Telefilm Canada announces feature-film projects selected under the Feature
It! and Écrire au long initiatives

MONTREAL, Nov. 27 /CNW Telbec/ - Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce the names of the English-language, Quebec-based projects that have been selected under its Feature It! initiative, as well as the French-language feature-film projects from outside Montréal and outside Quebec that have been selected under the Écrire au long initiative. Participating creators will receive development funding in the form of an advance for a later phase of their project and will take part in a four-day immersion. In addition, participants will subsequently receive personalized, professional support from scriptwriting advisors or producer-mentors.

The Écrire au long immersion will be held in Montréal next week, while the Feature It! immersion will be held in mid-December, also in Montréal. Telefilm has engaged the Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA) to deliver the training for the Feature It! initiative while the Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS) has been asked to deliver the Écrire au long training.

"The selected projects are notable for their quality and creativity," said Sheila de La Varende, Telefilm Canada's Director of National and International Business Development. "We're pleased by the diversity of projects submitted this year, as well as with the topics and genres put forward, which says a lot about the potential of creators from across Canada. Through Feature It! and Écrire au long, our ultimate aim is to enhance industry skills, increase the number of feature-film scripts and productions in those segments of the market, and improve creators' access to our main funding programs," she concluded.

Both the Feature It! initiative and the Écrire au long initiative targeted at Francophone creators from outside Quebec are part of Telefilm Canada's Official Language Activities Program (OLA).

    
    Feature It! participants

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    English-language projects from Quebec
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Title          Production     Producer       Writer         Region
                   company
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Big Comeback   n/a            n/a            Pierre         Montréal
    (The)                                        Larouche
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Blood Quantum  Eye Steel      Mila Aung-     Jeff  Barnaby  Montréal
                   Film Inc.      Thwin and
                                  John Christou
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ecstasy Note   9117-7972      n/a            Geoffrey       Montréal
    (The)          QUÉBEC INC.                   Uloth
                   (Evergon Arts
                   Inc.)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Foreign        9136-6922      Pablo Aravena  Pablo Aravena  Montréal
    Objects        Québec Inc.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Happy          One Man Band   Christos       Christos       Montréal
    Slapping       Films Inc.     Sourligas      Sourligas
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Lion &         Boom Pictures  Paul Van den   Tyler Gibb     Montréal
    Gazelle        Inc.           Boom
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    O Christmas    6566049        Debra Kouri    Debra Kouri    Montréal
    Trees          Canada Inc.                   and Caroline
                                                 Bâcle
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Wall of        Couzin Films   Ziad Touma     Erin D. Laing  Montréal
    Sound          Inc.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Écrire au long participants

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    French-language projects from outside Montréal
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Title          Production     Producer       Writer         Region
                   company
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    59             Productions    Geneviève      Richard        Québec
                   des Années     Lavoie         Angers and
                   Lumières Inc.                 Jean-Daniel
                                                 Desroches
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Artéfact       Productions    Nancy Savard   Normand        Québec
                   10e Ave Inc.                  Bergeron
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Collisons      n/a            n/a            Sébastien      Québec
    (Les)                                        Gagné and
                                                 Julie
                                                 Gauthier
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Papyboom       Productions    Sonia Despars  Richard        Québec
                   Thalie inc.                   Lacombe
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ressac         n/a            n/a            Cédric Landry  Rimouski
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    French-language projects from outside Québec
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Title          Production     Producer       Writer         Region
                   company
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Beauté des     n/a            n/a            Maxime         Ontario
    autres (La)                                  Desmons
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Cap Rouge      n/a            n/a            Laurence       Prince Edward
                                                 Véron          Island
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Donneur (Le)   Witness Media  Carole         Carole         British
                   Inc.           Ducharme       Ducharme       Columbia
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Noël en        Slalom         Marie-Pierre   Jocelyn        Ontario
    boîte          Productions    Gariépy        Forgues
                   Inc.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Trajectoires   Balestra       Mark Chatel    Nadine Valcin  Ontario
                   Productions
                   Inc.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    

Since the launch of the OLA program in 2006, Telefilm Canada has been seeking to expand the talent pool of Anglophone and Francophone creators across the country. A total of 20 English-language projects and 30 French-language projects have been supported following calls for entries issued to both of these communities. The initiatives under Telefilm's Official Language Activities Program have received financial support from Heritage Canada through the Interdepartmental Partnership with Official-Language Communities (IPOLC).

    
    Telefilm Canada: Developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual
    industry
    

Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry. Telefilm provides financial support to the private sector to create distinctively Canadian productions that appeal to domestic and international audiences. The Corporation also administers the funding programs of the Canada Feature Film Fund, the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.gc.ca.

For further information: Media enquiries: Eva Hartling, Senior Advisor, External Communications, Telefilm Canada, [phone], ext. 2090, 1-800-567-0890, [e-mail]