Telefilm Canada announces French-language project selected for production
support through the Official Languages Activities Program

MONTREAL, Sept. 21 /CNW Telbec/ - Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce that it has selected the film project La Sacrée, for financing through the French-language production component of the Official Languages Activities (OLA) Program. La Sacrée is a script by Daniel Marchildon to be produced by Mark Chatel of Ontario company Balestra Productions and to be directed by Dominic Desjardins and Mark Chatel.

La Sacrée is one of four projects supported by Telefilm with a $20,000 development grant through the "Écrire au long" initiative. The program is aimed at supporting Francophone feature film writers and producers working outside Quebec. Ottawa-based producer Mark Chatel and scriptwriter Daniel Marchildon of Penetanguish, Ontario benefited from a three-day writing workshop on producing for narrative feature films, as well as advice from an Institut national de l'image et du son (INIS) consultant during the re-write period.

"Seeing La Sacrée move forward is a pleasure, since the French-language production component of the Official Languages Activities Program is designed to help Francophone creators from outside Quebec break into the market," said Michel Pradier, Director, Project Financing, at Telefilm Canada. "And it's encouraging to have the project enter a new phase in continuity with its initial participation in the Écrire au long initiative."

In La Sacrée, a man attempts to come to terms with his past and with his fellow villagers by undertaking to brew an ancestral beer whose secret recipe has been forgotten over time. This is also the story of a small Franco-Ontarian community that has lost its soul and wants to find it. The village's survival is linked to the secret of the beer once brewed there and its long-lost formula. Like the protagonist, the village finds that the way to ensure the future is by searching the past.

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 Canadian Feature Film Fund, the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.gc.ca.

For further information: Eva Boucher-Hartling, Communication Specialist, Telefilm Canada, [phone], ext. 2090, 1-800-567-0890, [e-mail]