CineMag (Oct 27, 1980)

October 27,1980 ‘ BERBER RERREBRERRERERERERERERERRERERRERERERERERE REPRE RE) CineMag What Does The CBC Want? Asks Montreal Producer After No Sale MONTREAL — Les bons dé| director and writer a job, and has Darras will not be bought by the | just wrapped production on Les CBC. This news came to Les Productions Prisma, via its sales agent, after several months’ wait, Says producer Marcia Couélle. The reasons given by the network for the refusal to buy were, at best, obscure: the need to make choices, given the large mumber of Canadian features available ; the failure of sub-titled films to work well on television (the production was offering a dubbed version of the film, not a subtitled one)... Earlier, Roman Melnyk, director of independent production, told the sales agent that CBC assessors thought the p to CBC standards.” Les bons débarras, one of the sold-out hits of the Festival of Festivals, gathered outstanding “reviews in the Toronto press: that alone, a feat of no small magnitude for a Canadian film. It has also had an | 8-week theatrical run in Montreal. Moreover, it was Canada’s entry in the competition at the Berlin Festival last year — the world’s second largest and most prestigious festival after Cannes — and, again, met with fine critical response. The National Film Board of Canada was so impressed with the film that it offered both its ! beaux souvenirs, a feature film also made by Francis Mankiewicz and Réjean Ducharme. The refusal of the CBC to buy one feature film is, initself hardly a story. But the fact that Les Productions Prisma has neversold a Single film to the network, despite the company’s outstanding productions and critical track record, deserves attention. Three yéars ago, it produced Les six doigts de la main. It was a feature length film for children, written and directed by André | Mélanson, and was structured to be run either as 3 half-hours or at feature length. The film won first prize at the Banff International Festival of Films for Television in its category, and Dody Robb of the CBC was on that jury. The CBC’s enthusiasm for the film was evident and the production prépared an English script which it submitted to the network for comment. It subsequently | which would allow it to program the film. Les Servantes du Bon Dieu, the feature documentary which played in the Critic's Week at Cannes two years ago and which had a fine review in the New York Times when it played in New York last year, has not been offered to the network. Nor has the network enquired about it. But Prisma’s discouraging relation to the CBC goes back further. Prisma produced Michel Brault’s Les Ordres in the mid °70s. The Cannes Festival awarded Brault first prize for his direction. When the production approached the CBC about a screening, it was told ‘don’t call us. We'll call you.’ To this day, the network has not seen Les Ordres, the definitive film about Quebec under the enactment of the War Measures Act ‘It would be difficult for Les Productions Prisma to gather more awards or make more successful films than it is already making. produced a finished English ver| “‘What the CBC should be able to sion of the film on cassettes. A long silence followed, during which no letter, no explanation, was forthcoming. Finally, Prisma was told that the network had no time slot — neither 3 half hours nor any feature length slot — tell us is just what its criteria are for the selection of films,” says an increasingly frustrated producer, Marcia Couélle. Then, perhaps, Canadian producers will be able to tell just what the CBC wants. oo : Wilderness Lake Makes Good CBC Sale, Nov. Spot TORONTO — Music For Wil derness Lake, a Fichman/Sweete Production of a Canadian concert which avant-garde composer Murray Schaffer recorded last September, has been sold to the CBC for $20,000. The film will be aired on the network, Nov. 26. “*The film was recorded in stereo for simulcasting on TV and radio. | Unfortunately the CBC couldn’t arrange the scheduling for both, so it’s just going on TV,” says Larry Weinstein, who co-produced the film along with the directors of the film, Niv Fichman and Barbara Sweete. Music For Wilderness Lake has been nominated for four Canadian Film Craft Awards: best cinematographer ( Kuri Kurita); best sound recording (Timothy Wilson); best re-recording (Paul Coombe); and best editing (Niv Fichman). ‘*The film is based on a musical composition by Schaffer,” says Weinstein. “It's avant garde, meditative music written for 12 trombonists, who play at Wilderness Lake. There are two movements: one at dawn, another at dusk... The first half of the (half hour) film is of the rehearsal in Schaffer ’s barn, the second halfis the concert itself.” Music For Wilderness Lake, ee CL CC et which was shot Sept. 22, 23 last year, was made at a cost of $55,000. Weinstein says the | money was raised through private | investment and with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. Portland Cable Franchise to CCL TORONTO Cablesystems Pacific, an affiliate of Canadian Cablesystem Limited, has been awarded a $30 million franchise to build a cable system for the city of Portland, Oregon. Cablesystems Pacific was selected by the Portland City Commission from among four applications to construct the cable system, which, when completed, will serve 125,000 Portland homes. : Cablesystems Pacific is a partnership, 50 per cent owned by Canadian Cablesystems and 50 per cent by local western residents. Canadian Cablesystems now serves over 1.3 million subscribers in Canada, the U.S. and Ireland, and holds a 49 per cent interest in Famous Players. The Portland contract brings the number of homes under franchise in the U.S. to affiliates of Canadian Cablesystems to over 300,000. cpOM SCRIPT TO SCRE py CANADAS LARGEST MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION CENTRE 0 PAPINEAU STREET, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA H2K 4L9 (514) 527-8671 TELEX: 05-267329