Mongrel Media hopes an English version of the animated film, featuring the voices of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop, will draw in a new audience

‘Disgruntled artists’ feel entitled to taxpayer dollars, watchdog tells senators, ‘no matter how harmful their work is’

CFTPA wants cable and satellite to put more money into programming, dismissing ‘false’ claims of tech and economic threats

Shooting his $5 million Cité des ombres entirely in Tunisia raised a few problems, says producer Yves Fortin, not the least of which was the sand storm

The director of the controversial miniseries is auctioning off the print, in a bid to make back money he claims to be owed by the producer

Chain to provide on-screen ads and backlit posters to 38 western theaters

Cable company wants genre protections reworked, not eliminated, and stands firm against fee-for-carriage. CBC seeks $1.50 per cable subscriber

Line of electronic and tabletop games based on Shaftesbury series Life with Derek due on shelves by next year, following deal with IToys

Dinners with David Duchovny and Callum Keith Rennie to be auctioned off on eBay to help pay medical bills for ailing Vancouver actress

Jim Shenkman fondly remembers what got him thinking about starting up a trade magazine in the mid-1980s, when he was itching to get into communications.

• Claude Galipeau is now VP of interactive at Astral Media. The former Alliance Atlantis exec will help develop Astral’s digital strategy for its core radio, TV and outdoor advertising businesses, reporting to CEO Ian Greenberg.

• Sinking Ship Entertainment and National Geographic Television International have closed a series of deals around the globe for Are We There Yet? The children’s travel show has been picked up by broadcasters in nine territories, including Disney Japan, Sweden’s SVT, Ho Chi Minh City TV in Vietnam and Al-Jazeera. These follow previous deals that have sent the show to Australia, New Zealand, France, Singapore and elsewhere. Sales are also said to be pending in Spain, South Africa and Scandinavia.