Telefilm Canada has reorganized its management by language to reflect the fact that in Canada, French-language film and television is far more successful than English.

On Dec. 22, the Canadian Television Fund released its new guidelines, offering producers a detailed treatment of the new ways in which the CTF will help fund domestic television production, and how it will dole out over $200 million in 2004/05.

If you thought 2D animation was dying out, think again. The distinct style of Sylvain Chomet’s animated feature The Triplets of Bellville stands in stark contrast to contemporary trends in animation, where a traditional hand-drawn look is being jettisoned in favor of the more polished style of CGI.

Winnipeg-based Original Pictures and Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films have teamed up again to adapt short stories from another of Canada’s most renowned female authors. Last year, they produced an Emmy-winning dramatic series based on short stories by Margaret Atwood, and now they are busy adapting short stories by Carol Shields, with plans to approach the work of Alice Munro next.

Toronto’s Portlands and Great Lakes Studios may have resolved their face-off just in time to find another mega-studio staring them in the face only 40 minutes west.

English-Canadians are finally getting the chance to see what has already become one of the most successful homegrown films, both critically and at the box office after its May 9 release on 136 Quebec screens.

This year the 18th annual Prix Gemeaux, held Nov. 22 and 23, celebrated the best in French-language television as well as a renewed sense of industry unity.

When the prestigious Sundance Film Festival gets underway in Park City, UT Jan. 15-25, Canada will be well represented with 13 films already selected, not including selections for the Shorts program.

After screening a total of 47 films, the four-day Whistler Film Festival wrapped Dec. 9, with director Nathaniel Geary’s feature On the Corner, about young siblings trying to survive Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, winning best Canadian film.

The Prairie production community is about to get louder. The Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan industry associations, or the ‘IMPIAs’ as they collectively refer to themselves, are forming partnerships that will give them a unified voice on national issues. In addition, they are working together to launch Prairie-wide film awards, a production guide and a screenwriting competition.

High art and pop culture come together in Bloomsday Cabaret, a music-driven, POV documentary from St. John’s, NF Rock Island Productions that will have Joyceans singing.
Rosemary House, who writes, directs and produces, says she was struck by the central role popular music played in the life and writings of James Joyce. Using the simple music of his day, House seeks to give audiences a glimpse into the complex world of the great modernist writer.

The government’s lukewarm official response to the Lincoln report on the Canadian broadcasting system has left many in the industry shaking their heads, fearful the two-year, 872-page study will end up a victim of bad political timing.