District 319. It used to be a derelict abandoned theater, skirting the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown in the heart of Canada’s poorest postal code, a half-block away from the corner of Main and Hastings – aka Pain and Wastings.

Atom Egoyan has lined up a stellar cast for his next film project, Chloe, which will begin shooting in Toronto on Feb. 9. Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried, the ingenue from Mamma Mia! and a lead in the HBO series Big Love, are starring in the erotic thriller based on the 2003 French production Nathalie.

Ernie Webb recalls watching western movies when he was a child growing up in the James Bay region. ‘We always cheered for the cowboys,’ says Webb, who is an aboriginal, ‘even when they were killing Indians.’ He says many native people end up learning all sorts of erroneous things about their own culture via Hollywood’s twisted representations.

You’ve heard of The Reader? Well, Paul Gross’ production company Whizbang Films has optioned the story of another reader, Clarence Brazier, who learned to read at the age of 93. Gross’ partner Frank Siracusa says Brazier’s century-spanning tale came to their attention through a 2006 article in The Globe and Mail. ‘We thought it was an amazing story.’

U.S. pay-TV channel Starz Entertainment recently teamed up with Vancouver producer Front Street Pictures to coproduce three B.C.-shot action-adventure TV movies for U.S.-based Sci Fi Channel.

Trish Dolman has navigated the stormy waters of film financing for 10 years, trying to land Eco Pirate: The Paul Watson Story on the screen.

Telefilm Canada has invested almost $3.7 million in two Atlantic Canada features, paving the way for the new Trailer Park Boys and the feature debut of Newfoundland’s Sherry White.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of a classic sci-fi thriller about an alien (Keanu Reeves) who visits Earth to warn humankind that it is about to cause an environmental disaster of epic proportions.

The Prairie provinces may not be leading the green movement, but momentum is quietly building as green committees spring up and individual companies accept responsibility for their garbage.

When it comes to the greening of the film and TV industry, British Columbia continues to blaze the trail in Western Canada, with numerous productions actually reducing their environmental impact.

Ontario took giant strides towards creating an ecologically friendly motion picture sector last year, and although production was noticeably down, the stage is set to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint this year.