Canadian Film Digest (Oct 1973)

>» i+ ® So Web AA’ DT BAR. BERL OR ATS? TRS Se 2D Pe The Canadian Film Digest aS S SS Sn ba eu eB October 1973 Serving the Canadian Film Industry Since 1915. Encompassing the Canadian Moving Picture Digest, founded in 1915, and the Canadian Film Weekly, founded in 1941. Publisher: Garth Drabinsky ae © 2 Page Three The Canadian Film Digest is published the Sth of the month from October to Tihe inclusive. A July-August Summer issue is published during the third week of July. The Canadian Film Digest Yearbook is published the first Tuesday in September. Editorial / photography: Stephen Chesley Advertising Sales Director: Barry Silver Second Class mail. Registration Number 2587. Postage_paid in Oshawa. Editorial, Advertising, and Production offices are located at 175 Bloor St. East, Toronto M4W 1C8. Phone: (416)924-3701 Subscriptions: $7.50 per year (including the Yearbook) or 35c per individual copy and $5.00 per individual Yearbook. Additional copies of each issue and of the Yearbook are available from our offices. Canadian Film Awards overwhelmed Slipstream grabs top award for film and director It started out as the biggest push yet for Canadian cinema. The Canadidn Film Awards were celebrating their 25th anniversary, and it looked like they really had something to celebrate about. Then everything, instead of going off like a bang, made a small fizzle. And the real noise began elsewhere. Last year’s Awards, after a speedy growth from a small gathering, joined the big time, with public screenings all week and a final bash at the glamorous new Ontario Place in Toronto. There were plenty of features to compete and, best of all, the French Canadian contingent was large and vociferous. “ Claude Jutra, whose Mon Oncle Antoine had done most to set the Awards up in the spotlight the year before, presented the Best Picture Award to Wedding in White and Gille Carle’s La Vrai Nature de Bernadette walked off with most of the other major awards. It even looked bi-cultured from the winners’ stand. There were runblings, it’s true, but everyone put them aside because of the huge public imprint the awards made overall. As 1973 approached, new factors seemed to indicate a bigger.and better Awards. The Secretary of State’s department, after forming a special Festival Bureau, gave the CFA $40,000. The previous years’ impoverishment and reliance on private benefactors and public small sums were now over. The money to do it right was there. Then the best announcement of all: the move to Montreal. The full-blown participation of French film industry seemed obvious, and it. ! came quickly. A full-time, professional director was hired: Marcia Couelle, with experience at Cannes and in the private sector, began to expand the vision of the awards. The awards were to be held from October 812, right in the middle of the fall premiere season. And the distributors co-operated by releasing then, so any awards would be helpful in advertising campaigns for the films. The fact that, especially in the English-speaking sector, it was a fall season almost dominated by Canadian releases, added to the pulse rate. Arrangements were made to hold the festivities in The St. Denis Theatre. Screenings would. take place at the Pierrot and Chevalier cinemas. An office was opened in Vancouver to encourage greater Western representation. Some changes were made. In previous years the International Jury saw all the films in all the categories. Now they would see only those ‘films that are more commercial, and they would see them alone, not with audiences. These movies will be screened for the public at the Chevalier Cinema. The other, more specialized films, will be shown at the Pierrot. Seven Sponsored and Information Juries, meeting across the country, would choose the winners in those categories. ; The final festivities of a luncheon to award the Sponsored and Information films, and a Mie ae =n, | ..2 ; be . Se b Ueed 2 2 , Ps : * ‘ i 2 ’ ae a y * Mess” . Si Ms wii 1/5) Award winner David Acomba.. UNITED ARTISTS TO DISTRIBUTE MGM PRODUCT In future, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer product destined for theatre screens, will be distributed by United Artists. On September 18 James Aubrey, MGM President, announced plans to streamline MGM operations by selling all exchanges and theatres, and restricting itself to Television production, several quality features per year, and exploiting its library of over 1400 feature films. At the time Aubrey said that negotiations would be taking place for distribution of this feature product, and at press time the Digest learned that United Artists had been chosen to ‘handle domestic distribution. No information was available as to the future of MGM personnel, but in recent weeks various employees had begun or arranged new positions. Adv-Pub for MGM in Canada, Hilda Cunningham, moved to Astral Communications. Further announcements are expected regarding MGM personnel. It was rumoured that Canadian distribution rights would go to Astral Communications, a Canadian company. The Bronfman family of Montrea) are major shareholders in Astral and in MGM, but this arrangement did not occur finally. MGM’s announcement of re-organisation came at a time when plans for their new hotel in Las Vegas were being concretised as an actual building. The ‘Grand Hotel’, complete with Hai Lai track, was budgeted at 75 million dollars, but costs have escalated to $107 million or more. When Aubrey took over four years ago to rescue the ailing company, he announced that no film would be budgeted at over two million dollars, and an attempt would be made to reach the ‘average’ moviegoer. The company retained rigid okay for the final cut of any film. ee at Recently Aubrey said that this policy had not been effective, attributing its failure to the change in the movie audience from mass acceptance to selectivity. Consequently MGM would produce only a few features per year, choosing properties based on quality and commercial selectivity. ° MGM plans to concentrate on TV production, where three series are currently airing, 28 pilots are in‘the works, and contracts of thirty million dollars in receivables are outstanding. Foreign and domestic assets, when sold, will realise fifty million dollars. MGM's only outstanding loan is a thirty million dollar current production loan. Aubrey stresses that the Grand Hotel was funded from generated cash and mortgages, not through dilution of outstanding shares. The company may close down its studio facilities too. The future of the company, says Aubrey, will be further diversification in the leisure and entertainment fields. Hilda Cunningham joins Astral On Friday, October 12, 1973, Hilda Cunningham bid farewell to Metro-GoldwynMayer’s Yonge Street office. She left to take up her new duties as advertising-publicity for Astral Communications. Hilda was with MGM for twenty-three years. She was a victim of MGM head James Aubrey’s recent announcement of drastic re organization in the company, leaving volun~ tarily for her new: post. Also leaving as of this week is Jack Burgess. gala dinner for the rest, were to be held on the Friday to encourage as much travel from other parts of the country and to maintain the, momentum of the balloting. A charter flight ’ from Toronto was arranged. More entries than ever before resulted: 212 this year as against 144 the year before. The CBC would carry the evening award presentations live on both English and French networks. The six .categories for selection were: Feature-fiction; feature-non-fiction; documentary; theatrical shorts; TV drama; animated films. The preselection committee was directed. by Marc Gervais. He was assisted by Josee Clerk. The committee members were: Louise Deschatelets, Peter Adamakos, Roger Girard, Helen Lewis, Evelyn. McCartney, Nicoletta Massone, John Vidette, Harold Eady, Andre Fleury, Dr. Lothar Klein, Pierrette Beaudoin, Wally Gentleman, Lyn Jackson, Howard Ryshpan. Twelve of the twenty one features entered were retained; of eleven non-fiction features entered, six were retained; thirteen of the thirty-nine documentaries entered were retained; seven of twenty-one shorts were retained; all three animated entries were retained. The Sponsored and Information Films had seven categories: Educational, Public Relations, Sales Promotion, Nature and Wildlife, Sports, TV Information/ Public Affairs, Travel and Recreation. “ A gala line-up of award presenters was announced, including Gordon Pinsent, Micheline Lanctot, Genevieve Bujold, Donald Pilon, Gratien Gelinas, Gordon Lightfoot, Governor General Roland Michener, Laurier Lapierre, Wayne and Shuster, Laurent Picard, and others. _The TV telecast would be produced by the CBC French network, with Lisa Payette and Jacques Fauteux as hosts. A series of excerpts from the winning entries was to be shown in Toronto on October 13. It looked too good to be true. Perhaps it was. On Sunday evening, October 7, a group of French directors held a meeting in Montreal. At midnight they contacted the Awards committee and told them what they would announce ata press conference the next morning. If any award would be coming to any of them, he would not go up on stage to accept it. The press conference was held at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning at the Nelson Hotel. The French directors, fourteen of them, SET UP OWN A group of ten Canadian-owned distribution companies have banded together to form an association. The “Association of Canadian Independent Motion Picture Distributors”’ received its charter last week, and is now in the process of organising itself into a strong body. Member firms include Astral Communications, Cinepix, Crawley Films, Danton Films, Ken Films, Marden Film Distributors, Mutual Films, Phoenix Films, Prima Films, and Frontier Amusements. Officers of the Association are Orval Fruitman, President; Reg Wilson, First Vice-President; Gordon Lightstone, Second Vice-President; Daniel Weinzweig, Secretary; and Morey Hamat, Treasurer, Conditions for joining the association are that the company must be at least 51 percent Canadian-owned; the head office and controlling office must be located in Canada; and the company must do business in at least three provinces. The purposes of the association, according to President Orval Fruitman, are to promote the development of every Bie set A 1 AR a Toe eines CANADIAN DISTRIBS Genevieve Bujold, Best Actress winner for her role in Kamouraska. members of the French filmmakers’ association, made the formal announcement, explaining their reasons. First, the Awards were too much like the Academy Awards. The pre-selection procedure left out many experimental films, and, in the words of Claude Jutra, only helped the movies that don’t need help, the big commercial movies. Plus the fact that the Awards gave the erroneous impression that filmmaking all over Canada was the same, and because of the Quebec films chosen, all was fine politically in Quebec. Among the signers were most of Quebec’s leading filmmakers, including Claude Jutra, Gilles Carle, Roger Frappier, Denys Heroux. Among the contributing factors were the Quebec elections, and the CBC coverage, which was threatened with picketing. The whole Awards procedure went almost into shambles. The Friday night telecast and the evening were called off. Meetings were frantically held in Toronto and Montreal to decide how to cope. It was decided to continue with the judging and the screenings, and then present the awards on Friday evening without fanfare. Reaction from the rest of the film community to the French directors’ statement was not long in coming. French producers and distributors issued a statement deploring the move by the French directors. English Canadian reaction went from disbelief to rage. Concluded next page ASSOCIATION phase of Canadian cinematic culture; to develop and expand the relationship of the independent Canadian distributor with the government and with the exhibitors’ associations; to establish the voice of the Canadian independent distributor in all Matters pertaining to censorship; to present in an organised and united way a truly Canadian viewpoint on the distribution of films in Canada to actively relate themselves to all technological and craft unions, suppliers in production and development of film in Canada; and to associate themselves with all phases of film for the welfare of the industry in Canada. The association originally tried to join the long-existing Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association. They wanted to enter as a group, but the CMPDA said no, each would have to submit his own individual application. The independents refused, and formed their own body. The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association consists almost entirely of American companies. Only Astral Communications belongs to both associations at this time.