Montreal: Organizers of this year’s APFTQ convention, Congrès 2005, are stressing the idea of enhancing international sales for the Quebec industry.

Hot Docs is celebrating its 12th year with a new look, new industry events and an unusual pair of sports documentaries – one about a triumph, the other a tragedy.

FX shop Hybride, out of Piedmont, QC, played a crucial role in the making of the groundbreaking Robert Rodriguez feature Sin City, the top movie in North America after hauling in US$28.1 million in its April 1 opening weekend. The film’s Canadian release through Alliance Atlantis pulled in $3.3 million in the same time frame.

Getting Canadians to watch homegrown films, to say nothing of an awards show for those films, is a struggle. However, the March 21 broadcast of the Genie Awards, hosted by Andrea Martin, attracted more than double the audience it did in 2004, the first year CHUM aired the awards.

* La Vie avec mon père: More than one critic noted that Sebastian Rose’s comic drama about the reconciliation of an ailing father and his sons owes a lot to Denys Arcand’s Les Invasions barbares, but it also ‘invokes the good-natured humanity and poetry’ of Claude Jutra’s Mon Oncle Antoine and André Forcier’s Au claire de la lune, according to the high praise of Voir writer Manon Dumais, evoking ‘tenderness and sensitivity about old age.’ It’s a ‘funny, heart-wrenching gem,’ agrees Brendan Kelly at the Montreal Gazette, going on to applaud Rose and the ‘virtuoso turn’ of lead Raymond Bouchard. Kevin Laforest at the Montreal Mirror was less impressed, finding the third act ‘ponderous,’ but quietly cheered the pic’s witty dialogue and ‘inspired visual gags.’

The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period March 25-31 and television ratings for the period March 21-27.

Telefilm Canada has written its first cheques for 2005/06, backing six French-language movies and one English project through its Quebec office and the Canada Feature Film Fund to the tune of $5 million. The agency has also cancelled its fall deadline for French-only movies, citing an already overworked budget.

One of Canada’s most noted filmmakers, Robin Spry, died in a car accident on March 28 at age 65.

There’s a lot riding on how events unfold in the mountains of Banff this coming June. Not that the organizers of the newly minted Banff World Television Festival will admit it, but it’s true.

Alliance Atlantis Communications has been selected as recipient of the 2005 Global Television Outstanding Achievement Award at the Banff World Television Festival. The award is presented annually to entrepreneurs – individuals or broadcasters – who demonstrate leadership and programming excellence. Past recipients include HBO, ZDF German Television, NHK, A&E Television Networks and Ted Turner.

Peter Raymont’s documentary Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire has already made a major impact in 2005, drawing over 1.5 million viewers to its CBC and Radio-Canada broadcasts after winning an audience award for world cinema documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival.

* Pierre Dion is the new president and CEO of Montreal-based TVA Group, succeeding Serge Gouin. Before joining TVA in 2004, Dion was an executive at Videotron, and also headed Canadian Reader’s Digest.