The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Buffalo Gal Pictures, part of the Minds Eye Entertainment group of companies, came away with seven wins at this year’s Blizzard Awards, hosted by the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry March 3 in celebration of the best in Manitoba film and television production.

Open Door Pitch

TVA Films reports Roman Polanski’s Palme d’Or winning film The Pianist pulled in $194,069 on 66 screens over the March 7-9 weekend, bringing its total take in Canada, where it had a limited opening Dec. 25, to $2.86 million. Released in the U.S. by Focus Features, The Pianist had a total North American gross of $16.8 million as of March 9. The film is up for seven Oscar nominations incuding best picture, best director for Polanski and best actor for Adrien Brody.

According to Lise Corriveau, Telefilm Canada’s manager, festivals & markets, there are five ways for Canadian participants to maximize their MIPTV sales experience.

A cabinet shuffle has significantly restructured the highest ranks at CHUM. Newly appointed president and CEO Jay Switzer announced earlier this month the formation of a four-person ‘managing operating committee’ that, reporting to him, will handle the day-to-day operations of the Toronto radio and TV giant.

* Robb Chase has been named president and CEO of Famous Players, taking over command of Canada’s largest theatre chain from outgoing film vet John Bailey. Chase, previously president and COO, is ‘has had an enormous impact on the company’ since joining three years ago, according to Tom McGrath, EVP of Famous Players parent Viacom Entertainment Group.

Sandra Richmond is a partner in the Toronto law firm of McMillan Binch LLP and a member of the firm’s KNOWlaw Group. This article was prepared with the

Watching the primetime news conference March 6 of U.S. President George W. Bush, I was struck by how stiff the entire event was. I couldn’t help but feel that R2D2 would have been more successful in affecting a less mechanical performance.

In the February 3 issue of Playback, a photograph was incorrectly identified as ‘young Doug Dales holding the clapper on a commercial shoot’, when in fact it is a picture of a young Alar Kivilo, DOP, holding up the slate for the feature film Me. Playback apologizes for the error.

Montreal: New location inquiries from the studios and from independent U.S. and European producers have picked up noticeably in the past month, says Martine-Andree Racine, director, Quebec Film & TV Office (QFTVO). Other inquiries have been in negotiation for months. ‘We won’t get them all but we have a good chance with several,’ adds Racine.

Montreal: With two new Warner Bros.-backed pictures opening offices in Montreal, the production service season is off to a promising start, at least in terms of studio work. Mathieu Kassovitz’s psychological thriller Gothika is operating out of Mel’s Cite du Cinema/Technoparc while DJ Caruso’s serial murder drama Taking Lives has opened an office at the Cine-Cite Montreal studios.