Cinema Canada (Oct-Nov 1974)

Business of Film will be held midJanuary at York University. Coorganized by Frederik Manter of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre and John Katz of the University’s Programme in Film, the meeting will feature a panel of experts from the CBC, NFB, CFDC, the various arts councils and the private sector dealing with every topic concerning the business of film: from marketing to legal questions to how to secure music and footage rights. Contact Marie Waisberg at the Film Centre, (4/6) 921-2259 =: Ontario Film Institute President Gerald Pratley, having wound up the film part of Stratford successfully, is resuming the Canadian film course he started last year at Seneca College. Fuller details can be obtained from his office at the Science Centre (416) 429-4100... Ruffcut Productions has embarked on a training program with Canada Manpower involving the salary of an assistant/trainee to be split with Manpower paying two-thirds. Bob Lyons feels this programme could greatly benefit young filmmakers needing experience, training and a decent working wage as well as small production houses needing good assistants and cheap labour. For more _ information, contact Manpower Training Branches (in Toronto at 400 University Ave. — Ian Walker) ... The Canadian Film Institute has published this year’s Film Canadiana, and it truly is a great improvement over last year’s. This time in two sections, one for films, the other for television programs, it is the most authoritative reference book available on Canadian titles, cultural organizations, professional associations, film and TV companies, bibliography of Canadian film, plus mountains of other pertinent data. (A suggestion: could they give a filmpeople type of breakdown next year, to enable busy producers to tell at a single glance what films a certain director has worked on or an actress appeared in?) Available from CFI, 1762 Carling, Ottawa. ... Bill Boyle, Toronto Film Co-op coordinator, has written a ‘modest proposal’ to ACTRA, calling for workshops, seminars, and a business course for members. Sounds like a good idea, and it’s always best to end a column with a good idea. CBC Preview It was mid-September, better known in television circles as New Fall Season time, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, better known as the CBC, 10 Cinema Canada held its official presentation of the Return of the Old and the Start of the New. Correspondents were brought to Toronto to partake in a day of screenings, interviews and ballyhoo. And while the ballyhoo was not exactly first-class, the programs gave every indication of being just that, first class. Significant trends point mainly to increased activity by the National Film Board, greater individual possibilities and recognition for certain personalities such as Adrienne Clarkson, more muscle in the documentary mode, and, for those writers and directors in the dramatic area, increased work on major projects, due mainly to the presence of new drama chief John Hirsch and a somewhat belated but nevertheless welcome recognition on the part of the higher-ups that our culture should be expressed on the public network in a much greater amount than an hour or so per week. “The CBC must be judged on how we improve understanding of society through all of our programming’’, says head of the News and Public Affairs section Knowlton Nash. To him that means programming in the documentary and current affairs vein, and he says that this year’s schedule was put together after the most extensive discussions ever. Six to seven hundred ideas were considered and boiled to down to those actually used. New area heads were assigned: Mike Danyo for News, John Kennedy for children’s programming, and Peter Herndorf for current affairs. Nash said that this year will see more current affairs shows and more documentaries. The CBC has always been strong in the non-fiction area; what has been lost to a great extent since This Hour has Seven Days was removed in a sense of commitment and courage. This season may rectify that image somewhat. A documentary on the Columbia river treaty between Canada and the U.S. is not complimentary in its description of what Canada, and especially the people of British Columbia gained from the deal. Producer is Mike Poole, Vancouver. And as_ continuing _ series, Ombudsman and Market Place will return, the latter expanding its range to do consumer product testing with the assistance of the Consumer Association of Canada and Consumers Reports. (Footnote: Of all the program promotional clips, Ombudsman’s was the best: host Robert Cooper describes the fantastic response to only a few airings last spring, then goes on to explain that sometimes they won and sometimes they didn’t. A clip was shown about a man in B.C. who was walked over by Canada Manpower, Robert Andras commented forcefully that the situation was exactly the opposite than what Ombudsman had found, and finally it was shown that Manpower was wrong. Cooper appeared smoking a cigar and grinning most contentedly.) In fact Ombudsman drew 7500 letters, all of which were answered. It illustrates the response a CBC show can receive, as well as the necessity of this particular type of show. Nash says that the re-organisation of the News and Public Affairs department, begun eighteen months ago is now virtually complete. Better programming is supposed to be the result, little else is striking in the News-based shows. Up Canada, CBC Newsmagazine, The National are all back. Adrienne Clarkson may offer a glimmer of light; she now has her own show of personal journalism. She has complained that she has had too little time to prepare, but she has also been in the right places at the right times: in Mozambique as the Portuguese left, for example. In the area of Specials and MiniSeries is the most interesting line-up the CBC has come up with in years. Themed evenings, such as last April’s CBC-NFB Arctic Evening, will return for three nights this season. The first will feature the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, and the night will be comprised of a Norman Campbell-produced production of She Stoops to Conquer, filmed on the thrust stage, as well as a National Film Board documentary on the Festival’s Australian tour last year. Evening Two will feature Franco’s Spain, with a premier of To Die in Madrid, and an exploration of religion by the excellent Man Alive crew. Finally, the National Film Board examines another section of Canada under executive producer lan McLaren: Atlanticanada. To be shown are John Smith’s Halifax Ukuleles, Grant Munro and Jon Pederson’s Boo Hoo, Bill Gough’s Ray Guy, and Eastern Graphics by Michael Mckennirey and Kent Martin. The NFB will as also be active on TV with another series on a section of the country to run in half-hour segments. Beginning in January, Pacificanada, under producers Ian McLaren and Peter Jones, and filmmakers Daryl Duke, Shiela Reljic, Tom Radford and Stephen Dewar, will examine life in B.C. and the west. Arthur Hammond’s Corporation will also be shown, as well as Dreamland: A History of Canadian Movies. The former is by the NFB, and the latter by the NFB’s Donald Brittain, the NFB, CBC, the Canadian Film Institute, and producer Kirwan Cox. Other public affairs shows are Man Alive, back again to examine our life in a religious context, as well as several mini-series. The Naked Mind is four shows about mental health. Is There Life After Youth examines the: prob