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Features
Snow in April
Genie 2005: Prix Jutra, part deux
Quebec cinema has had two major celebrations in the span of one month: first at its official awards show, the Prix Jutra, and then at the national Genie Awards on March 21, where it again flexed its might. Productions based in Quebec hauled away three-quarters of the Genie statues (15 awards), with Ontario chiming in for five trophies, and B.C. barely on the radar with one lone prize, for best doc winner The Corporation.
Drama crisis over? Don’t bet on it
Pending Canadian Television Fund approval, the 2005/06 season could see 11 one-hour dramas on Canadian airwaves, including new series such as CTV’s Whistler and Global’s Falcon Beach, as well as returning series such as This is Wonderland on CBC. A twelfth series, Charlie Jade, a new Canada/South Africa copro sci-fi series from CHUM, shot overseas and debuted this month. The three national nets have ordered a total of 221 hours of drama, including four new one-hour series, all evidence that the crisis in Canadian drama could be coming to an end.
Or is it?
International copros drop by 50%
Canadian participation in international coproductions has plummeted by as much as 50% over the past few years, according to statistics recently released by Telefilm Canada. The surprisingly poor numbers are thought to be more accurate than previous tallies and paint a grim picture of Canada’s production partnerships in the U.K. and Europe.
‘The news is not good at this point,’ says Danny Chalifour, director of international operations and development at Telefilm. ‘This is worse than we expected.’
Canadians prepare for MIPTV
Children’s and information programming will be big as Canadian producers and distributors get ready to parlez with customers in Cannes, France, at the annual MIPTV trade spectacle, April 11-15.
Télé-Québec report gets mixed reviews
The Bédard Commission report on the future of Télé-Québec met with mixed reviews after it was released on March 9 – calling as it did for the educational channel to get back to its roots by focusing on programming but failing to either make a case to boost its budget or to shake off the specter of privatization.
Omni affiliate wins lawsuit
Vancouver: On March 16, the Supreme Court of British Columbia handed a $351,000 judgment to Water Street Pictures of Vancouver in a breach-of-trust lawsuit launched against now-defunct Forefront Releasing, along with Vancity Capital Corporation and the Business Development Bank of Canada.
Manitoba passes half-price credit
The film and video tax credit in Manitoba could now cover more than half a production’s labor expenses.
Alien lands good B.O.
Phil the Alien, Rob Stefaniuk’s no-budget comedy about the misadventures of an extraterrestrial barfly in northern Ontario, had a respectable first week at the box office, raking in almost $13,000 from four screens.
Hoser from another planet
Phil the Alien: Up top, almost everyone gives high marks to Rob Stefaniuk’s no-budget comedy about a wayward, drunken E.T., but there are a lot of ‘buts’ buried in the fine print.
Hot Sheet
The Hot Sheet tracks Canadian box-office results for the period March 11-17 and television ratings for the period March 14-20.
Taylor leaves CBC
Carole Taylor announced her resignation as chair of CBC/Radio-Canada’s board of directors on March 14. She intends to enter provincial politics in her home province of British Columbia, where she will run for office in May. Taylor served as CBC chair for the past four years.
Jump Cuts
Cuts at Telefilm
Into the breach
Moritz de Hadeln seems to be perfectly and oddly pleased with his new job at the Montreal International Film Festival – a top programming spot that puts the Swiss-born festival vet in the middle of the three-way slap fight that has broken out between MIFF and its cross-town rivals, the World Film Festival and the Festival du Nouveau Cinema.
Province, feds support FNC
Some good news for the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma – the fest again got a $200,000 cheque from Telefilm Canada this month and a matching contribution from SODEC. The fest has been consistently backed by both funding agencies. It drew $200,000 from each last year, enjoying a bump from its usual $150,000.
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