News Releases

Dec. | Nov. | Oct. | Sept. | August | July | June | May | April | March | Feb. | Jan.

Telefilm Canada Annual Report for 2001-2002
Commitments worth $208.3 million
Providing support to some 1,000 film, television and new-media projects
A new priority: building audiences

Montréal, October 17, 2002 – Telefilm Canada today issued its annual report for 2001-2002. “The past fiscal year allowed us, once again, to contribute to the great success of our industries both at home and abroad,” stated the chair of the Corporation’s board, Charles Bélanger.

“During the fiscal year, the Canada Feature Film Fund and the Canada New Media Fund took full effect,” said Richard Stursberg, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada. “These funds, which provide complete, consistent support to the relevant industries, allowed us to finance a record number of projects last year – projects created by Canadians for Canadians. We also put in place the Canada Music Fund’s Music Entrepreneur Program, which will help broaden Telefilm’s cultural impact. On the administrative front, we adopted a business vision focused on audience building while laying the groundwork for a major revision of our business processes.”

Providing complete support, from scriptwriting to international marketing
In 2001-2002, Telefilm’s commitments totaled $208.3 million, a 17% increase over the previous year. Of this amount, $108.2 million was allocated under the Canadian Television Fund’s Equity Investment Program, $61.6 million under the Canada Feature Film Fund, and $10.1 million under the Canada New Media Fund; $8.5 million was allotted for activities related to training, national and international promotion, and industrial and professional development.

Telefilm Canada supported the creation of 956 projects: 401 in production and 555 in development. The Corporation allotted 65% of its resources to English-language projects, 34% to French-language projects, and 1% to Aboriginal-language projects.

From a regional standpoint, the breakdown of commitments in production and development was as follows: Atlantic Region, 9%; Québec, 41%; Ontario, 31%, Western Region, 19%.

Equity Investment Program (EIP) – Canadian Television Fund (CTF)
A partner of the Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada administers the Fund’s Equity Investment Program. Through the EIP, Telefilm contributed to the funding of 1,240.6 hours of production – primarily television programs, including Aboriginal-language shows, as well as feature films produced for television and movie theatres. The EIP also supported the development of 252 television projects which will help consolidate Canada’s presence on the small screen.

In the area of television production, 58% of the EIP’s investments were devoted to dramas, 22% to documentaries, 17% to children’s programs and 3% to variety and performing-arts programs. The production of documentaries and children’s programs was particularly dynamic, with the number of broadcast hours in each genre increasing by 40% and 28% respectively. Broadcasters continued to increase their contribution to production, and indeed they contributed proportionately more to these two program categories than to other categories.

Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF)
The CFFF is spearheading Canada’s new feature-film policy, whose goal is to help Canadian films capture 5% of the domestic box office by 2006. The Fund has four programs.

Programs for development, production and marketing provided support to a wide variety of promising projects. In production and development, 41% of resources were allocated through the performance component, and 59% through the selective component. Although the goal was to allocate resources equally to each of these two components, Telefilm opted for a more flexible approach, given that this was the Fund’s first year of operation. The linguistic goal was reached, with 64% of resources being allocated to English-language projects and 36% of resources to French-language projects. It is worth noting that the sum allocated to production ($37.2 million) was nearly double the amount allocated on average during each of the Feature Film Fund’s last three fiscal years. The CFFF financed 37 projects in production, 106 projects in development, and 82 projects in distribution and marketing.

Programs in support of complementary activities help to increase audiences for Canadian feature films. These programs enabled Telefilm to support a variety of events and activities: Canadian film festivals, versioning, national distribution and promotion, and participation at international festivals and markets.

The Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program financed the production or post-production of 12 director-driven feature films.

The Screenwriting Assistance Program provided backing for 146 projects, thereby encouraging established screenwriters to pursue their career and helping nurture the development of a new generation of storytellers.

Canada New Media Fund (CNMF)
Thanks to the Canada New Media Fund, the resources devoted to new creation and distribution technologies increased by 33% in 2001-2002. For the first time, the Fund supported the full range of industry activities, from project pre-development to the building of market share for new-media products among Canadian and foreign users.

In all, 97 projects in pre-development, development, production and marketing were supported through the Fund’s Product Assistance component, while 10 projects in marketing and development (training, Canadian and international festivals and markets, promotion) received funding through the Distribution Assistance and Sectoral Assistance components.

International activities
More than 100 Canadian coproductions were certified in 2001-2002, including David Cronenberg’s Spider and Manon Briand’s La Turbulence des fluides. It should be noted that Telefilm’s international support activities, whether channeled through the Corporation’s European office in Paris or its festivals and markets bureau, are directed primarily at SMEs. During the fiscal year the Corporation also registered 1,000 Canadian productions at international festivals and participated in a dozen international markets. As manager and coordinator of the Canadian Pavilion at several of these markets, Telefilm worked with public- and private-sector partners to help the Canadian industry expand its promotional and business activities.

Telefilm Canada, a cultural investor in cinema, television, multimedia and music
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated primarily to developing and promoting the Canadian film, television, new media and music industries. The Corporation acts as one of the government’s principal instruments for providing strategic leverage to the Canadian private sector.