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Telefilm Canada selects 14 promising projects through the Canada Feature Film Fund
Montreal, July 20, 2005 – Telefilm Canada today announced its financial commitment to 10 English-language and four French-language feature films, ranging from urban comedies to hard-hitting dramas. As well, a number of the selected projects mark the return of well-known Canadian filmmakers such as Bruce McDonald (The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess), Ann Marie Fleming (The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam), Louis Bélanger (Gaz Bar Blues) and Micheline Lanctôt (Le Piège d'Issoudun).
These projects are financed through the Canada Feature Film Fund’s Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program (LIFAP) and the Main Program’s regional envelopes.
“By investing in both emerging talent and established directors – from all regions of the country – Telefilm is able to help foster a diversity of voices that promise to connect with filmgoers,“ said Wayne Clarkson, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director.
Canada Feature Film Fund
In effect since April 1, 2001, the overall goal of the Canada Feature Film
Fund is to increase Canadian audiences in theatres for Canadian feature films,
aiming to capture 5% of the domestic box office by 2006. The spirit and intent
of the Canada Feature Film Fund’s main development, production and marketing
programs is to encourage the making and marketing of Canadian feature films
that have high box-office potential, while supporting a range of genres, budgets,
companies and regions.
Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program
Part of the Canada Feature Film Fund, the LIFAP supports the production,
post-production and completion of director-driven low budget feature films from
both emerging and established filmmakers.
|
Project |
Director |
Region |
Synopsis |
|
Hooterville Vice |
Doug Sutherland |
New Brunswick |
An Asian hit man comes to a small town in Canada and is foiled by bumbling, yet loveable cops. |
|
The Point |
Joshua Dorsey |
Quebec |
The story of an ill-fated weekend in Montréal’s Point St. Charles, where the lives of its teenage population intersect in extraordinary ways, ultimately solving a decades-old mystery. |
|
The Tracey Fragments |
Bruce McDonald |
Ontario |
While sitting on a long, bus ride, a teenaged girl reflects upon cataclysmic events that drove her close to the brink of insanity. |
|
Urban Life Skillz |
Frances-Anne Solomon |
Ontario |
Stylish, funny and entertaining, Urban Life Skillz, follows the love, lives and liabilities of five men participating in a counselling group for black fathers. |
|
The Cabin Movie |
Dylan Akio Smith |
Western |
Three couples decide to spice up their lives and challenge their middle-class morals by going on a swinging weekend retreat and filming the events that unfold. |
|
The French Guy |
Ann Marie Fleming |
Western |
Feeling lucky to be alive after brain surgery, Elizabeth brings home a stray young man to nurse him back to health. Soon, it becomes clear that her brain surgery may have left her with a new personality. |
|
The Hamster Cage |
Larry Kent |
Western |
During a family gathering, a set of twins in their twenties initiate some fatal mishaps as secrets of their family history are revealed. |
|
Project |
Director |
Region |
Synopsis |
|
Le Génie du crime |
Louis Bélanger |
Quebec |
The story plays out in a seedy motel room. Two low-life thugs, father and son, are hired to commit arson but instead end up holding hostage the wily daughter of a Mafia boss. Based on the play by George F. Walker. |
| La Lâcheté |
Marc Bisaillon |
Quebec |
A gravedigger, who often misses work at the small-town cemetery due to his epilepsy, witnesses the kidnapping of a teenaged girl. But blinded by lust, he fails to intervene. |
|
Pour adultes seulement |
Micheline Lanctôt |
Quebec |
Crooked cops in a tale of twists and turns based on the play by George F. Walker. |
|
Towing |
Brian Wright |
Quebec |
No sooner is the Montréal hero’s first child born than his boss, and father-in-law, sends him on a business trip to the Maritimes. The journey turns into a nightmare, but not a total loss. |
Regional projects (requesting less than $1 million in production financing)
Projects requesting less than $1 million are assessed in comparatives held within each of Telefilm Canada’s local offices.
Atlantic region|
Project |
Director |
Producer/Distributor |
Screenwriter |
Synopsis |
|
Black Eyed Dog |
Pierre Gang |
Sam Grana – Grana Production Inc. (New Brunswick) Saint GlinGlin Inc. (Quebec) TVA Films |
Jeremy John Bouchard |
When a shocking series of crimes occur in a community along the Miramichi River, the life of Betty, a waitress in her thirties, takes an unexpected turn. She will not make her debut as a singer on the world stage after all but in her hometown that she had been planning to leave for a long time. |
|
Project |
Director |
Producer/Distributor |
Screenwriter |
Synopsis |
|
Love and Other Dilemmas |
Loreto Di Stefano |
Clarity Films Inc. Alexandra Raffe Clare Hodge ThinkFilm Inc. |
Deborah Peraya |
A young and pregnant bride-to-be is determined to beat a curse passed down from her great grandmother that causes grooms to die – accidentally – on their wedding days. After a series of crazy events, the bride-to-be wonders if love and marriage are possible for her. |
Telefilm Canada, a cultural investor in film, television and new media
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to the development
and promotion of the Canadian film, television and new media industries. With
the objective of building larger audiences for Canadian cultural products,
the Corporation acts as a partner to the private sector through investments
in diverse productions with wide appeal.
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Media inquiries:
Jeanine Basile, Communications and Public Affairs Manager
(514) 283-6363 or basilej@telefilm.gc.ca
Alejandra Sosa, Communications Officer, Ontario and Nunavut Regions
(416) 973-6436 or sosaa@telefilm.gc.ca