Canadian film distributors are firming up their release schedules and mapping out their marketing strategies for the new year, which is marked by a couple of blockbusters, potential sleepers, a wealth of docs and domestic features looking to break through.

These are interesting times indeed as domestic producers prepare to congregate at Prime Time in Ottawa 2004, the annual powwow of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, Jan. 28-30.
The conference promises to get off with a whimper when the CFTPA announces the results of Profile 2004, its annual report on the state of the industry.

Guy Mayson, previously the executive VP of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, is officially being named president and CEO of the organization. Mayson had been serving as acting president and CEO after Elizabeth McDonald stepped down last August after eight years in the role.

Lunch with Lantos

The Canadian Media Guild has been chosen as the sole body to represent the interests of most CBC employees, winning over the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union in a hotly contested election last month. The results, announced Dec. 15, showed the CMG with 2,542 votes compared to 1,717 for the CEP.

French-language features may dominate the Canadian box office, but not critics’ opinions, at least according to Canada’s Top Ten 2003, announced in December. The alphabetical listing of the year’s best Canuck movies, an initiative of the Toronto International Film Festival, includes seven English-language films and three French.

The National Film Board ushered in the recent holidays with Noel Noel, which it’s calling one of its biggest productions ever. The 2D-animated half-hour aired four times on Teletoon last month, in both English and French, including spots on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

With the weather turning distinctly chilly north of the 49th, Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana is thinking south – Latin America, that is. The toon titan recently announced the sale of My Dad the Rock Star, Jacob Two-Two and Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids to Cartoon Network Latin America.

Producer Firdaus Kharas of Ottawa’s Chocolate Moose Media has helped guide other long-form production talents out of Canada, South Africa and India on a series of 2D-animated PSAs aimed at AIDS awareness.

Cinar has successfully resolved a couple of disputes, avoiding compromise of the company’s standing prior to its proposed sale.

Blizzard blew into theaters Dec. 12, receiving good notices for its old-fashioned Yuletide yarn about a lonely girl and an outcast reindeer. Toronto’s Mr. X spearheaded the FX work on the Knightscove Entertainment/Holedigger Films/Alliance Atlantis feature, shot in Toronto and Quebec City.

Discreet all over holiday blockbusters