Canadian Film Digest (Jan 1973)

THECANADTAR Serving the Canadian Film Industry since 1915, Jan. °73/35° PRODUCTION IN CANADA TODAY: A Mari Usque Ad Mare During the time that Darrin McGavin was filming in the Maritimes, Potterton Productions was finishing The Rainbow Boys in British Columbia. At that moment at least twenty feature productions were premiering, almost complete, or just started. It was late 1972, and the country’s motto was beginning to be solidly felt in the film industry: A mari usque ad mare, from sea to sea. It was only a year ago that filmmakers were crying the blues. After a strong start with several successes and even a_ few moneymakers, the Canadian feature film scene was desolate. Where were the directors, writers, actors? Where were the foreign productions to be filmed in Canada? The Canadian Film Development Corporation had allotted all of its money and was between grants, many films had just been completed and new properties were being sought. : CFDC ANNUAL REPORT The Fourth Annual Report of the Canadian Film Development Corporation for the year ended March 31, 1972 was tabled in the House of Commons January 4th. Gratien Gelinas, Chairman of the CFDC, included in the report the following highlights. _ The total investment in Canadian feature films assisted by the CFDC since 1968 increased from $12 million to $17.7 million in the past yéar. The Corporation's own investment in these films increased in 1971-72 by $2.7 million, totalling $6.7 million dollars or approximately thirty-eight per cent of the total investment since 1968. Of the $17.7 million invested in feature films made between 1968 and 1972, $4.2 million was spent in Canadian laboratories and technical services, and $4 million was paid to film makers and other creative contributors to the industry. This film making actively created 1574 engagements for actors and actresses and 791 jobs for technicians. Sinee the inception of the Corporation, eighty-three Canadian films have been produced or completed, forty-one originally produced in French and forty-two in English. Nineteen feature films were backed or . assisted by the CFDC in the past year, bringing the total to sixty-four in a four year period. Of the sixty-four films, thirty-four are in distribution and represent a total Corporation investment of $3,384,000. The cumulative return so far on these films has been $600,000 with three of the films recapturing their full production costs and reaching profit positions. They are L'Initiation, Deux Femmes en Or, and Goin’ Down The Road. Regarding distributor involvement, nine Canadian distribution companies invested in Canadian feature films, Cine Art Distributing Company Ltd. participated in Tiens-Toi Bien Aprés les Ouilles & Papa, and Alliance Film Distribution Ltd. invested in Face-Off. Other distributors involved financially in Canadian films this past year included Film Mutual in Fleure Bleue, Phoenix Films Inc. in Rip-Off and Faroun in Les Smattes. Astral Films Inc., Glen Warren Productions Ltd., Prima Film Inc., and Gendon Films Ltd. were other investors mentioned. Among the major exhibitors, only Famous Players has become involved financially in a production of a Canadian film. No films were mentioned in particular, but a total of fifteen films have received Famous Players backing. Gelinas summarizes in his report: “With theatre attendance dropping steadily, and the cinema becoming less and less of a form of It was a time of consolidation, really. A big surge had taken place in feature production and the results were on view at the Canadian Film Awards in October. Or most of them anyway. Warner Brothers refused to enter A Fan’s Notes, and Another Smith For Paradise was withheld because an adverse criticism had been written by one of the jurors. John Bassett entered Face Off only to honour his people who had worked on it.: But on the whole a greater number of features, both English and French, were on view, and the quality was distinctly higher. The industry had actually reached a point of some strength. But new projects were needed to harden the gains won to that time. Almost overnight the projects appeared. The Rainbow Boys was begun in B.C. Don Shebib announced a new film, Get Back, and it was the ‘first Canadian film to receive investment from a bank. TABLED IN COMMONS mass entertainment, the future development of the Canadian feature film industry requires great vigour, determination, and flexibility to turn to alternative markets for their products. Feature films form the bulk of prime-time television programming and the potential of cable television as a medium for feature films is of great interest. In the opinion of the CFDC, Canadian producers must look more towards television if they are to prosper. “The provincial governments which have jurisdiction in the field of motion picture theatres snould take a more active part in encouraging the development of Canadian feature films by reinvesting all or part of the taxes they take on Canadian films at the box — office in local film productions.”’ INSIDE THIS ISSUE Departments Market Report ‘ 2 Canadian Box Office Statistics Dollars and Sense Domestic Notes International Scenes Editorial Pre-View Classified Casting 15 Digest Movie Quiz No. 3 15 Letters to the Editor 4 Books on Film Features First Artists Company Special Report: Feature Production Part 1: Hindsight on 1973 8 David Acomba 11 Don Shebib 8 The Last Detail 12 The Paper Chase 9 Saskatchewan Report | 10 Allan King Saskatchewan became a location as Last of the Big Guns and Alien Thunder started shooting. David Acomba shot Slipstream in Alberta. Toronto was so active that Columbia Pictures tried to book Toronto International Film Studios and was turned away; it had two stages, each solidly occupied by a film. Twentieth Century-Fox was filming The Paper Chase on one stage, and on the other The Neptune Factor was doing its studio work, fresh from location shooting in Halifax and the Bahamas. In rural Ontario George Kazcendar completed U Turn after four other projects ha fallen through in previous years. ; Montreal saw The Pyx with Christopher Plummer and Karen Black, and Darrin McGavin filmed his thriller in the Maritimes. French Canada was always busy, but even now more activity was being forecast. Onyx Th: hee Dacre neva nal aitligps ITT DOT RIE aE treated MeLn ST yay in NOONE. TE TO Oy Munem prea narnan Wemser scene TO) : . Ry ge 2 < Films began Alien Thunder, its first English language feature. Claude Jutra finished Kamouraska, and Les Filmes Mutuelles announced plans for no less than seven new features. All in all the situation looks happier. 1973 promises even better, so that in spite of union problems, distribution problems, and plain old money problems, the Canadian film scene seems healthy indeed. P.S. If your film was not mentioned here, the only reason was space. Or perhaps we haven’t heard about it? Let us know. For more stories on current feature production, see pages nine to thirteen in this month’s issue. Toronto and part of the © West are featured. Next month we look at Vancouver, the East, and Montreal. ed Don Shebib on the set of his latest effort, Get Back. Film is now being edited.