About this time last year, director Avi Lewis and crew were en route to Argentina to shoot a doc about poverty issues, and stumbled upon the perfect story when unemployed factory workers took over and reopened their old mill, running it as a co-op. The democratic, take-back-the-economy movement became their centerpiece and the project known as Fire the Experts – now in post for the Ontario arm of the National Film Board and Barna-Alper Productions – became The Take.

Cineflix makes Zero Hour deal

Vancouver: Making it big for a Vancouver producer might be a stint on Oprah’s Oxygen Network, a feat Force Four Productions will achieve March 12 when the one-hour pilot of Making it Big airs.
The documentary series with reality elements, which also airs on Life Network in Canada April 24, is about three up and comers who vie for an opportunity of a lifetime.

The history of ACTRA is the story of Canada’s broadcast industry, from the early 1940s, when CBC Radio dramas such as Jake and the Kid represented the sum total of Canadian drama, to the 1,000-channel universe of the present.

Sandy Mackay-Smith is president of London-based Invicta Capital’s Canadian branch, which provides U.K./Canada leaseback funding to Canadian dramatic film producers. Recent features on which it has participated include Head in the Clouds starring Charlize Theron, A Different Loyalty with Sharon Stone and Sienna Films’ Touch of Pink.

In addition to proclaiming a permanent downturn in domestic and international demand for drama, Alliance Atlantis Communications’ December decision to get out of production sent a bold message to the industry that producing in Canada under the current system is no longer viable from a business standpoint, a sentiment with which at least some independent producers are forced to agree.

Ottawa: Funding concerns always dominate the conversation when producers get together, but anxieties reached a fever pitch at Prime Time in Ottawa 2004, the annual powwow of the CFTPA and APFTQ, Jan. 28-30.

Canada’s private broadcasters are taking the CRTC to court – alleging that they have been illegally taxed by the federal regulator to the tune of more than $300 million over the past three years. The lawsuit, filed Dec. 2 in Ottawa by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, representing some 600 members, claims that the commission has overstepped its authority by charging so-called ‘Part Two License Fees.’

Not even two months in and already it has been a busy year for Montreal-based Equinoxe Films. In the first two weeks of February, Equinoxe acquired worldwide distribution rights to the next comedy feature from the makers of Mambo Italiano and expanded its production base by acquiring Montreal prodco Lyla Films.

The race to build Toronto’s next studio is down to four contenders, all of which made their final pitches to the Toronto Economic Development Corporation earlier this month, moving the city’s troubled Portlands project one step closer to completion.

In the same year in which domestic producers felt the pinch of scarce funding dollars, Canadian conventional broadcasters enjoyed a level of profitability in 2003 not seen since 1999.

By the time all the paperwork is done, Michael MacMillan will, in effect, be the sole controlling shareholder of Alliance Atlantis Communications by 2005 – holding sway over more than half of the voting stock of the $900-million company, according to documents filed recently with the Ontario Securities Commission.

Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed, the gruesome werewolf sequel with an oddly feminist edge, opened with a bloody splash in 53 Canadian theaters on Jan. 30. By the end of its first week on Feb. 5, it was the top Canadian film at the domestic box office, with a total take of $127,468 and a per-theater average of $2,405.

Corner Gas, which debuted Jan. 22 to 1.15 million viewers, is proving to be a big success for CTV, with subsequent episodes still breaking the million-viewer mark.

If you can stand the subzero temperatures, the sixth National Screen Institute FilmExchange opens on March 2 in Winnipeg with SnowScreen, a festival favorite that invites brave viewers to settle into icy seats to watch animated shorts from the National Film Board projected on a screen made entirely of snow.