Vancouver: About 75 independent producers attended the exhibition and distribution trade event ShowCanada April 28 to May 2 in Vancouver, pushing year-over-year attendance up 21% and making the 17th annual gathering more than ever Canada’s feature film industry convention.

An unseasonably warm weekend in Montreal may have hurt the box-office take of the highly anticipated Cite-Amerique feature Monica la mitraille, but despite perfect spring weather, the April 30 Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm release grossed $385,419 over its opening weekend.

Two Canadian productions were honored at the April 25 awards ceremony for the seventh Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children, a growing event looking to expand its market and industry presence.

Unlike a university, Innoversity seeks to educate its attendees in a matter of days.

Vancouver: The coroner was beaten by the Grim Reaper in the nominations race in the 2004 Leo Awards, which recognize excellence by B.C. residents in the film and television industry.

The most verbose and colorful acceptance speech at the 2004 Genie Awards was given prior to the broadcast by Peter Simpson, chairman and CEO of Norstar Filmed Entertainment, whose production credits include Blown Away, Iron Eagle IV and Regeneration. Upon receiving a Special Genie for his ‘commitment to the production and distribution of films in Canada and his ongoing mentorship of young talents,’ Simpson opened with a promise to ‘leave the Telefilm bashing ’til the end of the speech.’

The Hot Docs festival wrapped 10 days of pitching, parties and a record number of sold-out screenings on May 2, making 2004 the festival’s most successful year to date.

The Toronto Documentary Forum got off to a heavy start this year, opening with pitches about state-sponsored assassination, crippling poverty, life in Afghanistan and a submarine full of drowned Russian sailors who, so the proposed story goes, were sent to the bottom of the ocean by a U.S. submarine and left there to die for the sake of Vladimir Putin’s political career.

* Nelvana’s interim president Paul Robertson has moved up to parent company Corus Entertainment, as president of television, passing control of the animation house to Corus boss John Cassaday.

CanWest loses $211M

Satya Poddar is national director of tax policy services at Ernst & Young L.P.

There’s a minor controversy that’s been brewing for more than a month now that doesn’t seem to want to go away. It’s got me scratching my head. It’s this whole Telefilm Canada-Creative Artists Agency deal under which the L.A.-based talent agency will package pics for Canadian producers.