Cinema Canada (Feb-Mar 1974)

editorial: Cry of the Wild an NFB film directed by Bill Mason is a beautifully shot feature length documentary on wolf cubs raised in captivity and the attempts to return them to their natural habitat. During the second week of January, this movie grossed over a million dollars in 80 locations in New York City alone! To our knowledge, no other Canadian film has ever equalled that achievement. Besides, this nature film has, is, and will play all over North America and the rest of the world, and its total grosses should beat those of another Canadian-made nature film made-inthe-sixties, whose $6 million total is probably an all-Canadian record. Either we underestimate the number of nature freaks out there or else box-office performance is totally unpredictable, but we would never consciously set out to make a nature film for money. Cry of the Wild is giving us something to think about. More food for thought: Cinema Canada has completed its second year of publication. We start our third year with an albatross of a deficit, but are hopeful that between the support of private industry and the goodwill of government agencies, our survival is assured, at least through the coming year. You can lend a hand by subscribing or by advertising, if you have something to sell. We are grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for our recent grant. Paperback Hero is still getting good weekly tallies at the New Yorker in Toronto, in addition to playing over a dozen suburban outlets in the area. The Pyx has recently opened in Baltimore and grossed well during its first week. Some Canadian films do continue to rack up grosses to contend with, and the holiday business in theatres was the best ever all around. Over $3 million must have been taken in at Canada’s Yuletide box-offices, based on Variety’s grosses for Famous Players and Odeon in excess of $2.9 million. Despite such figures, Cinema Canada continues to battle for its survival. We’ve yet to convince a major distributor or exhibitor to take ad space. For this reason, we are asking our readers to send letters to us regarding the Canadian films that we’ve covered and they’ve gone to see on the basis of our coverage. With enough letters, we could go back to them and present a more forceful case. They think that our readership sees Canadian films regardless of what we write about them. We think the opposite. It would be nice to get considerable feedback or reverb on this request. We could devote an entire section of a future issue to excerpts from the replies, provided the authors agree to have their letter published. And we’ve yet to hear from many of our readers as to what they think of us. We work hard for the cause of Canadian films, and would like to point to some concrete reactions to our efforts. Hope you enjoy this issue! TORONTO = MAY 2.6 1974 contents: FILA SOGIETY......s Editorial Contents News Canadian Film News/Koller/Latour On Location: Israel/Zach/Ibranyi-Kiss Leiterman in China/Koller Technical News — Super 8/Kirshenbaum Classified Vancouver/Milanich Atlantic Provinces/Lapp Feature Articles The Art Form of the 90’s/Rowe Filmexpo 73/Mansbridge Shakespeare Murders/Hartt Stratford/Edwards CCFM Film Policy Brief Organizations Canadian Film Editors Guild/Chandler Toronto Filmmakers Co-op/Gathercole Directors Guild of Canada/McCartney CSC Assignments Regular Features Film Reviews/Edwards Opinion — CBC License Renewal/Cox Book Reviews/Beard Reverb February/March 1974 Second Edition, Number 12 Managing Editor: A. Ibranyi-Kiss Cinema Canada founded by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, is now published independently on the 29th day of January, March, May, July, September and November. Copy deadline is the 10th day of the publishing month. Issues effective for the two month period following publishing date. Editor/Publisher George Csaba Koller All articles published with the consent and authorization and represent the views of their authors and not necessarily those of the editors. Any manuscripts received by Cinema Canada are presumed to be for publication unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint must be secured in writing. Copyright © 1973 by the Publisher. Published with assistance from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council. Indexed in FIAFF, the International Index to Film Periodicals. Advertising Manager: Harris Kirshenbaum (416) 924-8045 Editorial Assistant: Krisztina Zach Montreal Correspondents: Connie Tadros Art Director: Richard Eppstadt and Pierre Latour Typesetting: Annie Buller Typesetting Vancouver Correspondent: Peter Bryant Printing: Heritage Press Co. Ltd. Halifax Correspondent: Charles T. Lapp Special thanks to companies and individuals supplying photos and information. Mailing Address: 6 Washington Avenue No. 3, Toronto, Canada MSS 1L2 Office Address: 406 Jarvis Street, Toronto Telephone: (416) 924-5953 and 924-8045 Printed in Canada. Second Class Mail Registration No. 3081. Return Postage Guaranteed. On the cover: A scene from Volcano, the IMAX film produced by Academy Award winner Christopher Chapman for the Ontario Place Cinesphere, which boasts the world’s largest screen, 60’ by 80’. Haimaey, a tiny island 10 miles off the Icelandic coast, suffered one of the worst volcanic eruptions of the century in January, 1973. Shot risking the filmmakers’ lives, the seven-minute film depicts the terror and destruction of that moment in the life of a volcano and the 5,000 inhabitants of the fishing village. Cinema Canada 5