Telefilm Canada Celebrates 25-year Partnership with the Atlantic Film
Festival - 2009 also marks 25th anniversary of Telefilm's Atlantic office

HALIFAX, Sept. 18 /CNW Telbec/ - Telefilm Canada (TFC) is proudly announcing its partnership with the 29th edition of the Atlantic Film Festival, This year marks two milestones: the 25th anniversary of both Telefilm's partnership with AFF and the opening of its Atlantic Regional Office in Halifax, which was established in 1984.

TFC financed 20 of the 23 feature-length Canadian films screening at this year's festival. These include two features by first-time Atlantic Region filmmakers - Sherry White and Adrianna Maggs - both from Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2009, Sherry White's Crackie was short-listed for Cannes and premiered at TIFF while Adrianna Maggs' Grown Up Movie Star was picked up for release by Canadian distributor Mongrel Media.

The Atlantic Film Festival was Telefilm Atlantic's first industry development client back in 1984," said Gordon Whittaker, Regional Director-Business Development and Feature Film Executive - Atlantic Region. "Since then our organizations have been joined at the hip helping Canadian films reach audiences locally and around the world. We're thrilled that the high-quality and varied selection of films from across Canada being screened at this year's festival reflect the diversity of Canada's filmmaking talent."

Since the Halifax office opened, Telefilm has invested more than $78 million in Nova Scotia's feature film and new media industries, and more than $108 million in the Atlantic Region as a whole.

"Telefilm in general and the Halifax office in particular, since its inception in 1984, have worked to ensure that East Coast voices have been, and continue to be expressed on film and television across Canada," said Michael Donovan, Chair and CEO, DHX Media and a long-time Telefilm client.

Strategic Partners

Telefilm's Atlantic Office is also a founding supporter of Strategic Partners, the international TV and film co-production market held each year during the AFF.

"SP has become an internationally recognized co-production market attracting high-calibre industry professionals each year. We're proud to have been one of the original supporters that made SP a reality back in 1998," said Sheila de La Varende, Director, International and National Business Development, Telefilm Canada. "Because SP draws local, national and foreign producers, broadcasters, financiers and distributors to Halifax to network and pursue deals, it has become a forum for the Canadian audiovisual industry to do business with each other and the world."

Industry initiatives

The Telefilm-sponsored Inspired Script program offers a unique opportunity for four Atlantic Canadian writers to develop their feature film outlines to treatments and pitch them to a panel of industry professionals at the 2009 Atlantic Film Festival. The program winner will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in development financing from Telefilm and the Harold Greenberg Fund and will also receive a live read-through with local actors at Script Out Loud during the 2010 Atlantic Film Festival.

    
    Telefilm Canada-financed films at 2009 Atlantic Film Festival

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    Title - Category                                    Director
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    A Shine of Rainbows - Special Presentations         Vic Sarin
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    A Wake                                              Penelope Buitenhuis
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    Cooking with Stella - Telefilm Canada Gala          Dilip Mehta
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    Crackie* - Atlantic Focus                         Sherry White
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    Dédé, à travers les brumes                          Jean-Philippe Duval
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    Excited                                             Bruce Sweeney
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    Grown Up Movie Star* - Atlantic Focus             Adrianna Maggs
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    High Life                                           Gary Yates
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    J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother) - That's So   Xavier Dolan
     Gay
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    Leslie: My Name is Evil                             Reg Harkema
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    Love and Savagery - Atlantic Gala                   John N. Smith
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    Passenger Side                                      Matthew Bissonnette
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    Polytechnique                                       Denis Villeneuve
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    Suck - Music & Image Gala                           Robert Stefaniuk
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    The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus - Special       Terry Gilliam
     Presentations
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    The Trotsky - Closing Gala                          Jacob Tierney
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    Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day -        Mike Clattenburg
     Opening Gala (World Premiere)
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    Year of the Carnivore                               Sook-Yin Lee
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    You Might As Well Live                              Simon Ennis
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    Zooey & Adam                                        Sean Garrity
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    * Indicates Atlantic Canadian filmmakers making their directorial
        débuts at the AFF
    

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: Michael Dunn, Communications Officer, Telefilm Canada, [phone], ext. 2721, 1-800-565-1773, [e-mail]