Burnett brings Global Frequency pilot to Vancouver

Sweet revenge

Lohman to star in new Egoyan pic

Calgary: Alberta Filmworks principals Jordy Randall, Tom Cox and Doug MacLeod have teamed up with Michael Jacobs of MarVista Entertainment, a U.S.-based distributor of dramatic and children’s television with offices in L.A., Boston and Barcelona, to provide a new boutique distribution option for Canadian producers.

Despite a major funding cut, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund spent more money last year, investing $6.6 million in the production and development of 74 TV projects, all with strong interactive elements, according to its recently released annual report.

It’s been 10 years since veteran Oakland, CA-based director of photography Barry Stone joined forces with Clement Virgo on the director’s breakthrough debut feature Rude. The film garnered eight Genie nominations, including achievement in cinematography for Stone, and made a splash at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Culture may not have featured prominently in Prime Minister Paul Martin’s victory speech, and Minister of Canadian Heritage Helene Chalifour Scherrer will not be returning to Parliament Hill, but when key cultural issues for the film and television industry do come up, they will be hard for the Liberals to ignore this time around, according to industry insiders.
The Liberals’ minority status in the House of Commons may be the best result for industry groups, many of which were concerned about the fate of the film and television industry under a Conservative government.

Toronto is just 18 months away from opening part of its first new megastudio if everything goes according to plan for Toronto Film Studios and The Rose Corporation, the tag team of companies now set to build and operate a multistage lot on the city’s waterfront, a long-delayed and contentious project that promises to breathe new life into the local movie business.

Watching a gaggle of beautiful things wrestle over a single handsome bloke ain’t for everyone, and while younger viewers still flock to reality shows, a slim majority of Canadians seem to have had enough.

Jim Carrey, Denys Arcand and singer John Kay were among the Canucks who saw their names written – not in lights, as per usual – but in hefty slabs of granite at the June 23 gala for Canada’s Walk of Fame. The annual glitter fest added 11 famous names to the sidewalks of Toronto, planting the trio’s stars alongside those of Shirley Douglas, Diana Krall, Mario Lemieux, Helen Shaver and Hollywood pioneers Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett and Jack Warner.

Filmmaker Terry Gilliam, who has rebounded from his unfinished feature The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2001 to direct Good Omens and The Brothers Grimm, will be among the 10 beneficiaries of new money handed out by Telefilm Canada’s Canada Feature Film Fund, June 28.

The age of talking about the Internet revolution – at least as it impacts content distribution in Canada – is over, but the age of dealing with it is well underway, according to the Canadian Cable Television Association.