Company type | Crown corporation |
---|---|
Industry | Film |
Founded | 1967 |
Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Products | Supporting the audiovisual industry in Canada |
Website | www |
Telefilm Canada is a Canadian Crown corporation that supports Canada's audiovisual industry. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm Canada provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in Vancouver, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The primary mandate of the corporation is to finance and promote Canadian productions through its various funds and programs.
As one of the principal instruments for supporting Canada's audiovisual industry, Telefilm Canada's primary mandate is to provide support and promote all stages of screen-based content through its various funds and programs. It also fosters the commercial, cultural, and industrial success of Canadian productions and to stimulate demand for those productions both at home and abroad. [1] It also administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund.
The organization is also responsible for choosing Canada's annual submission to the Academy Awards for the Best International Feature Film award.
Telefilm Canada administers the Canadian government's coproductions, while supporting Canadian filmmakers and their international counterparts to coproduce films and television programs that enjoy the status of national productions in each of the respective countries. [2]
Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm Canada provides bilingual services to its clients through four offices located in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.
The Atlantic Regional office, in operation since 1984 from Halifax, services New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
The Quebec Regional office is located in the Montreal head office and serves the province of Quebec.
The Ontario Regional office, in operation since 1968 from Toronto, serves both Ontario and Nunavut.
The Western Regional office, in operation since 1984 from Vancouver, serves the Western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. [3]
In 1967, the Canadian government founded the Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), allocating $10 million in support of the country's feature film industry. Michael Spencer [4] was named the first executive director of the CFDC, which by then included offices in Montreal and Toronto.
By 1976, the Canadian government had increased the CFDC's budget to $25 million annually, at which point it decided to finance the corporation with an annual parliamentary appropriation. Spencer was replaced by Michael McCabe in May 1978. Notable films produced with the agency's support included Goin' Down the Road (1970), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), Shivers (1975), Why Shoot the Teacher (1977), In Praise of Older Women (1978).
The early 1980s sees the CFDC's budget increased yet again and the creation of the Canadian Broadcast Program Development Fund to revitalize Canadian television programming. At the time, approximately 85% of all prime time programming on Canadian television is imported from other countries—namely the US. Under the direction of André Lamy, in 1984 the CFDC is renamed "Telefilm Canada" to better reflect the organization's full range of activities in both the film and television industries.
With the creation of the Feature Film Fund aimed at supporting feature films by Canadian filmmakers and the Feature Film Distribution Fund that makes credit lines available to Canadian distributors, Telefilm Canada takes a central role in the development and growth of Canadian cinema around the world.
Now under the executive direction of François Macerola, the Canada Television and Cable Production Fund is created. The Fund is a private-public partnership between the federal government of Canada and the cable and satellite television industry, with Telefilm administering the Equity Investment component of the Fund. By the end of the 1990s, in 1998, Telefilm Canada creates a five-year, $30-million multimedia fund, aptly-named The Multimedia Fund, with which to support Canadian work in the digital age. The Fund helps Canadians in multimedia to compete effectively in the new technologies arena.
With the new millennium, the Canadian government implemented a new Canadian Feature Film Policy, From Script to Screen, that effectively created the Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF) to be managed by Telefilm Canada.
Beginning April 1, 2001, with an annual budget of $100-million, the CFF's primary objective is to build larger audiences in Canada and abroad for Canadian feature films with improved distribution and marketing. Also that year, Telefilm Canada announces guidelines for the Canada New Media Fund, replacing the Multimedia Fund. Budgets grow from $6 million, to $9 million, and now sit at $14 million annually. The latter half of the decade brings about other changes for Telefilm.
In 2005, the minister of Canadian Heritage announced a new collaboration between the organization and the Canadian Television Fund and, with it, renewed funding of CA$100 million for Canadian television programming. While the Board of the Canadian Television is responsible for the governance of all programs, Telefilm heads up the administration and delivery of the CTF programs. [5]
The 2012 Canadian federal budget cut funding for the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada by 10%. Today, following a new four-year plan, Telefilm has made stimulating demand for Canadian screen-based content one of its top priorities. [6]
In April 2022, Christa Dickenson announced that she would step down as executive director and CEO effective September 9, 2022. [7]
The National Film Board of Canada is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas. In total, the NFB has produced over 13,000 productions since its inception, which have won over 5,000 awards. The NFB reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It has bilingual production programs and branches in English and French, including multicultural-related documentaries.
Cinema in Canada dates back to the earliest known display of film in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, in 1896. The film industry in Canada has been dominated by the United States, which has utilized Canada as a shooting location and to bypass British film quota laws, throughout its history. Canadian filmmakers, English and French, have been active in the development of cinema in the United States.
The history of cinema in Quebec started on June 27, 1896 when the Frenchman Louis Minier inaugurated the first movie projection in North America in a Montreal theatre room. However, it would have to wait until the 1960s before a genuine Quebec cinema industry would emerge. Approximately 620 feature-length films have been produced, or partially produced by the Quebec film industry since 1943.
In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regions.
The Directors Guild of Canada is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assistant directors, location managers, production assistants and others.
The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick is a 1988 Canadian film based on the novel by Morley Torgov. The film was shot in Winnipeg and Beausejour, Manitoba.
The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada. originally the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage, was a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada's audiovisual heritage, and to facilitating access to regional and national collections through partnerships with members of Canada's audiovisual community.
Crown corporations are government organizations in Canada with a mixture of commercial and public-policy objectives. They are directly and wholly owned by the Crown.
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for professionals in the Canadian film, television and digital media industries, including directors, producers, screenwriters, actors and musicians.
The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is a non-profit organization representing the interests of independent documentary filmmakers in Canada. It was founded as the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC) in the 1980s.
François N. Macerola was a Canadian lawyer and film executive. He held a number of senior positions with the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada.
Benjamin Patrick Paquette, commonly known as B. P. Paquette, is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, film producer and academic.
North Country Cinema is a Canadian media arts collective based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Benjamin Ross Hayden is a Métis Canadian film director, writer, producer, and actor. His debut feature film, The Northlander, was the first ever Telefilm Canada micro-budget selected for Perspective Canada program at the Cannes Film Festival, and premiered at the 40th Montreal World Film Festival in 2016. The film received a wide theatrical release in Canada during fall 2016. He is also the youngest film director in Canada to be accepted into the Telefilm micro-budget program, and from that is the only film director to ever to receive a theatrical release in Landmark Cinemas.
Diplomatic Immunity is a Canadian political thriller film, released in 1991. It marked the narrative feature film debut of Sturla Gunnarsson.
The Far Shore is a Canadian drama film, directed by Joyce Wieland and released in 1976. Wieland's first commercial narrative feature film after years of making experimental short films, The Far Shore is a romantic drama which borrows elements from the life and death of painter Tom Thomson.
The 25th Canadian Film Awards were announced on October 12, 1973, to honour achievements in Canadian film.
North of Albany is a 2022 Canadian drama film directed by Marianne Farley from a screenplay she co-wrote with Claude Brie. It stars Céline Bonnier, Zeneb Blanchet, and Eliott Plamondon as a Canadian family who run away to the United States. The film was shot in the province of Quebec in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020. The film premiered at Cinéfest on September 19, 2022, and was released in theaters on December 2, 2022, by Maison 4:3.
Michael Spencer was a Canadian film producer, most noted for his tenure as the first executive director of the Canadian Film Development Corporation.
A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the Philippine Revolution is a 1988 Canadian documentary by Nettie Wild about the political upheaval in the Philippines following the fall of Ferdinand Marcos and the People Power Revolution.