It may seem hard to believe, especially for fans of the current Degrassi: The Next Generation, but it was 24 years ago that the Degrassi franchise was born. In 1979, Toronto-based Epitome Pictures, with the support of PS Production Services, first started rolling on The Kids of Degrassi Street, a humorous and touching series about a group of children living in a racially and economically mixed downtown neighborhood.

Director Atom Egoyan credits PS Production Services with offering him key support, particularly when the acclaimed director was in his early days of making feature films.

Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment has been instrumental in creating and expanding the production industry in Western Canada. The company was founded in 1986 based on a commitment to developing series, docs and feature films out of the Prairie region – and now beyond.

1972: 22-year-old Doug Dales, who has just finished school and is producing commercials, hears of a Vancouver equipment rental company closing shop and looking to sell its gear. Having been involved in lighting for amateur theatre and fashion shows at his Toronto high school, and having studied film at York University and in England, Dales is determined to be in the film business. He begs and borrows from friends and family to buy the gear for $48,000 and sets up PS Production Services in Toronto.

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson * Writer: Ed Riche * Executive producer: Sam Feldman * Producer: Paul Pope * Diary by: Louise Leger

Edgy, edgier, edgiest. It’s no surprise comedy and format series are inching farther and farther onto the precipice of what’s funny and what’s in good taste….

The buzzwords at this year’s mip-tv animation booths will be ‘mixed media’ as studios undertake more and more blending of live action, 2D, 3D, clay animation, puppetry, cel or Flash animation….

Director/producer: Alanis Obomsawin…

Producer/director/writer: Blaine Thurier * Diary by: Louise Leger…

Director/writer: Philippe Falardeau * Executive producer: Joseph Hillel * Producers: Luc Dery, Josee Roberge * Diary by: Louise Leger…

Director: Anne Wheeler * Writer: Linda Svendsen (novelist) * Scriptwriters: Rob Forsyth, Lori Lansens * Producers: Arvi Liimatainen, Jeanne Stromberg * Executive producers: Harold Tichenor, John Delmage * Diary by: Louise Leger…

From the beginning, Toronto International Film Festival founders William Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and ‘accomplice’ Dusty Cohl were thinking big. After all, their festival dream, groomed on the sunny terraces of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, was to create a…