Vancouver post shop Artifex Studios worked on a dozen FX scenes on Julia Kwan’s festival darling Eve & the Fire Horse, including a dream sequence of horses running underwater, and an opera-singing goldfish that is attracting a lot of attention.

It has been two months since SaskFilm implemented revisions to its provincial tax credit, putting it on par with Manitoba’s as the most attractive in the country. And although production has not significantly increased yet, interest from producers both in and out of the province has been steady and noted, according to Susanne Bell, acting Saskatchewan film commissioner and SaskFilm CEO.

With Alberta turning 100 this year, filmmaker/actor Paul Gross is getting personal with his upcoming Passchendaele, a $16-million Alberta-shot war epic looking at the contributions of Canadians in the First World War. The theatrical feature has received an unprecedented $5.5 million in direct investment from the Government of Alberta to get it started.

After a two-month delay, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story – the 2 x 120 miniseries from Regina’s Minds Eye Entertainment – will air on CBC on Sunday, March 12 and Monday, March 13 at 8 p.m.

Jamie Brown, CEO/executive producer at Winnipeg’s Frantic Films, and his team are currently in production on Music Rising, a one-hour doc for CTV about the titular charity group aiding New Orleans musicians affected by hurricane Katrina.

Winnipeg: Avant-garde auteur Guy Maddin is venturing into new territory as he prepares to shoot a documentary about his Winnipeg hometown.

After several years of servicing film projects from the U.S., animation and FX house Satellite Animation Studios, newly settled in Calgary, is looking to make a name for itself in local circles and also show off its creative range.

CBC has cancelled three underperforming series, bringing an end to Da Vinci’s City Hall, Gemini winner This Is Wonderland and hockey mock-doc The Tournament, leaving the pubcaster with no Canadian drama series on its primetime schedule.

The CRTC has announced targets around its broadcaster incentive program, challenging private English-language casters to invest more in indigenous production. The regulator is already offering bonus advertising time as a reward for doing so, but some industry reps say targets and bonuses are not enough.

The Ontario tax credit for foreign production will remain at 18% for at least another year, but hopes that the province would return to direct funding of film and TV projects went unanswered following an announcement by Culture Minister Madeleine Meilleur.

Bev Oda is popular with the TV industry, with many viewing her as one of their own – a former broadcaster who knows the industry’s DNA.
But how the newly minted federal heritage minister will fare in the Conservative cabinet, across the table from the new ministers of industry – Maxime Bernier – and finance – Jim Flaherty (Ontario’s tight-fisted finance minister in 2001/02) – remains an open question.

The Liberals might be out of office, but they leave an impressive legacy regarding the growth of the Canadian film industry, as Canuck flicks met a five-year goal to claim 5% of the domestic box office in 2005.

Montreal: After months of speculation, the rumors have proven true. The famously troubled New Montreal FilmFest, the inaugural edition of which was held just five months ago, is now history.

Actor Michael Miranda (above) is nominated for his role in the CTV MOW Lives of the Saints at the 2006 ACTRA Awards in Toronto. Miranda will be vying for the outstanding male performance prize with Shawn Ashmore (The Terry Fox Story), Tom McCamus (Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story), Joe Pingue (the short Leo) and Dov Tiefenbach (The Dark Hours). Meanwhile, the female heat consists of Paula Boudreau (The Tournament), Wendy Crewson (The Man Who Lost Himself), Megan Follows (Shania: A Life in Eight Albums), Victoria Snow (Waking Up Wally) and Samantha Weinstein (Big Girl).

The multi-generational Quebecois drama, Histoire de famille, has taken over as box office leader from Les Boys IV and Maurice Richard, which had shared the podium for almost two months.