* Montreal-based EVP Benoit Hogue has been named president of Groupe Moliflex-White, a Comweb group company specializing in equipment and studio rental services.

Galafilm of Montreal and Toronto’s Back Alley Films wrapped principal photography late last fall after 32 days on the initial eight half-hours of the highly charged erotic anthology Bliss, a Gemini hopeful in the best dramatic series category.

‘He is damaged like all of us. I think he has taken his licks in life and has learned to survive rather than just live. Patrick is looking for something to heal him, whether it be love, religion or alcohol,’ says Martin Cummins of the police investigator character that has earned him a Gemini nomination for best actor in a continuing leading role on Dice, itself nominated for best dramatic series.

Montreal: More than 200 film, video and digital works from 50 countries including 74 feature-length films, mostly top European fare, in addition to the regular mix of eclectic art house and indie productions, 20 digital works and a promising tribute/retrospective series make up this year’s 31st edition of the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media, Oct. 10-20.

Montreal: Radio-Canada is marking its remarkable 50 years of television by introducing 20 new shows for the 2002/03 season, highlighted by seven new drama series and two returning miniseries, says Suzanne Laverdiere, interim director-general of programming.

For those who grew up in Hamilton, ON not to know the story of Evelyn Dick and the grisly 1946 murder of her husband John is like not knowing that steel is made from iron ore, or that Lime Ridge Mall should be avoided on Saturdays.

A year after the pilot first aired, Toronto-based S&S Productions will bring another six 30-minute episodes of An American in Canada to CBC in January. Working under producer Colin Brunton (Over the Falls) and exec producer/writer Howard Busgang (Boy Meets World), director Shawn Alex Thompson (Puppets Who Kill) recently wrapped season one of the comedy series, which follows the adventures of Jake Crewe (Rick Roberts), a displaced and desperate newscaster from Arizona who takes a job at a Calgary radio station.
S&S’s David Smith says the company had ‘a hell of a time’ putting An American in Canada together, in part because Telefilm Canada backed the pilot, but not the series. ‘That’s very bizarre. I mean, how are they going to recoup?’ he says. ‘I guess there just wasn’t enough money to go around.’ The budget was cut to $350,000 per ep from $450,000, and filming went ahead with LFP cash and some equipment on loan from CBC. The series also saved a few pennies by switching to HD, making this the national broadcaster’s first high-definition project.

CBC/Radio-Canada and MIPCOM host Reed Midem are cosponsors of this year’s opening-night festivities, highlighted by a gala performance by the internationally renowned Cirque du Soleil.

The CTV MOW Stolen Miracle represents Portfolio Entertainment’s first foray into primetime, and the auspicious debut has reaped the Toronto prodco two Gemini nominations, including one for best TV movie or dramatic miniseries.

Vancouver: A real crime was averted this summer when the sequel to Jinnah On Crime: Pizza 911, a Gemini nominee in the best TV movie or miniseries category, pulled its financing together and will now go into production in November.

Halifax: Whether attending the gala screening of Marion Bridge, where director Wiebke von Carolsfeld described the film’s Halifax debut as its homecoming, bumping into Michael Moore over breakfast, or spending the night with a group of Newfoundland filmmakers who travel in a pack, taking in strays like family, the 22nd Atlantic Film Festival was a reminder of why bigger is not always better.

The process of bringing Armistead Maupin’s popular Tales of the City novels to the small screen has been as intricate as the ensemble character pieces themselves. But given strong ratings and three Gemini noms for the third in the series, Armistead Maupin’s Further Tales of the City, Montreal’s BBR Productions (part of the L’Equipe Spectra group) feels it was worth every twist and turn.