While long-form docs rarely have wide theatrical releases, The Corporation has managed to remain among the top five grossing Canadian films at the box office since it opened Jan. 16, based largely on Ontario audiences. This despite the fact that Ontarians have had free access to the doc since commissioning broadcaster TVO started airing it in three one-hour segments Feb. 25 to record ratings. In addition, the doc has also been packaged into three one-hours for Knowledge Network, SCN and Access.

Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival and market, opened last year just days after the SARS travel advisory was issued about Toronto, but this year festival organizers are hoping for smoother sailing despite a change of venue after a decade of hosting the event in Little Italy.

After six seasons with CTV and The Comedy Network, Mike Bullard has network-hopped himself right off Canadian airwaves, failing to last a full season after defecting to Global.

Before comedian Brent Butt and his team descended on Rouleau, SK to shoot Corner Gas, the town of 400 was not exactly a big tourist draw. But last year, before anyone had even seen the show, tourists were already arriving in droves. Now, with more than a million Canadians tuning in weekly to watch the latest goings-on in the fictitious town of Dog River, Rouleau better brace itself for a new deluge of visitors.

The women of Winnipeg are very pleased indeed with local producer Kim Todd of Original Pictures, who brought actor Ralph Fiennes to their city for a three-day shoot starting March 20. The hunky Brit was in town to shoot a key sequence for his upcoming feature The Constant Gardner.

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who has helmed features Hulk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Ice Storm, will be in Canada this summer to add a gay-themed western to his eclectic repertoire. And what better place to mix gay culture with cowboys than Alberta?

Calgary: When casting for Alberta Filmworks’ latest production Crazy Canucks, producer/director Randy Bradshaw had to find five leads who were not only great actors, but could also brave the bumps on a double black diamond.
The TV movie was inspired by the true story of the Men’s Canadian Alpine Ski Team, which made a name for itself and its country on the World Cup downhill circuit between 1974 and 1976.

While feature films in English Canada continue to struggle even with big P&A spends and promotional campaigns, the Quebec industry pumps out success stories in both languages.

Toronto distributor ThinkFilm may have finally figured out how to get English-Canadians into theaters to watch domestic films; you have to pay them.

Emerging filmmakers were celebrated and supported at the sixth annual National Screen Institute FilmExchange through screenings of features from first-time filmmakers and the announcement of awards that will fund the production of six new shorts over the next year.

In 2003, the Atlantic Film Festival doubled in size and posted a 15% increase in attendance, according to data released at its January general meeting. The festival has grown from a single event into an organization that manages several annual cultural events, including the newly created Atlantic Documentary Directors’ Training Opportunity, to be held June 2-6. The program will provide training and production opportunities for emerging documentary directors in Atlantic Canada. The deadline for submissions is April 9 and entry forms can be downloaded from the festival website, www.atlanticfilm.com.

During the last days of shooting Sex Traffic in Halifax, executive producers Wayne Grigsby and David MacLeod of Big Motion Pictures were faced with the King Kong of snowstorms. Production on the $11.5-million miniseries looked like it was going to be halted as more than three feet of snow covered Halifax just four days before the shoot was set to wrap Feb. 24.