✖
Studio facilities across Canada
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Turf war in Quebec
Foreign production has gone flat in Montreal this summer, having hit what appears to be not one, but two roadblocks put up by the APFTQ.
Hollywood has balked at shooting in la belle province, say sources, because of the $14,000 entry fee put up by the Quebec producers association and to protest its ongoing efforts to represent U.S. film and TV shoots.
The long-running turf war reached a new stage late last month as Hollywood moved to block an application before Quebec’s labor tribunal that, if approved, would hand exclusive bargaining rights for all film and TV shoots in the province to the APFTQ.
Jitters over Cineplex deal
Distributors and other exhibitors are worried about where the Canadian movie market is headed following Cineplex Galaxy’s recent buyout of Famous Players, and wonder if the rules laid down by Ottawa’s competition bureau will do enough to rein in the super-powered theater chain.
The $500-million buyout – announced last month by FP’s former bosses at Viacom – will leave Cineplex with some 1,400 screens in 130 locations throughout Canada, a market share of between 60% and 65%.
That stands to make life difficult for distribs when they negotiate for screen space and their share of the box office.
Telefilm and CBC put $2M into feature docs
Telefilm Canada and the CBC have teamed up to create a $2-million fund to back feature documentaries. The Theatrical Feature-Length Documentary Program is the first collaboration of its kind between the broadcaster and funding agency, and will support the development, production and completion of full-length docs in 2005/06.
Mehta to open TIFF
Despite offerings from two of Canadian filmmaking’s most recognizable names – Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg – Deepa Mehta’s Water will open the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.
The controversial new feature about impoverished widows in 1930s India best exemplifies what fest-goers will want to see on opening night, says festival director Piers Handling.
Zoom still on
Revolution Studios and Sony are set to shoot Zoom as planned in Toronto despite recent legal action by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises.
Banff fest bounces back
With the announcements of new and bulked-up funding streams for all sorts of programming, a slew of awards given and deals initiated, the 2005 Banff World Television Festival is being heralded a success.
Red tape ties up Igloolik Isuma
Iqaluit, Nunavut: Just two years into its lifespan, Nunavut’s new film agency may have chased away the territory’s most successful production company.
‘Thick Glasses’ takes prize at short film festival
Director Pjotr Sapegin took the top cash prize at last month’s Worldwide Short Film Festival – scoring over $9,000 and the best Canadian short award for his animated Through My Thick Glasses. The 13-minute story, about a young girl and her grandfather’s experience in World War Two, is a coproduction between the National Film Board and Norway.
Jump Cuts
Potential strike at CBC
Instant success for Cinémaginaire’s Idole
Less than two weeks after its June 15 release by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, the French-language comedy feature Idole instantanée, from Montreal prodco Cinémaginaire, was approaching the $1-million mark. As of June 27, box-office totals were more than $950,000 from 104 screens.
Robson Arms finds Friday audience
Despite its unenviable 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. summer timeslot and a ratings drop between weeks one and two, CTV’s new half-hour comedy series Robson Arms – about the cohabitants of a Vancouver apartment building – is receiving better than respectable viewership.
Correction
The cumulative box office for Sabah, distributed by Mongrel Media, as of June 9, was $49,058, not $4,630, as reported in the June 20 issue of Playback.
Mixed reviews for DJ pic
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
Terminal City tops TMN/MC fall schedule
The Movie Network and Movie Central are continuing their combined quest to be ‘HBO North’ with their recently announced lineup for 2005/06, putting the drama Terminal City and the B.C.-shot series Stuntdawgs in for this fall.
The definitive CDN broadcast and production resource.Over 5,000 company listings!
