund and Screenwriting Assistance Program have announced their selections for 2004/05.

CBC’s coverage of the Nov. 21 Grey Cup match between the Toronto Argonauts and the B.C. Lions drew an average four million viewers, making it the second most-watched Grey Cup game in the last 10 years, with audiences peaking at 4.5 million in the game’s last half-hour. This marks a 4% audience increase over last year’s Grey Cup match (Edmonton Eskimos vs. Montreal Alouettes), which attracted an average 3.85 million viewers.

CBC came out as the ratings winner in the coverage of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 2, with an average of nearly 820,000 (2+) viewers for The National between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., according to Nielsen Media Research, beating out Global Television, which had 797,000 viewers tuning into Global National at 11 p.m., while CTV drew 690,000 viewers for its news program at 11 p.m.

The Gemini Special Awards, honoring outstanding individuals in the fields of broadcast journalism, writing, creative excellence and technical achievement, will be handed out at the Documentary, News and Sports Gala and the Industry Gala on Dec. 11 and 12, respectively.