Founder, chair and co-CEO of the Toronto prodco enjoyed a banner 2007, racking up programs that were ratings, sales and awards winners

There were certainly things to like about the Gemini Awards’ Regina telecast on Oct. 28, but as a vehicle to promote Canadian television, it fell short of the mark.

Christal Films president had a big 2007, having a hand in upcoming features Cadavres, Mr. Nobody and Afterwards, and scoring theatrical hits with A vos marques… Party! and domestic box-office topper Les 3 p’tits cochons

Canadian TV producers are back at their desks, detoxing from three nights of Gemini Awards, and sifting through notes from, in some cases, hundreds of meetings they took just days earlier in Cannes at MIPCOM. What all these notes will add up to in terms of providing a snapshot of the international marketplace won’t become clear for months, but here’s an early observation: at a market like MIPCOM, bigger is better.

CBC has had its fall-launch liftoff, offering up a balanced mix of shows of generally strong quality. That much is not surprising. What is especially heartening to Ceeb folks is that a number of these shows are drawing solid ratings, with a couple of excellent tallies.

Comparing the digital media news out of Hollywood and Canada in recent weeks has been a matter of innovation in the case of the former and what looks to be a step back here at home.

With a pair of well-received films at TIFF this year and a number of announcements out of his new releasing shingle, Robert Lantos has re-established himself as the top buzz-maker on the Canadian film scene.

Michael Moore has had a special relationship with the Toronto International Film Festival, dating back to winning the People’s Choice Award for his breakthrough Roger & Me in 1989. So, it was only fitting that he would use Toronto as the launch pad for his latest, Captain Mike Across America, which preemed Friday night.

To a young producer, it sounds like a dream come true. After struggling to complete your feature film, you get accepted into the Toronto International Film Festival. After all, most every producer with eyes on the English-Canadian, North American and international markets wants in at TIFF, and out of all the Canuck features submitted (216 this year), only 20 to 30 will make the final cut.

I don’t very much care who pulls the strings, so long as the puppet show is homegrown.

The mayor of Toronto donned a hardhat and tightened the bolts on a girder at Filmport on Aug. 8 – a small step towards completing the forthcoming megastudio he and the local industry hope will restore the city as the country’s top production center.

With soundstage construction underway, the Toronto mega-studio announces a bold office building designed by Will Alsop and Quadrangle Architects