Could the collision of the Internet and the form of documentary see the end to ‘comatose’ viewers? Peter Wintonick, filmmaker and cocreator of new media conference Cutting Truths, thinks so. …

Last year, to howls of intervening protest, the prize of a digital licence for a documentary channel was awarded to Corus Entertainment of Toronto….

The film that walked off with the Palme D’Or at Cannes last year almost didn’t get made….

THE awards offered this year as part of the Hot Docs festival differ from last year. The biggest difference: this year ‘nominations’ embrace all films with the relevant credentials….

Ten years ago, the Montreal Canadiens were competing for the Stanley Cup, Brian Mulroney was prime minister and the 500-channel universe was still a dream. A lot has changed since then including the coming of age of Canadian series television productions. Shows like Traders, Dudley the Dragon, LEXX, Deux Freres, Radio enfer, Big Comfy Couch and The Associates have been broadcast since that time, attracting millions of viewers here and internationally. Helping to make that growth possible has been the Independent Production Fund and its executive director, Andra Sheffer.
‘Ten years ago,’ recalls Sheffer, ‘there was very little private money in the industry. Producers had to rely on government subsidization for their programs to be made. And there always seemed to be a critical 10% of the budget that was never available in Canada.’

IPF at a glance…

Paul Donovan…

Cannes, France: Before MIP 2001, senior producers at various Canadian companies, including Alliance Atlantis Communications, were questioning the spring market’s timing and relevance. But although many sellers on the Croisette noted lower traffic in the Palais and fewer parties chaque soir, almost all reported brisk program sales on site with more deals to come.
(No one made the infamous claim that it was the best market yet, but one producer did venture to say it was the best market in four years. ‘Sales have been phenomenal.’)
Notable trends include several Canadian production houses pursuing self-distribution, less discussion of multi-platform content, more talk about formats, and a predictable surge in the number of companies moving into feature films. (Much of the upswing in features is linked to the new Canada Feature Film Fund, see story p. 1.) Also, some independent producers – distressed by the struggle to secure a U.S. broadcaster – seemed to want to shake up buyers’ expectations by announcing new types of production.

In a move to shed some responsibility and enter a level playing field with CanWest Global, CTV has decided it would rather renew as a station group than as a national network.
‘Not renewing as a network allows us to renegotiate some contracts with our affiliates,’ says CTV spokesman Tom Curzon. ‘Some of these contracts go back decades, and one is at least 30 years old.’
CanWest Global never had to become a network because it owns all its affiliates, but CTV, which owns only some of its affiliates, as a network is still responsible for all of its affiliates’ activities.
‘It comes down to an issue of responsibility,’ says CRTC spokesman Denis Carmel. ‘But whether they can do away with the network will have to be worked out in the
hearings.’

Montreal: Telefilm Canada’s interim Canada Feature Film Fund guidelines, released March 29, officially set the stage for enhanced box-office performances on the part of this country’s theatrical movies.
The guidelines are at the top of many industry agendas, with pressure coming from companies whose films have not made the reserved or performance funding list, including the producers and distributors of two recent Golden Reel-winning films, The Art Of War and Air Bud, and from larger distribution companies which claim the new guidelines place them at a disadvantage.

Vancouver: The new Canada Feature Film Fund won’t be the boon to B.C. producers that it will be for producers in Central Canada without major restructuring of the draft guidelines released March 29, says the local industry.
‘Overall the fund will be great for the Canadian domestic industry,’ says B.C.-based producer Steve Hegyes and a member of the advisory committee. ‘But B.C. lacks a base of content-providing companies. We have no Rhombus, no Triptych, no big distributors, no broadcasters that buy features. We need to create the same [working] environment that Toronto or Montreal has. Our indigenous industry is in dire straits [and] we have yet to come up with a formula to capitalize film companies.’

Vancouver: CKVU’s licence expires Aug. 31 and there is still no buyer, says the West Coast office of the CRTC.
The Vancouver station – which will be cut adrift from owner CanWest Global’s television network this fall – has been on the block since July 2000 when the CRTC approved CanWest’s acquisition of market leader BCTV, sister station CHEK and other WIC Western International Communications television assets.
But the mandated sale of CKVU didn’t happen by the end of 2000 and, since the new year, the station has been placed into a trust arrangement managed by Winnipeg-based Bud Sherman and a board of six.