The multi-generational Quebecois drama, Histoire de famille, has taken over as box office leader from Les Boys IV and Maurice Richard, which had shared the podium for almost two months.

Producer Robert Lantos and filmmaker David Cronenberg are collaborating for a third time on the feature film Maps to the Stars, written by longtime Cronenberg friend, novelist and Hollywood satirist Bruce Wagner.

You could almost smell burning rubber as the CHUM Television awards show machine recently announced it was pulling up stakes at the Metro Toronto Convention Center and parking itself at The Carlu, a more glamorous T.O. venue, for the 26th Annual Genie Awards on March 13.

Of all the films that Sony Pictures and MGM released in 2005, the one that’s making the most Oscar noise – with five nominations – is an unassuming little movie shot in Manitoba over winter 2004. And it all began with a sushi lunch.

It may not be considered Cancon on Genie night, but David Cronenberg’s acclaimed and most mainstream film to date, A History of Violence, about an unassuming husband and father (Viggo Mortensen) whose past comes back to reclaim him in small-town America, is in the hunt for a pair of major Oscars.

Although the box-office story remained the same as of Jan. 26, with Les Boys IV and Maurice Richard continuing their dominance in the one-two positions for the seventh straight week ­- both skating past the $4-million mark – Deepa Mehta’s Water stubbornly hung on to the third spot, reaching rarified English-Canadian film heights with a cumulative total of $2 million.

As telecoms and cablers muddy the line between voice and data – as well as the PC and the TV set – content makers such as Nelvana are increasingly finding themselves in the pole position in the race for household digital integration.

Charles Falzon is definitely not your typical marketing exec.

Film and television production in Canada took a dip for the second straight cycle, according to Profile 2006, the industry report from the CFTPA and Quebec’s APFTQ.

Hockey took center stage in Quebec cinemas for the fifth consecutive week, as Les Boys IV edged towards the $4-million mark after a strong Jan. 13-15 weekend take of $160,000 in 71 venues across la belle province. As of Jan. 12, Maurice Richard was a stride behind after seven weeks and more than $3.7 million, while Deepa Mehta’s holdout Water trickled down to 14 screens and third place after an impressive nine-week run, maintaining a strong per-screen average of $5,113.

Almost 60 years ago, the radio arts program at Ryerson University in Toronto became the first place in Canada to broadcast a television signal to the rest of the country. The school of Radio and Television Arts has again made a quantum leap into the future with a complete hi-def studio makeover, new media labs and live Internet streaming.

Slawko Klymkiw has big plans for the Canadian Film Centre, and they involve the institution stepping out of its role as educator and helping the production community work with new technologies.