Halifax: This Hour Has 22 Minutes is returning to its Newfoundland roots with the recruitment of Shaun Majumder, as the fourth anchor of the spoof news show replacing Colin Mochrie. The 31-year-old comedian from Burlington, NF ‘oozes talent,’ says Salter Street Films president Michael Donovan, the show’s executive producer.

Canada was shut out of the 55th annual Emmy Awards televised gala on Sept. 21, but Canadian producers and service providers snagged a few trophies in the creative arts (craft) categories presented in the days leading up to the ceremony.

Sales and bidding were brisk at the close of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where some 700 buyers crossed paths with 400 movies, and several major titles from both Canada and abroad have since signed or moved towards distribution deals.

Denys Arcand is taking another run at the Oscars, now that his Les Invasions barbares has been submitted for a best foreign-language nom at the 76th Academy Awards. If nominated, it will mark the third time Canada and Arcand have been in the running for the U.S. prize, following 1989’s Jesus de Montreal and Le Declin de l’empire americain in 1986.

Halifax: It’s business as usual on the set of Topsail Entertainment’s Trailer Park Boys, less than a week after the cast and crew heard the news about their nominations at the 18th annual Gemini Awards.

HALIFAX: The Atlantic Film Festival succeeded this year in fulfilling its Atlantic-content mandate, while also presenting some fine out-of-province and international work. With executive director Gregor Ash and festival director Lia Rinaldo at the helm, the growing festival also gave the event international credibility with its sixth annual Strategic Partners coproduction conference.

‘I think it had the most remarkable response to anything I’ve ever done,’ says Jan Miller, producer of the Atlantic Film Festival’s Strategic Partners conference, held Sept. 13-15, during the first weekend of the fest. That’s a bold statement, considering Miller, who started the popular conference six years ago, founded the National Screen Institute in the ’80s and has taught the art of pitching to countless emerging filmmakers all over the world.

In contrast to virtually every other program on television, CTV’s The Eleventh Hour, produced by Alliance Atlantis, isn’t awash in warm reds and browns. Instead, the show’s look is cold and hard-edged, emphasizing blue and green hues. Add lots of rich blacks and a raw, rough quality to the video, and The Eleventh Hour is visually jarring. It’s a look that fits well with the show’s dramatization of the goings-on behind the scenes at an investigative news program.

Steve Lucas’ Blue Murder checks in this year with an impressive nine Gemini nominations, placing it between CBC’s venerable Da Vinci’s Inquest (11 noms) and CTV’s Cold Squad (six noms). The Global TV police drama is up for best dramatic series, best actor for Jeremy Ratchford and best actress for both Mimi Kuzyk and Tamara Hickey.

Montreal: Robert Lepage’s latest feature film, La face cachee de la lune, shot entirely in high-definition video, has been selected to open the 32nd edition of the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM). A gala screening with cast and crew is slated for the Ex-Centris theatre, Oct. 9. This year’s festival runs from Oct. 9-19.

The reviews are in: Canada’s television critics say there are few genuine reasons to proudly wave the flag of Canadian TV or the Gemini Awards designed to pat our cultural output on the back. The Awards Gala is not relevant, they say. Badly timed. Oblivious to what Canadians really watch. Insular.

While much of the glamour and glitz of the Geminis will be reserved for those who achieved notable success in the last TV year, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television will honor seven individuals who have had an enduring impact at the Industry Gala on Oct. 19.

Glenn O’Farrell is president and CEO, of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

Marking the first anniversary since Sandra Macdonald took over as its president and CEO, the Canadian Television Fund is in the midst of yet another firestorm. This even before the release of new funding guidelines later this fall.

This year’s Academy Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the Canadian television industry, goes to Michael Maclear, chairman of Toronto’s Screenlife Productions and Leading Cases Productions.