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Ten Unique Features Supported By Telefilm Canada’s Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program
Montreal, June 19, 2003 – Telefilm Canada’s Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program (LIFAP) recently announced its commitment to 10 (seven English-language, three French-language) innovative, audience-friendly feature films. Launched in 2000 as a complementary creator program of the Canada Feature Film Fund, LIFAP operates with an annual budget of approximately $1.7 million, and is designed to support director-driven projects, from both emerging and established filmmakers, up to an amount of $900,000 per project.
“The results of this national program have been very positive,” noted Richard Stursberg, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director. “Since its inception, this program has supported many innovative films like Looking for Leonard and deadend.com, which have gone on to be screened at major festivals in Canada and the United States, as well as the hit mockumentary FUBAR, which did very well at the box office for a film of its genre. These are the kinds of successes we are working to achieve and build upon with every national investment decision we make.”
The Program encourages greater opportunities for creative renewal and professional development, while seeking to ensure that Canada’s cultural diversity is reflected in film.
Ralph Holt, National Sector Head, Feature Film, Operations, added: “The Program is a very effective means of testing new talent and taking risks with highly original material by established directors, as evidenced by the fact that more than half of the completed productions supported by LIFAP, to date, have found distributors.”
From the Ontario/Nunavut regions, SK8LIFE: Van City (director/co-writer S. Wyeth Clarkson) is a summer teen skateboarding movie from the creators of the highly successful deadend.com; 1936 (director/writer Denise Blinn) is a passionate romance set in the eponymous year, with unexpected, life-long results; and Phil The Alien (director/writer Rob Stefaniuk) is a comedy featuring an alien, a beaver and plenty of Canadian beer.
From the Quebec region: Woman of Ahhs (director/writer Benjamin Paquette) is a romantic comedy about a young musician named Jude, who is searching for the woman of his dreams; Le Golem de Montréal (director/writer Isabelle Hayeur) is a family comedy about a young boy named Nico, who, after his parents separate, conjures up an imaginary friend inspired by a childhood legend; Le Bonheur, c'est une chanson triste (director/writer François Delisle) is a comedy/drama about Anne-Marie, a brilliant publicist who, upon discovering a hidden video cassette, embarks on an obsessive quest for happiness; and L’Énigme de James Edward Brighton (director/writer Denis Langlois) presents Sylvie, a filmmaker, who decides to tell the story of James, an American amnesiac who is found lost in Montreal.
From the Western region: Crossing, (director Roger Evan Larry, writer Sandra Tornc) one part The Sopranos, one part The Crying Game and two parts Harlequin Romance, promises to deliver a suspenseful, action-packed punch; Little Brother of War (director/writer Damon Vignale) is the story of eight year-old Jay who, due to exceptional circumstances, departs on a cross-country journey to find his mother and father, only to be tailed by a retired detective; and Male Fantasy (director/writer Blaine Thurier) is the funny story of one man’s misguided portrait of pleasure.
Telefilm Canada, a cultural investor in film, television, new media and music
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to the development and promotion of the Canadian film, television, new media and music industries. With the objective of building larger audiences for Canadian cultural products, the Corporation acts as a partner to the private sector through investments in diverse productions with wide appeal.
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Information:
Douglas Chow, Communications and Public Affairs Attaché
(514) 283-6363 or 1-800-567-0890, chowd@telefilm.ca
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