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La Vie avec mon père still number one
Christal Films’ La Vie avec mon père lost some ground in its third week out – its per-theater average slipping to $2,481 from $4,906 the week before – but had no trouble hanging on to the number-one spot at the Canadian box office despite competition from the English Canada release of Mémoires affectives and the much-anticipated Saint Ralph.
Few blessings for Saint
* Saint Ralph: There was faint praise for the pre-hyped festival favorite about marathons, moms and miracles, most of which gave nods to the able work of stars Adam Butcher and others but took issue with the maudlin script by writer/director (and, gasp, long-distance runner) Michael McGowan. The pic has ‘nothing going for it,’ says CanWest’s Jay Stone, ‘but the goodwill of a talented cast and a plot so unpretentiously dopey… wins you over.’ Overwritten, agrees Mark Slutsky at the Montreal Mirror, but it ‘works in parts, mostly thanks to [Campbell] Scott and [Gordon] Pinsent.’
Canada Feature Film Fund backs another five
Telefilm Canada helped spread some cheddar earlier this month when it announced financing for five projects through the Canada Feature Film Fund and its Ontario and Nunavut and Western offices.
Hot Sheet
The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period April 8-14 and television ratings for the period April 11-17.
Saint Ralph, H2O net writing nods
Saint Ralph, Corner Gas and H2O were among the winners on April 18 when the Canadian Screenwriting Awards were handed out at a packed downtown Toronto nightspot.
Strong showing by Canada in Rockie nominations
Nineteen Canadian programs are in the running for the Rockie Awards at this year’s Banff World Television Festival, a ‘banner year’ for Canucks, say organizers, who will compete with nominees from 16 other countries at the 26th annual awards gala on June 13.
Jump Cuts
Hot Cargo
Canucks at NAB
Las Vegas: Canadian FX and animation software providers took varying approaches at this year’s NAB.
The pros and cons of arbitration
Sander Gibson is a commercial attorney specializing in entertainment law with Gascon & Associés (Montreal), and acts as an arbitrator in entertainment and commercial matters. He is an arbitrator for the IFTA and is a member of the ADR Institute of Ontario, and the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association.
Why so negative?
Why does Playback write such negative things about a movie when it could write positive things just as honestly? I am referring to your nasty short paragraph (Critical Mass, March 14, p.4) about Daniel and the Superdogs.
Playback Readership Poll Results
In a recent online Playback poll question asking ‘Do you believe that broadcasters have a rejuvenated interest in Canadian drama?’ 71% of respondents voted no and 29% voted yes.
TV fund rethink may be rethought
Sometime in June, Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla is expected to make an announcement that has had broadcasters and TV producers buzzing for much of the last year. The federal government, it is assumed, will make a call as to who should take full control of roughly $250 million in funds directed at making TV shows. Will it be Telefilm Canada or the Canadian Television Fund?
Fast Runner team back at it
Three years after putting Nunavut on the filmmaking map with Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn have started work on their follow-up with the similarly set The Journals of Knud Rasmusen. The pic is a history piece, set in 1920s Igloolik, about the culture clash between Europeans and the Inuit, as seen by a local shaman, his daughter, and the titular, real-life Dutch explorer.
Features
McCulloch makes Comeback
Youth
Care Bears out of hibernation
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