Cinema Canada (Aug 1976)

[nnn ni —— FILMNEWS country takes concrete form not only in the CFDC’s halfhearted attempts to recognize its existence, but also within the film community at large and the CCFM; eventually they’ll be forced to build a BC industry, with or without the rest of Canada. Pay TV will be the next hot item for CCFM rabble-rousers (it’s about all that’s left), and watch the chorus grow in the fall as hearings begin to be scheduled, even though Communications Minister Sauvé and CRTC Chairman Boyle have already indicated their basic nationalistic Chetwynd, from the Canadian Film and Television Association, was an indication of the further level of respectability obtained by the CCFM. The next step is practicality in goals: proclaim processes that no government or member of the industry can reject. DIRECTORS’ GUILD held its annual general meeting in late June, and a new slate of officers and an executive was chosen. President is Chris Chapman, Ist Vice-President is John Trent, 2nd Vice-President is Don Wilder, Secretary is Don Buchsbaum, Treasurer is Bob Laffey, West Coast Rep is Daryl Duke (whose TV station is about to open), Montreal Rep is Charles Braive, Ottawa Rep is Peter Cock, National Executive Secretary is Evelyn McCartney, and Executive Officers are Jack Goodford, Peter Pearson, George Gorman, Karen Bromley, John Eckert, Bob Barclay and Gladys Richards. A committee on pay-TV under Bob Barclay is preparing a brief, and a committee under John Trent will follow through with recommendations regarding the renewal of the CFDC mandate. -Finally, and not unimportantly, the Guild has arranged to require foreign directors to go through Canada Manpower for a work permit, thus allowing the Guild to say whether a Canadian is available. Most of the effect of this ruling will be felt in commercials, but the CBC Drama Department has been bringing in foreigners with great regularity lately... A FILM STUDIES ASSOCIATION was formed by several scholars in late spring. Its purpose is to foster and advance scholarship in the history and art of film and related fields and to aid educational personnel 10/Cinema Canada philosophy. And finally the presence of Robin in these areas. The membership is open to anyone teaching or studying film, or institutions involved in such endeavors. Plans include meetings, screenings, a newsletter, and national tours of filmmakers and_ scholars. First project is, with the Ontario Film Studies Association, to hold a gathering in Ottawa from November 12-14 on Canadian cinema in its historic context. Officers are Peter Morris, President, and Seth Feldman, Secretary Treasurer, and the executive committee is Marianne Stenbaek-Lafon, Peter Harcourt, David Ely and Ron Burnett. LITERATI: The latest Index of 16 mm and 35 mm feature films available in Canada is now available for $25 from the Canadian Federation of Film Societies. Nine thousand films and listings of directors, leading players, and companies’ rights are included. Write P.O. Box 484, Terminal A, Toronto M5W 1F4... The BC Film Industry Association is preparing a manual for producers who wish to operate in the province, and the Ontario government has just published their version of the same helptool... Micheline Lanctot did the drawings for the translation of Gabrielle Roy’s novel Enchanted Summer, to be published by McClelland and Stewart in the fall... The Catalogue Supplement is now available from the Canadian Filmmakers’ Distribution Centre in Toronto. RESULTS: Distributor Linda Beath has sold ITV in Britain several Canadian films, among them Paperback Hero, Rip Off, Between Friends and Goin’ Down the Road... Both the Juno and ACTRA Award shows garnered audiences of above 2.5 million, a rather large number when most Canadian shows struggle for a million... Breaking Point, that ultimate co-production (commercial, had American lead, gave work here) opened in 40 Canadian and 400 American theatres and instantly died... The NFB has received about 900 scripts from about 650 women in its open request for women’s scripts. Three judges, including Patricia Watson, will pick the best three for filming. RECIPIENTS: Bud e was the subject of a Crra ney ute on May 27 at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Convenors Harold Eady of the CFTA and Alex Stewart of the Variety Club ed the industry to honor fae on his film life and on receiving the Oscar. All proceeds went to the Variety Club... The Canada Council awarded grants to artists in early stages of their eers, worth up to Film winners were Colin Campbell of Toronto, Lisa Steele of Toronto, Brian MacNevin of Chester, Nova Scotia, and Don Druick of Vancouver... Receiving an apology from showbiz weekly Variety was Barry Greenwald and the entire Canadian film industry. Seems the paper labelled Greenwald’s Cannes winner “American”. Of course in the same column of the issue where the apology appeared, Budge Crawley was labelled “American” (in a quote from the Japanese skier, who said he liked Crawley’s job on the film better than the original Japanese producer) Broadcasting pioneer Graham Spry (father of Robin) was awarded an honorary degree at the spring graduation of York University in Toronto. Red Sunday, the Montana Bicentennial film shown regularly at Little Big Horn, was written, partially shot, edited and mixed in Toronto by a Canadian company, Mountain Giraffe Films-in-Motion... CTV broadcast a July festival of Canadian features, all old acquisitions but right there in prime time, including Paperback Hero, Face-Off, and Across This Land... On CBC’s Sprockets, revived for the summer, Peter Bryant’s Deal and Alan Eastman’s Deus ex Machina were shown... Harris Kirschenbaum Peter Bryant of the Canadian Film Institute 1s looking for films to take to New York for his second trip to screen for American distribytors. A sale from the first round Seems imminent, and his next aeney val be in November ae nber... ane ers played in To THE LA been ruled not obscene j monton. Victors were Odeon ra sneer Theatres, The Alberta upreme Court said the film $7,000. ° W: Emmanuelle has has no genital obsession, nor does it go beyond community standards... the CRTC told CTV to improve the amount of Canadian content it shows, especially in drama... Three full-time commissioners were appointed to the CRTC recently: law professor Jeanne LaSalle, broadcaster Roy Faibish, and Jean-Louis Gagnon, former head of Information Canada... On the West Coast, the CFDC has yet to appoint a local rep. Critic Les Wedman was suggested by the film community but his newspaper felt it might be a conflict of interest, so the industry suggested Mark Rose. No word on his acceptance yet. THE REST: The CBC has finally been granted a five-year budget, thus allowing the corporation to plan further in advance. Almost immediately it announced more buildings and hardware: an 11-studio production in Regina for TV and radio in English and French. Local studios are nonexistent... Des Loftus is now Director General of the CRTC’s Broadcast Operations Branch... Morley Markson has spent the past academic year teacning at San Francisco State... Former booker and manager Robert Yeoman has been appointed Executive Assistant to Odeon President H.T. Blumson... Les ordres, picked up by Contemporary Films of London, will open there this summer... Jack Crane, former radio chief, was named holder of a new upper echelon CBC post, that of Network Programming Director, with duties for the English network. Night of the High Tide is currently filming in Italy. It’s an Italian-Canadian co-production produced by Fulvio Lucisano of Italian International Films and Harry Alan Towers of Canada. Pic is directed by Luig} Scattini and stars those Italian favorites Annie Belle, Anthony Steele, and Pamela Greer. THE ULTIMATE END you can’t win department: After 4 story on the quota and production situation in our beloved industry, one of the beloved po tential audience wrote The Globe and Mail berating the industry for its obsession with violence. Naming several titles, such % Death Weekend and Clow? Murders, to illustrate his OP! nion, he included the title Shoot the Teacher ? as an & ample of a title whose violent content speaks for itself. Stephen Chesley