Cinema Canada (Apr 1976)

Production One of the most interesting developments in feature financing has just been announced: Allan King has secured twothirds of the budget for Who Has Seen the Wind?, to be shot in Saskatchewan, from the CFDC and the Sakatchewan Economic Development Corporation in equal parts. It’s the first time a province has invested in a feature, and the arrangement, it is hoped, will set a precedent. Shooting is planned from August 16 to October 15, from a script by King’s wife Patricia Watson, with Budge Crawley as executive procuder. King will produce and direct. The million-dollar budget will be spent partly in Saskatchewan — at least one-third of it — thus returning the government’s contribution as an investment in the province. It is also hoped, according to John Messer, the minister in charge of the crown corporation, that the government participation will stand as a way of preserving Saskatchewan’s rural life. Allan King The film will be shot on location there and as many Saskatchewan film people as possible will work on it. As part of the agreement, the company will also hold filmmaking workshops at the University of Regina while shooting. It’s been a long time coming for Saskatchewan-native King, who’s been trying to put the project together for years, but couldn’t come up with the budget; it now looks like he will. At one time he tried to interest the CBC in a five 6 / Cinema Canada FILIYI NEWS Arthur Hiller part serial, which would subsequently be re-cut into a feature, but they refused. The CFDC, as of April Ist, has officially raised the total budget amount for the lowbudget program to $145,000. And they’re trying to establish a mid-range level somewhere around two hundred and fifty thousand for special participation. Other projects now fairly set are Goldenrod, set to go in Calgary on May 24 with Harvey Hart directing and Gerry Arbeid producing for Film Funding; Daryl Duke is_ shooting Shadow of the Hawk in B.C. for John Kemeny; a four-month shoot is planned for Harold Greenberg’s David Copperfield musical in Victoria this year; and CTV and Fil Fraser of Edmonton have two more projects in planning stages after Why Shoot the Teacher?. . . Larry Dane plans to shoot The Hunt this year; pic was postponed last summer... Allan Eastman would like to produce a CFDC low budget suspense script that Peter Jobin has written. . . Arthur Hiller is scouting B.C. locations for a railroad pic... Bob Schultz has three feature projects in the works in Toronto. One is The Monkey, a gothic tale based on a short story by a Danish writer, and George Jonas is working on the script. Schultz works in commercials and TV, having recently made a CBC Musicamera_ show of a children’s opera... Otto Preminger has hired Ring Lardner Jr. to write the script for his Norman Bethune feature, to be titled Blood on Wheels: The Story of Norman Bethune. Preminger bought the rights to Roderick Stewart’s recently published biography of Bethune. In TV land Kate Reid is currently working in a Sidestreet episode and an hour drama for CBC... Jack Humphrey and Louis del Grande, now writing and producing King of Kensing _ ton, have written and are cast ing a comedy pilot called Three’s a Crowd. It’s about a Vancouver woman who feels finally free, until her two grown-up children move back in... David Cronenberg is writing and directing a half-hour drama for the Peep slot on CBC. It’s about motorcycle mania... Nancy Ryley is spending two years working on her CBC documentary on the Group of Seven. . . Donald _ Brittain’s ninety-minute NFB-CBC special on writer Malcolm Lowry, Volcano, is to be shown in April, and features Richard Burton as the voice of Lowry. Burton was chosen because Lowry’s wife Marjorie says they sound alike .. CTV has begun a weekly half-hour show with _ singercomedian Rolf Harris. Time slot is Sunday at 6:30. International Film Distributors has picked up Ed Hunt’s Point of No Return for distribution... Don Shebib’s Second Wind is set to open the Plaza II incredible but it’s cinema in Toronto as the inaugural attraction at the new Famous Players twin. Date is tentatively April 9. Patrick Lee will direct Pulling Phones, a half-hour comedy about those ‘unsung heroes’ contracted to remove phones from just-vacated premises. Camera will be handled by Mark Irwin, sound by Bryan Day, editing by William Purchase, and Scott Crane will be production manager. Festivals ANIMATION. Canada has scored a coup in the international festival field by landing the World Animation Competition for 1976. To be held in the National Arts Centre from August 10-15, as part of Ottawa 76, which is run by the Canadian Film Institute, it’s the first time the fest will be held in North America. Previous sites have been Annecy and Zagreb. The fest will be operated by the CFI with co-operation from many public and private sector film agencies. The official sponsoring groups are the Association internationale du film d’animation (ASIFA) and the Fédération internationale des associations de producteurs Our heartiest congratulations to Budge Crawley who was awarded an Oscar for his documentary feature The Man Who Skied Down Everest. In his words, this American prize, given to a Canadian film made by a Japanese crew on the Nepalese mountain of Everest, may seem true. And it seems a fitting prize for a producer, so long devoted to making films —all kinds of films — and so actively interested in the growth and development of the Canadian film industry.