Carolle Brabant is the new executive director of Telefilm Canada. (Telefilm Canada)Carolle Brabant is the new executive director of Telefilm Canada. (Telefilm Canada)

Carolle Brabant, a senior manager who has been with Telefilm Canada for 20 years in various capacities, has been appointed the funding agency's new executive director.

She will replace Wayne Clarkson, who ended his five-year term in January.

Brabant, who is trained as a chartered accountant and has an MBA, was interim director of the agency, which funds independent Canadian filmmaking, for six months in 2004.

Her appointment was announced Tuesday by Heritage Minister James Moore.

Telefilm faces a number of pressures as Brabant takes over.

Quebec's francophone filmmakers put pressure on the agency to boost funding last year. Francophone films have had some success at the box office, and filmmakers complained that Telefilm funding was not expanding to meet the demand for new work by experienced directors.

In English Canada, the problem is poor results at the box office, with less than one per cent of revenue coming from Canadian, English-language films.

There was also controversy over remarks made by Michel Roy, chair of Telefilm's board of directors, that more U.S. celebrities should be recruited to star in Canadian films in an effort to boost box office revenue.

Canada's actors' union, ACTRA, objected to the idea that Canadian talent wasn't up to the task.