* Claude Galipeau has joined Alliance Atlantis Communications as its SVP of digital media, content group – crossing over from CBC, where he led the pubcaster’s multi-platform Winter Olympics coverage.

Beowulf & Grendel: Despite the many flaws in Sturla Gunnarsson’s latest, the critics heaped praise on at least one thing – the stunning visuals.

Steve ‘Red Green’ Smith has hung up his duct tape and said so long to Possum Lodge. With 300 episodes under his tool belt, the veteran comedian ended his 15-year stint as writer, producer and star of CBC’s The Red Green Show when the final episode taped late last year. It airs on April 7.

The Ontario Film Review Board has teamed with its videogame counterpart in a joint effort to educate parents about ratings systems for the big and little screens.

A three-minute standing ovation for The Rocket, by Charles Binamé, closed the National Screen Institute’s FilmExchange festival on March 4 in Winnipeg, kicking off the NSI’s 20th anniversary year.

Montreal: For its first round of funding for the 2006/07 filmmaking season, Quebec government funder SODEC has announced investment in eight feature projects.

AAC reports revenue gains

The 78th Annual Academy Awards provided another strong showcase for the Canadian production industry. It also provided a forceful reminder of what Canada’s role in the global film business can be, and how CAVCO should rethink its definition of ‘Canadian.’

Arthur Lewis is executive director of Our Public Airwaves, an advocacy group dedicated to the revitalization of public broadcasting in Canada.

I have spent over 25 years in various film- and television-related industries. After reading your article on Toronto Mayor David Miller’s interest in the film industry (Playback, March 6), which has only come about now that the mayoralty race is just around the corner, I must ask the mayor and his new film commissioner, Karen Thorne-Stone, how they plan on recreating the magical 30-cent gap between Canadian and the U.S. dollar? I didn’t think the mayor of Toronto, or the film commissioner, had those powers.

Well, if they didn’t watch, who did? In an online poll of Playback readers asking ‘Do you plan to watch the broadcast of the Genie party on your local CHUM station?’ 85% of respondents voted no, while 15% indicated yes.

Loopmedia is providing broadcast design work for the program Fine Living for Scripps Networks. Incorrect information appeared in a story in the March 6 issue.