Alliance Atlantis trumpeted the acquisition of HBO’s Six Feet Under, and its enthusiasm was not ill placed.

NSI Canada has named the participants in its Global Marketing Program, a training initiative that mentors Canadian television producers and helps to ready their projects for consideration in the international marketplace.

Shortly after Telefilm Canada cut a cheque for $1.8 million, Devine Entertainment got going on its first theatrical feature, Bailey.
The $10-million pic, about a dog who becomes CEO of an animal rights group, got underway in Mississauga, ON Sept. 8 at the Greystone International lot and shoots until mid-October.

Big Motion Pictures in Chester, NS is taking on the federal government in the CBC ‘six-pack’ Political Animals. According to Big producer Wayne Grigsby, the 6 x 60 series is a dramatic but tongue-in-cheek look at big politics and office politics in Ottawa as seen through the eyes of a 23-year-old woman, new to the game as a special assistant to a minister.

The decision by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to move the Genies from longtime broadcast partner CBC to CHUM is a compelling play.

Sandra Richmond is a partner in the Toronto law firm

Despite problems that have plagued the country and the production community this year – from Interior fires to SARS – organizers of the 22nd Vancouver International Film Festival (Sept. 25 to Oct. 10) are calling for a record year.

Charles Martin Smith’s The Snow Walker will close this year’s VIFF at the Oct. 10 gala. The film, based on a short story by beloved Canadian author Farley Mowat, tells the tale of a Canuck pilot lost in the barrens and the Inuit passenger whose native skills save them both.

VIFF 2003’s Canadian Images section boasts a record 32 features, and the reason for that is, simply, there were more strong films submitted, says Diane Burgess, Canadian Images programmer.

Although Marvel-ous Stan Lee – the brains behind Spider-Man, The Hulk and a host of other super-folk – will play a starring roll as a featured guest, this year’s VIFF Trade Forum is really about filmmaking dollars and scribing sense.

What is most striking about this year’s VIFF lineup is that all three gala screenings feature Canadian films. Denys Arcand’s The Barbarian Invasions will serve as the opening gala, Guy Maddin’s The Saddest Music in the World as the anniversary gala, and Charles Martin Smith’s The Snow Walker will close. This doesn’t necessarily reflect a trend, says Alan Franey, festival director for the last 16 years.

Vancouver: Blame dive-bombing terrorists, stingy advertisers, runaway production lobbyists and reality television if you want, but the bloom is off the dogwood tree in Vancouver, no matter whether you toil in service or domestic production.