Telefilm Canada announces $12 million in production funding to support nine feature film projects

Featured stars include Sarah Gadon (A Dangerous Method), Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right), Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis) and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games)

Renowned filmmakers David Cronenberg and Vinay Virmani are back again

MONTREAL, Sept. 19, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Telefilm Canada announces its support for the production of nine English- and French-language feature films from Quebec, Ontario, Nunavut and Western Canada through the Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF). The total allocation for the productions selected, in the first quarter of 2013-2014, is $12 million.

"Our portfolio is as diverse as ever, broadening to thrillers, fantasies and other genres while maintaining our commitment to financing high-quality dramas," said Telefilm Canada's Executive Director, Carolle Brabant. "The films we've chosen will feature some of Canada's most talented actors, including Donald Sutherland and Sarah Gadon, working alongside top international stars such as Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn, Julianne Moore and John Cusack."

Quebec region

Avant les rues
Director and writer: Chloé Leriche
Production: Les Films de l'Autre
Distribution: FunFilm Distribution
Genre: Drama

Avant les rues questions the reality of several young people who are trying to exit from poverty and its social problems, but are barely keeping their heads above water. In this struggle, many fall into the trap of taking the easy way out. Jason is a case in point. Barely 18 years old, he would like to forget the crime he has just committed but has nowhere to turn to. His personal struggle unfolds in a small community where some young people rack up a series of reckless adventures, where families' lives are overburdened by too many children and where, in certain cases, boredom and misery keep bad company. To keep from losing all hope, Jason clings to the words of an astrophysicist.

Les Démons
Director and writer: Philippe Lesage
Production: Les Films de l'Autre
Distribution: FunFilm Distribution
Genre: Drama

During a time when Montreal is ravaged by a string of kidnappings of young boys, 9-year-old Félix is finishing his school year in an apparently peaceful suburb. Félix is an imaginative and sensitive child, and is afraid of everything: that his parents might divorce, maniacs who seize small boys, disreputable-looking neighbours… even AIDS. Little by little, the child's imaginary terrors begin to blend with the unnerving realities of the world around him.

Dr. Cabbie
Director: Jean-François Pouliot (Seducing Doctor Lewis)
Writer: Vinay Virmani (Breakaway)
Production: Caramel Films
Distribution: Les Films Séville
Confirmed actors: Vinay Virmani, Adrianne Palicki, Kunal Nayyar, Lillete Dubey, Mircea Monroe, Chris Diamantopoulos, Rizwan Manji and Isabelle Kaif
Genre: Comedy

An immigrant unemployed doctor turned cab driver becomes a local hero when he converts his cab into a mobile clinic. Dr. Deepak Veer Chopra is devastated when he discovers his indian medical degree is not recognized in Canada. His new best friend (Tony) convinces him to become a cabbie. One night, he heroically delivers a passenger (Natalie's) baby in the backseat of his cab. The footage goes viral. Overnight, Deepak becomes a local celebrity and is given the nickname ''Dr Cabbie.'' He finds himself treating passengers and operating a medical clinic from his cab. Ironically, Deepak selflessly helping others gets him into the fight of his life. Will ''Dr Cabbie'' emerge triumphant or will he lose it all and be deported back to India?

Lièvres
Director and writer: Dominic Goyer
Production: Caramel Films
Distribution: Les Films Christal
Confirmed actors: Élise Guibault and Marc Messier
Genre: Drama

When David learns that his father is not his biological father, he embarks on a quest for the facts about his birth and his true father's identity. But in the course of his search, David will unearth the secrets of his recently deceased mother's life as well. And what David always supposed was his mother's true nature is true no longer - worse still, he finds a person utterly unknown to him. This truth, though David doesn't know it yet, will prove to be the greatest threat of all.

Midnight Sun
Canada-Italy coproduction
Director: Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Writer: Hugh Hudson and Bart Gavigan
Production: Media-Max, Original Pictures, Rob Heydon Productions and HD Productions
Distribution: Les Films Séville
Confirmed actors: Dakota Goyo, Groan Visnjic, Bridget Moynahan, Kendra Timmins and Duane Murray
Genre: Action and adventure

Midnight Sun is an action and adventure film about a young boy, Luke, who defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with his mother. On this trek Luke is aided by Muktuk, a local guide who knows the terrain where polar bears live like the back of his hand. But they are soon separated on the floating ice of the high Arctic, and Luke and the cub are left to protect themselves from bear attacks, giant icebergs, and vicious windstorms.

Ontario and Nunavut region

The Calling
Director: Jason Stone
Writer: Scott Abramovitch
Production: Manis Film
Distribution: Entertainment One Films
Confirmed actors: Susan Sarandon, Ellen Burstyn, Topher Grace, Gil Bellows and Donald Sutherland
Genre: Thriller

Detective Hazel Micallef hasn't had much to worry about in the sleepy town of Port Dundas until a string of gruesome murders in the surrounding countryside brings her face to face with a serial killer driven by a higher calling.

Maps to the Stars
Canada-Germany coproduction
Director: David Cronenberg (Cosmopolis)
Writer: Bruce Wagner
Production: Plausible Communications Corporation and Prospero Pictures
Distribution: Entertainment One Films
Confirmed actors: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Olivia Williams and Sarah Gadon
Genre: Drama

Stafford Weiss (Cusack) is an LA psychotherapist and life coach who made his fortune with self-help books promising happiness. His wife Cristina (Williams) is the overbearing mother-manager of their thirteen-year-old son, Benjie (Evan Bird), a TV star and recent drug rehab grad.  Their estranged daughter, Agatha (Wasikowska), has just been released from a psychiatric hospital and befriends limo driver (and aspiring actor) Jerome (Pattinson). Welcome to the Weiss family reunion. Then of course there are Stafford's celebrity clients. Among them is Havana Segrand (Moore), an actress with an unusual new assistant. Havana's dream of reprising her dead mother Clarice's (Gadon) starring role from the 1960s slowly crumbles while ghosts, death and all manner of vices collide.

Patch Town
Director: Craig Goodwill
Writers: Chris Bond, Trevor Martin and Craig Goodwill
Production: David C. Sparkes Films and Popcorn Pictures
Confirmed actors: Zoie Palmer, Julian Richings, Rob Ramsay, Scott Thompson, Suresh John and Stephanie Pitsiladis
Genre: Science fiction, fantasy

Inspired by the award-winning short film of the same name. After years in a loving home, Jon, a toy, was forgotten, deserted and ultimately betrayed by his adoptive mother. He returns to live a sad life as a worker on the line. With each new birth, Jon laments the days when life was good and he was loved.Jon learns that the evil child catcher, Yuri, has discovered they stole a new born baby from the factory floor, he moves into action to escape the oppressive city and find a safe home for his wife and child. With each day, Jon and Mary find the safety and sense of home they have always longed for, but it's not enough. Jon is torn between saving the mother he has always dreamed or saving his own family.

Western Canada region

Teen Lust
Director: Blaine Thurier
Writers: Blaine Thurier and Jason Stone
Production: Independent Edge Films
Distribution: Entertainment One Films
Confirmed actors: Jesse Carere, Daryl Sabara, Annie Clark, Jon Dore, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Kristin Bauer van Straten and Cary Elwes
Genre: Comedy

A desperate high school loser must lose his virginity or be sacrificed by a Satanic cult.

About Telefilm Canada
Telefilm is dedicated to the cultural, commercial and industrial success of Canada's audiovisual industry. Through its various funding and promotion programs, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creative talent here at home and around the world. Telefilm also administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/telefilm_canada and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/telefilmcanada.

SOURCE: Telefilm Canada

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