Montreal: After touring the film-festival circuit with his first two features, Summer (2002) and Hatley High (2003), Montreal-based filmmaker Phil Price found plenty of inspiration for comedy.

Montreal: The beginning of 2006 brings closure for National Film Board commissioner Jacques Bensimon. This year will mark the conclusion of his five-year mandate as head of the Crown corporation, which – given the straits the NFB was in during much of the ’90s – has been marked by a return of good fortune for its formerly ailing filmmakers.

Montreal: Radio-Canada’s paranormal mystery L’Héritière de Grande Ourse was the big winner at the 20th annual Gemeaux awards, taking eight of its 14 nominations on Dec. 4, including best dramatic series, best director for Patrice Sauvé and best original music for Normand Corbeil.

Montreal: Quebec’s changing ethnic makeup is the crux of Pure Laine, a new series set to debut on Télé-Québec on Jan. 25. The 16 x 30 comedy takes its name (‘pure wool’) from the term for born-and-bred francophone Quebecois, and wrapped on Dec. 16 after four weeks in Montreal.

Hamilton, ON: A veteran of feathered-foe movies is shooting a new MOW, Kaw, about birds run amuck. Rod Taylor, remembered for his roles in The Time Machine (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds (1963), plays a rural doctor who begins to understand why the birds surrounding his town are suddenly wreaking havoc and killing people.

Montreal: Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Montreal: Quebec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée can’t quite get over it. C.R.A.Z.Y., his $8-million labor of love, has become the Canadian success story of 2005, and might just extend its winning streak into 2006, given that it’s Canada’s selection in the best foreign-language film category for the Academy Awards.

A public letter that was supposed to calm Montreal’s turbulent film festival scene has stirred up yet more trouble.

Montreal: More than 50 Montreal filmmakers and screenwriters have banded together to create a new independent distribution company.

Jean Chaput has been president of SODEC for only about a year, yet in that short time the Quebec film industry has recorded yet another impressive cycle.

C.R.A.Z.Y. producer Pierre Even sees SODEC as ‘a crucial partner for every Quebec film.’

September’s inaugural edition of the New Montreal FilmFestival might also turn out to be the last if its rival, the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, does not accept an olive branch.
NMFF organizers issued a statement on Oct. 29 that, while acknowledging their event’s failure, put forward an ambitious proposal for next year – a merger with the 34-year-old FNC.