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Varner joins Discovery
Less than a year after taking over as head of Canadian production, Anne-Marie Varner has exited CanWest to be exec producer of in-house programming at Discovery Channel.
Strong start for Familia
Christal Films’ Familia had a big weekend Sept. 16-18. Not only did director Louise Archambault receive the prize for best first Canadian feature at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film also had a good opening weekend at the Quebec box office, bringing in $160,972 on 46 screens - one featuring English subtitles – for a per-screen average of about $3,500.
Idol numbers down for round three
For the third consecutive year, CTV’s Canadian Idol drew a season average of more than two million viewers for its 34-episode run. Big, but down slightly from last year’s season average of 2.2 million.
Hot Sheet
The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period Sept. 9-15 and television ratings for the period Sept 12-18.
25th AFF numbers on par amid busy festival season
Halifax: Gregor Ash is the first to admit there was a lot of pressure on him and his staff to deliver something special for the 25th anniversary of the Atlantic Film Festival. But despite its tug-of-war for dates with the first New Montreal FilmFest, the outcome of this year’s event is sunny, even if the leftovers of Hurricane Ophelia drenched delegates and reporters on its opening weekend.
‘There are huge expectations,’ said the AFF executive director on day three of the 10-day festival. ‘We made quite known that this is the year for us. The other festival put a lot of pressure on us.’
Big summer for Que. box office
While Hollywood licks its wounds, Quebec is celebrating a record-breaking summer for indigenous films.
‘Very, very high’ numbers at TIFF
And the moral of this story is – get it in writing.
C.R.A.Z.Y., Familia, Terrifico win at TIFF
C.R.A.Z.Y. scored big at TIFF – selling in 25 territories and taking the Toronto-City prize for best Canadian feature and $30,000 for its ‘standout acting… and extraordinary visual inventiveness.’
Hank faces off against the festival
It takes a lot of you-know-what to open a self-distributed, no-star, low-budget picture opposite TIFF – but that didn’t stop Aaron Sorensen and his Hank Williams First Nation, which made its Toronto debut on five screens on Sept. 9, day two of the festival.
CFC scores $10 million from Ontario
The Canadian Film Centre itself was arguably the biggest winner during this year’s TIFF, thanks to a $10-million cheque from the Ontario government, earmarked for its training programs. Officials announced the investment during CFC’s big annual barbecue on Sept. 11.
Mehta and Cronenberg wow ’em, Fitzgerald fizzles
A special roundup of TIFF reviews from the national and local press. See page 8 for more festival coverage.
People
* Louis Fournier is now president of GalaKids, the new children’s entertainment arm of Galafilm. Fournier was previously president of the youth and animation unit at TVA International, and was head of distribution at Cinar.
Career Fair takes center stage at Innoversity
Media careers will be front and center at this year’s Innoversity Creative Summit. The diversity-in-media conference has beefed up its Career Fair in hopes of matching more talented up-and-comers with broadcast and film outlets.
Is that camera operator a contractor or an employee?
Carey Singer, CPA, heads up the Sports and Entertainment industry team at Mintz & Partners LLP in Toronto.
The war of the entertainment news shows
Canuck broadcasters are all a-tingle about their entertainment news shows. Timed to launch around the celebrity-laden Toronto International Film Festival, Global, CHUM and Toronto’s SunTV have all jumped in the pool to see if they can grab viewers away from CTV’s eTalk Daily.
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