Telefilm Canada announces feature-film projects selected under the Feature It! and Écrire au long initiatives

Montréal, November 27, 2009 –Telefilm Canada is pleased to announce the names of the English-language, Quebec-based projects that have been selected under its Feature It! initiative, as well as the French-language feature-film projects from outside Montréal and outside Quebec that have been selected under the Écrire au long initiative. Participating creators will receive development funding in the form of an advance for a later phase of their project and will take part in a four-day immersion. In addition, participants will subsequently receive personalized, professional support from scriptwriting advisors or producer-mentors.

The Écrire au long immersion will be held in Montréal next week, while the Feature It! immersion will be held in mid-December, also in Montréal. Telefilm has engaged the Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA) to deliver the training for the Feature It! initiative while the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS) has been asked to deliver the Écrire au long training.

“The selected projects are notable for their quality and creativity,” said Sheila de La Varende, Telefilm Canada’s Director of National and International Business Development. “We’re pleased by the diversity of projects submitted this year, as well as with the topics and genres put forward, which says a lot about the potential of creators from across Canada. Through Feature It!  and Écrire au long, our ultimate aim is to enhance industry skills, increase the number of feature-film scripts and productions in those segments of the market, and improve creators’ access to our main funding programs,” she concluded.
 
Both the Feature It! initiative and the Écrire au long initiative targeted at Francophone creators from outside Quebec are part of Telefilm Canada’s Official Language Activities Program (OLA).

Feature It! participants

Écrire au long participants

Since the launch of the OLA program in 2006, Telefilm Canada has been seeking to expand the talent pool of Anglophone and Francophone creators across the country. A total of 20 English-language projects and 30 French-language projects have been supported following calls for entries issued to both of these communities. The initiatives under Telefilm’s Official Language Activities Program have received financial support from Heritage Canada through the Interdepartmental Partnership with Official-Language Communities (IPOLC).

Telefilm Canada: 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 Canada Feature Film Fund, the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund. Visit www.telefilm.ca.

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Media enquiries:

Eva Hartling
Senior Advisor, External Communications
Telefilm Canada
514-283-0838, ext. 2090 or 1-800-567-0890
hartlie@telefilm.ca