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Film distribution bill threatens NAFTA
Filmmaker Paul Donovan once compared the difficulty of making a movie in Canada to climbing Mount Everest without oxygen. Faced with an indifferent public, harsh critics, limited funds, and foreign-owned movie houses, filmmaking in Canada is, by necessity, a labour of love. Canadian gems like The Barbarian Invasions and Nobody Waved Goodbye have succeeded because of steadfast determination. CBC Archives explores the birth and growth of Canada's film industry.
• In May 1988 Flora MacDonald introduced a watered-down version of her Film Products Importation Bill before it eventually died when the 1988 Federal Election was called. However, Telefilm did succeed in implementing the Feature Film Distribution Fund in 1988 which established credit lines for Canadian companies seeking to distribute films in varied markets.
• An earlier attempt at instituting a quota system was a failure. In 1975, Secretary of State Hugh Faulkner established a voluntary quota deal with Famous Players and Odeon Theatres. Each chain promised to invest at least $1.7 million in Canadian film production and devote a minimum of four weeks per year to their exhibition. Two years later, the plan was scrapped after the voluntary system had proved to be a failure.
• Famous Players and Cineplex Odeon have long been the dominant theatres in Canada, controlling 30 and 43 per cent of Canada's screens. Famous Players, which is owned by the U.S. media company Viacom, has long held a relationship with distributors including Buena Vista, MGM, Warner Brothers and Paramount. Cineplex Odeon, owned by Universal, maintains ties with Columbia, Fox and Universal. Despite these ties, the theatres don't maintain exclusivity on film titles from distributors.
Film Credit: I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, VOS Productions – NFB, Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Film Development Corporation, Téléfilm Canada. Platoon Hemdale. My American Cousin, Peter O'Brian – Borderline, CBC, Independent, Okanagan Motion Picture Company, Téléfilm Canada.
Program: Sunday Morning
Broadcast Date: Oct. 25, 1987
Guest(s): Paul Fekete, Francis Fox, Flora MacDonald, Clément Richard, Stephen Roth, Connie Tadros, Daniel Weinzweig
Host: Linden MacIntyre
Reporter: Carol Off
Duration: 17:07
Film credits: I've Heard the Mermaids Singing: VOS Productions, NFB, Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Film Development Corporation, Téléfilm Canada My American Cousin: Peter O'Brian – Borderline, CBC, Independent, Okanagan Motion Picture Company, Téléfilm Canada
Last updated: February 16, 2012
Page consulted on April 26, 2013
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