Cinema Canada (Mar-Apr 1975)

Shooting “The Far Shore”’ Besides renewing his partnership with American producer Sandy Howard in some projects, and making new alliances with the CBC and American Frank Capra Junior, a writer-producer David Dortort is exclaiming (to what he must assume are captive ears) how beautiful our country is for locations, and what pretty creatures Canadian women are. It’s the classic double standard sell-out. And no one is amused. Dortort created Bonanza for U.S. TV, and here he’ll develop a feature, with a possible TV series spinoff, called Chinook, about the settling of the Canadian West in the early 1900’s. The CBC will have Canadian feature TV rights and series rights, pending script approval. The $750,000 shoot will happen in Toronto and Calgary this year, with an all-Canadian cast. Other I.C.L. projects are: The Last Free Man, about an Indian’s attempts to teach a young white boy Indian ways. Capra will produce, John Sturges will direct, and an _ international and Canadian cast will assemble in Calgary this summer for the two million dollar effort. Sandy Howard’s production of Embryo, a $1.2 million effort with Claude Héroux producing, is planned for Montreal in early spring. H.G. Well’s novel Food of the Gods will be written, directed and produced by Bert Gordon in Montreal this spring for $900,000. Claude Héroux will produce and brother Denis direct a $700,000 version of Roch Carrier’s La Guerre Yes Sir! in Montreal in October. A Canadian Israeli co-production called the Boojay Expatriots is planned for shooting in Israel this summer. Sandy Howard will produce and a Canadian will direct an international cast in this $1.2 million pic. Both The Sky Riders and Magna I: Beyond the Barrier Reef are Sandy Howard and Twentieth Century-Fox co-productions to be shot in late 1975 in Vancouver and world locations. Director Joyce Wieland’s The Far Shore will resume shooting in the spring. Quadrant films shot It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time in Toronto this winter. John Trent directed Anthony Newley, Stephanie € Powers, Yvonne de Carlo, Lloyd Bochner, Henry Ramer, Moya Fenwick, Larry Dane and John Candy in this comedy. The CBC will present six one-hour specials from the NFB this season, but actual projects have not been announced. The Corporation has announced that after presentation of a petition and meetings with ACTRA, programming budget cuts were restored from other areas. At the same time Drama head John Hirsch, whose department is buzzing with action, rightfully claims planning frustration because his budgets are approved yearly. No long term development of TV drama can occur based on such a system. Canada Council grants under the Explorations program were given to H.B. Chandler of Prince Edward Island to study how organisations such as the CBC and NFB use film to promote Canada’s image abroad, Jean-Auguste Poirel of Québec for a documentary film on the Nahanni River region, Barbara Stevenson of Québec for a film on covered bridges of the Eastern Townships, Robert Rogers and Gail Singer for a film on the people of South Indian Lake in Manitoba, and Kirwan Cox and Peter Morris for a book on the history of Canadian cinema 1895 to 1939. (See “Dreamland”’ in Issue No. 17.) Charles Templeton is preparing a script based on his novel The Kidnapping of the President. He says it'll be expensive, so a co-production is probably necessary. La Fleur aux dents, directed by Thomas Vamos for the NFB, has completed studio work. Claude Jutra stars in this feature about the interior conflict in a forty year old man born twenty years too soon. Janine Manatis is looking for women writers to submit scripts. Contact her at 97 Bellefair Avenue, Toronto M4L 3T7. Insight Productions made Bricklin for CBC’s Gallery, and Don Shebib contributed Winning’s the Only Thing, about minor hockey in Manitoba, to the same series. Other TV efforts have included much fiction by the CBC. A comedy pilot called The King of Kensington has been shot under producer-director Perry Rosemond. Executive producer Chalmers begins the first of two pilots for his police series with John Wright directing in late February. Terence Hefferman’s The Canary was produced by Adams and directed by Shebib in January. Peter Carter directed Going Down Slow. Outside of TV, Al Guest’s Rainbow Films will make Inuk, an animated twenty-six minute short. Manulife has bought Canadian rights to this effort requiring twenty to _(commercial), twenty-five thousand drawings. Festivals, Awards, Honours In feature film recognition, Mon Oncle Antoine, released commercially in Chicago, made critic Roger Ebert’s Ten Best List. The Association of Québec critics awarded Michel Brault their prize for best film in 1974 for Les Ordres. Brault was feted at a reception sponsored by Le Soleil, and received a plaque and $1000. Young filmmaker receiving an honourable mention was André Forcier for Bar-Salon. On the human front, the Canadian Society of Cinematographers presented their annual awards to Harry Makin for the National Dream (drama), Fritz Spiess for G.M. Firebird Norman Keziere for Mirrors to the Sun (documentary), and Teri Gulbert for a CBC story (Roy Tash News Award). Why Rock the Boat? won a Bronze Hugo at Chicago. Jack McGaw and Tim Ralfe’s CTV special Hear No Evil... continues to be honoured, and has been awarded The Golden Nymph, The Grand Prix of International TV of Monte Carlo; Roland Michener Award for Meritorious Journalism; Silver Medal at the Atlanta Festival; Silver Hugo at the Chicago Festival. Julius Kohanyi’s Games also won a Hugo; it’ll be shown on his Sprockets series this season. 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