Donna Gall is a freelance director, researcher and writer currently in preproduction on her first independent documentary, Northway Girls, about the oldest girls’ camp in Canada.

Although Tom Perlmutter, director of the English Program at the National Film Board, promises an announcement at Hot Docs that will be ‘very interesting and significant,’ the NFB has already made three moves this month that saw its international role grow significantly.

While the Canadian Digital Television Association says its broadcaster members are about to jump on board the North American high-definition rollout, the Canadian Cable Television Association reports that its members are looking south to fulfill growing demand for HD programming.

Maria Topolovich, president of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, believes her organization’s traditional rallying point, its awards shows, are doing a fine job, thank you, but that’s not to say they can’t be made better.

Richard Paradis, president of the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters, says distributors are onside with Telefilm Canada’s performance policy orientation for feature films.

Like the Motion Picture Association of America in the U.S., full and open access to markets lies at the heart of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association credo.

One of the main areas of focus for l’Association des producteurs de films et de television du Quebec is the general protection of independent production on a public policy and governmental level. When there is a change of political regimes, the APFTQ has to ensure past gains won by producers aren’t undone.

The Canadian Film and Television Production Association has nearly 400 company members across the country, including independent producers, broadcaster-affiliate prodcos and producers of interactive media.

Unlike most showmen, Steven Ellis has no problem working with children or animals. The president of Toronto’s Ellis Entertainment just saw his 3 x 60 doc The Baby Human debut on Discovery Health in the U.S. and is now at work on five one-hours of Beastly Countdowns for Animal Planet and Discovery Channel Canada.
Each ep of the $1.25-million series spotlights the top 10 ugliest, noisiest, most annoying, and so on, critters known to man.

Vancouver: Peace Arch Entertainment, recently restructured and reinvented as a genre feature producer, is back in business with four feature films, with aggregate budgets of about $35 million, and a television series.

The MPTAC Industry Update session at ShowCanada 2003 features a summary presentation of highlights from the ‘State of the Movie Going Industry’ report by Howard Lichtman, president of Lightning Group, a strategic marketing company based in Toronto specializing in the movie and entertainment industries.

Fever Films North America launched in early March with executive producers/producers Danielle Schwartz and Jon Banack. The new commercial prodco is an affiliate of Avion Films and will take over where Generator Films, which is moving away from spot production, left off.
As the name suggests, one of the company’s mandates will be to target work in the U.S. market, something Schwartz says will be an advantage for the homegrown directors on Fever’s roster.