Why Trade Matters
Trade and the Canadian Economy
Through the Lens: Exporting Canadian Film and Animation
Stories of the Week - April 23, 2004
Denys Arcand winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in February
for his The Barbarian Invasions capped the international
acclaim the movie has received since it first premiered. It has
been screened in cinemas around the world, and won two awards at
the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, as well as awards for Best Film at
the 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival and for Best International
Picture at the 2003 European Film Awards in Berlin.
Cultural attachés in Canada’s embassies and consulates,
and the Arts and Cultural Industries Promotion Division, whose role
is to promote Canadian culture to audiences abroad, have also played
a part in the film’s success. In Bogotá, Colombia,
in March, the movie officially launched the Second Annual Canadian
Film Festival, and a thousand people packed one of the biggest theatres
in Latin America, with the Embassy hosting a reception. In São
Paulo, Brazil, Louise Portal, the lead actress in The Barbarian
Invasions, attended the mini festival of films by Denys Arcand,
which featured this Academy Award-winning movie. The Canadian Embassy
hosted the screening of The Barbarian Invasions in Ankara,
Turkey, as a special event during the Semaine de La Francophonie.
In addition to hugely successful premieres in Johannesburg, South
Africa, and Sydney, Australia, the film premiered in Moscow and
St. Petersburg during the Governor General’s state visit to
Russia, Finland and Iceland last fall. With support from the Arts
and Cultural Industries Promotion Division and the Canadian Embassy,
Denys Arcand was able to attend the European Film Awards in Berlin.
Denys Arcand is one of several international success stories in
Canadian film. Other successful Canadian filmmakers include David
Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Thom Fitzgerald, Zacharias Kunuk, Guy Maddin,
Deepa Mehta, Léa Pool, Patricia Rozema, Scott Smith, Denis
Villeneuve and Peter Wintonick, who have become regulars at the
major film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, often
winning awards.
Canadian culture offers a face of Canada to the world in a way
that no other export can. The arts and cultural industries play
a key and unique role in projecting an innovative, dynamic and multicultural
image of Canada abroad, one that is fundamental to our foreign policy
and international trade objectives. Canada is well known for its
high-quality goods and services, from lumber and wheat to IT and
telecommunications, to medical devices and financial services. Less
well known, however, is the fact that its cultural “exports,”
including the performing arts, are highly regarded internationally—
and an important part of the Canadian economy.
Culture makes up some 3 percent of GDP and employs nearly 600,000
Canadians, including 133,400 in 2002-2003 in direct and indirect
jobs in the film and television production industry. Culture exports
are growing at 10 percent per year. The value of cultural goods
exports in 2002 was $2.3 billion, $2.2 billion of which went to
the United States.
The total export value of Canadian film and television production
was $2.37 billion in 2002-03, including $1.9 billion in foreign
location production and $474 million in foreign distributor and
broadcast presales. The top treaty co-production partners were,
in order of importance, the United Kingdom, France, China and Australia.
Lately, Canadian expertise in animation is being sought after by
countries such as China, India, South Korea and the United States.
Not only has Canada exported major talent including Dan Akroyd,
Jim Carrey, Kim Cattrall, Wendy Crewson, Michael J. Fox, Eric McCormack,
Mike Meyers, Carrie-Ann Moss, Keanu Reeves and Donald and Kiefer
Sutherland in front of the camera, and James Cameron and Norman
Jewison behind the camera, but its technical talent has also made
it a world leader in the animation industry, contributing to film
production, television programs, commercials, computer games and
the Web.
From Hollywood to Cannes, animation companies like Toronto-based
DECODE Entertainment have earned an international reputation with
animated series such as “Angela Anaconda” and “The
Save-Ums!,” and are sought after for co-production projects
worldwide.
The recent cultural industries and education mission to India—one
of the big emerging markets in the new global economy—included
Toon Boom Technologies and IMAX film producer Primesco International,
both from Montreal, Chocolate Moose Media from Ottawa and 3am Ventures
International from Vancouver, who are using their technical expertise
to develop projects with Indian film and animation companies.
During the trade mission, Canada’s leading animation institution,
Sheridan College, signed a letter of intent with Prasad Media Corporation
for the establishment of an animation institute in Hyderabad. Sheridan
will train Prasad employees at the Sheridan campus in Toronto, and
send faculty to teach at the institute in Hyderabad.
Toon Boom Technologies received an award at FRAMES 2004 for its
support and encouragement of the Indian animation industry. With
India’s burgeoning animation sector, even computer animation
giants like Disney and Pixar (Toy Story and Finding
Nemo) are outsourcing work to India.
Canada’s animation talent is also being used for more serious
educational purposes. At the recent MIPTV in Cannes, one of the
world’s largest television programming markets, 20 safe-sex
public service announcements— a creative collaboration between
Canada, India and South Africa— were screened to huge praise.
Strongly endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “The Three Amigos”
is a series of comedic sketches featuring three animated talking
condoms, which uses humour to destigmatize the use of condoms and
promote safe sex in HIV/AIDS-affected parts of the world.
“The Three Amigos” aired on World AIDS Day on December
1 in Canada and South Africa, and MTV Canada played three spots
37 times in one day.
Canada’s comparative advantage in state-of-the-art film production
and post-production makes the country a lucrative locale for international
film producers as the film industry increasingly globalizes. Canada
offers everything from mountains and oceans, to historic buildings
and picturesque villages, to trendy urban settings and cities that
can masquerade as European—in addition to world-class film
crews. In 2002-03, foreign location production in Canada was worth
$1.9 billion.
This week’s edition of Stories of the Week features
four companies that have achieved international success in exporting
their film, television, documentary and animation productions.
Stories of the Week - April 23, 2004
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The Corporation
Big Picture Media Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia
The Corporation, the award-winning production by Vancouver-based Big Picture Media Corporation, is currently playing in theatres across Canada. The feature documentary by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan will have its U.S. premieres in San Francisco on June 4 and New York on June 30. To date, distribution agreements have also been inked with Australia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
Based on Bakan's best-seller The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film engages the audience in a darkly amusing account of the evolution of the corporation as a legal "person" whose prime directive is to produce ever-increasing profit for its shareholders, regardless of the cost to anyone or anything else.
The Corporation has garnered rave reviews and awards at major film festivals worldwide, including the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. "From the feedback we received after our sell-out screening at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, to Sundance-not to mention the incredible numbers so far with our Canadian launch-it's clear that this film is resonating with audiences around the world," says Achbar. "People care deeply about the issues that are addressed."
Over the weekend of April 16, 2004, The Corporation passed the $1-million mark at Canadian box offices.
Showcasing Canadian Talent
DECODE Entertainment, Toronto, Ontario
DECODE Entertainment's productions and interactive Web projects are enjoyed by young audiences in more than 40 countries around the globe. The animated series "Watership Down," "Angela Anaconda" and "The Save-Ums!" and live action shows "The Zack Files," "Radio Free Roscoe" and "Our Hero" are just a few examples of the company's internationally recognized offerings.
With "Kratt Brothers: Be the Creature," DECODE is consolidating its successful foray into factual entertainment. Currently broadcast on the National Geographic Channel United States, the series is set to premiere on National Geographic Europe in May, across Denmark, Eastern Europe, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. DECODE is also expanding its documentary slate with "Your Big Backyard ®", developed in conjunction with the American National Wildlife Federation, and "Going for Gold," the inspirational story of kids participating in soccer's Gothia Cup. In "The Blobheads,"human characters interact with 3-D animation on screen in real time-a television first. "We've achieved our five-year plan of creating one of the world's most innovative and successful production companies in entertainment for children and youth. Our TV programs and Web sites are showcases for Canadian creative and technological talent," says DECODE partner Neil Court.
From Hollywood to Cannes, DECODE Entertainment has won numerous industry awards, as well as a 2002 Canada Export Award. Headquartered in Toronto with an office in London, England, the company is sought after for international co-production projects worldwide.
Captivating Audiences Worldwide
Galafilm, Montreal, Quebec
Montreal-based Galafilm's diverse programs range from documentary series and one-time productions to feature films, children's programming and television series. Among its best-known documentaries are the 2003 Emmy Award-winning series Cirque du Soleil: Fire Within and the Gemini Award-winning The Valour and the Horror. The company has produced or co-produced four feature films: the Genie Award-winning Lilies and the critically acclaimed The Hanging Garden, both with Triptych Media; the 2000 Taormina International Film Festival award-winner Two Thousand and None; and Galafilm's newest feature film, The Blue Butterfly starring William Hurt, which has been a box-office hit in Quebec since its release in February 2004.
Galafilm has produced four seasons of the popular Canada/U.K. children's drama series "The Worst Witch." Another Canada/U.K. co-production, "Fungus the Bogeyman," is set for broadcast on the CBC in Canada and the BBC in Great Britain. "15/Love," a drama series geared for tweens, is a Canada/France co-production scheduled to air later this year. Other major co-productions are the film Agent of Influence starring Christopher Plummer, the erotic drama anthology series "Bliss," and "The Race to Mars" television series, currently in development.
To date, Galafilm has produced some 200 hours of award-winning television programs for major North American broadcasters, as well as for Channel 4, the BBC and ITV in the United Kingdom, and F2 and La Cinquième in France.
The Ultimate Film Experience
IMAX Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario
Headquartered jointly in Toronto and New York City, IMAX Corporation is one of the world's leading entertainment technology companies. With more than 240 affiliated theatres worldwide, the IMAX Theatre Network spans 35 countries.
IMAX has its roots in Expo '67 in Montreal, where multi-screen films were the hit of the fair. A small group of Canadian filmmakers decided to design a new system with a single powerful projector, rather than the cumbersome multiple projectors used at that time. Today, the Academy Award-winning company utilizes the largest film frame in motion picture history to project crystal-clear images onto giant screens up to eight stories high, as well as the most advanced digital surround sound system. In addition to climbing the daunting heights of Everest, feeling the weightlessness of space or sitting in the driver's seat of a NASCAR race car in 3D, IMAX moviegoers can now take in today's biggest Hollywood films, such as The Matrix Revolutions and the soon-to-be-released Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Thanks to IMAX's recently developed technology known as IMAX DMR, any 35mm film can be digitally remastered into the IMAX format.
Many IMAX films are produced in collaboration with prestigious organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution, NASA, National Geographic and Discovery. To date, more than 800 million people have enjoyed the IMAX experience at specially designed theatres around the world. Roughly half of these theatres are located in institutional venues, such as museums, planetariums and maritime centres, while the other half are part of commercial theatre complexes.
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