Cinema Canada (Sep 1979)

work as an assistant cameraman to Travel for Market (art) purposes (maximum $350. per project) and Assistance for Miscellaneous Proposals in the Visual Arts (funds negotiable). “The major film organization in Nova Scotia is The Atlantic Film Coop, 1671 Argyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 2B5. This organization has an extensive program for art education through filmmaking and is funded through the provincial government, this office and the Canada Council.” Address: The Nova Scotia Department of Recreation, P.O. Box 864, Bank of Montreal Tower, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2V2 (902) 424-7512. The Government of the Province of Newfoundland: The Arts and Cultural Centre, P.O. Box 1854, St. Johns, Newfoundland, AIC 5P9, (709) 737 3650, offers a small Grants and Awards program available through their Cultural Affairs Division. No grants are made presently to individuals. Director of Cultural Affairs, John C. Perlin wrote the following: “I believe the (Grants and Awards) committee has received an application recently from a filmmaker for a specific project that was approved subject to the other funding that he applied for being available. Apart from this, assistance was made available to two filmmakers to attend a National Film Board workshop several 24/Cinema Canada A student success story: Glen MacPherson went on from Algonquin College to find steady niet ce photo: Robert Brown years ago in Nova Scotia... The Grants and Awards program, therefore, is open for submissions from filmmakers on a project basis subject, of course, to the Committee’s having the funds and approving individual projects. The Province of British Columbia Cultural Services Branch in Victoria has no official policies for assistance to filmmakers, other than tuition scholarships for serious students of filmmaking and an operations grant to the Pacific Cinémathéque Pacifique Society for film distribution in B.C., asccording to C.M. Thomas, administrator, Grant Funds. Letters were written to the other provinces not listed. No reply was received, but the Canadian Film Institute Yearbook of Canadian Cinema 1977-78 does provide a list of federal agencies, associations, unions and guilds. Address: Canadian Film Institute, 75 Albert Street, Suite 1105, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E7 (613) 238-6748. In Quebec there is the L’Institut Québécois du Cinema, 306 Place D’Youville, Montreal, H2Y 2B6, (514) 8441954. The Institute works through investments and loans. It will provide up to 60 percent of the total film budget, if you can prove that you can supply the other 40 percent. The intention is to eventually recuperate the investment and share the profits of the films it supports according to the pro portion of the investment. For loans reimbursement is arranged with the producer, including interest. It works on the same basis as a financial institution. The Institute has contributed to 271 projects in less than two years. Ministere des Affaires Culturelles du Quebec: Grants, not for production, but for research and scriptwriting are available. Write to: Aides Aux Artistes, Ministere des Affaires Culturelles, 955, chemin Saint-Louis, Quebec. G1S 1C8. Distribution: If your film is very good, you may try CBC or a commercial distributor, but a distributor who wants to make money with your film ‘will require professional quality and subject matter that sells. Most distributors will tell you entertainment sells, culture does not. They say only 30 percent of their audience is interested in the arts: music, dance, painting. The films that sell deal with the following: animals, children, sports and safety. They are definitely not interested in experimental films, but animation is fine. It is a good idea for every young filmmaker to talk to a distributor. Sometimes it’s best to shatter a few illusions in the early stages of one’s career. But young filmmakers are welcome at several independent distribution centers, and the great advantage is that here the filmmaker retains all rights to his film. COOPERATIVE CINEASTES INDEPENDANTS, 3682 St. Laurent, Montreal, programs films for the Cinema Parallel as well as for foreign festivals and schools. — CANADIAN FILMMAKERS DISTRIBUTION CENTER, 144 Front St. West, Suite 430, Toronto, Ontario, MS5J 1G2 rents and sells films throughout Canada and is also establishing ties with the United States. Contacts: Since filmmaking is an art which almost always involves working with others, it is very important that one gets to know a variety of people and that one can easily get along with other individuals. A film director who merely ‘uses’ his ‘friends’ to his own advantage is soon labeled and people will become hesitant to work with that person. Reputations spread fast, both good and bad.