Okay.
Evidence of meeting #43 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was production.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #43 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was production.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Toronto International Film Festival Inc.
But with the clout, size, and impact of a festival like TIFF, our global brand internationally now, is such that we can also make an impact.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Now, about your second goal, talent development, again I think you want to use Telefilm as a lever to improve the situation.
5:10 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Toronto International Film Festival Inc.
I think there are training institutions already in place, clearly, in Montreal and in Toronto, and with the Canadian Film Centre and the National Screen Institute. I think that a more coordinated policy, perhaps, more resources, and more of an effort need to go into developing new Canadian talent.
I've been very close to this for 30 years, and I've always wondered how certain industries around the world develop through their film schools and their training programs. I think it needs to be concerted. I think it needs to be ongoing. It needs to be very focused. There needs to be a continuity. This is the way that the best talent is brought forward. I don't think it's a separate program. Again, I think it's about investing in those organizations that are doing this work already and actually just giving them more resources.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Thank you very much. This is very helpful.
Mr. Lantos, you mentioned your idea to extend the tax credit to marketing. Did you suggest that already? What kind of reaction did you receive?
5:10 p.m.
Owner, Serendipity Point Films
Today is the first time that I've voiced this.
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
Owner, Serendipity Point Films
It's an ongoing challenge that has plagued the distribution of Canadian films, because even when there is a film.... The films I produce usually have the benefit of serious marketing budgets, but even then....
Some years ago, I produced a film called Barney's Version, which premiered at TIFF and then opened in theatres. It was backed by what in Canada is considered a very major marketing budget of $2 million for Canada, but the film opened at Christmas, smack against a dozen Hollywood movies. They don't spend more than $2 million marketing their movies in Canada either. Sometimes they'll spend maybe $3 million or $4 million, but that's a reasonable budget. But they'll spend another $40 million or $50 million or more marketing their films in the United States, and they open at the same time.
The overflow effect of the American marketing campaign into Canada through television, print media, and the Internet is such that there is a greater impact for those films on the Canadian radar than our own films. Hence, marketing money is essential. That's where that comes from.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
Thank you very much.
I would like to invite Mr. Handling to react to this idea. Do you also think that the tax rate should be expanded to marketing?
5:15 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Toronto International Film Festival Inc.
I support that. I think that's a very good idea. I completely agree with Robert's analysis. We're a very small market. We need more marketing money to create greater awareness of Canadian films in our own marketplace.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
May I ask Mr. Lantos to react to Mr. Handling's suggestions about the way to improve the partnership with Telefilm Canada?
5:15 p.m.
Owner, Serendipity Point Films
I'm not sure that there is a problem with the partnership with Telefilm Canada—
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC
No, it's not a problem. It's that Mr. Handling has suggested that there should be more support for the programs about export and training.
5:15 p.m.
Owner, Serendipity Point Films
Telefilm has been in charge of creating a presence for Canadian film internationally, along with Canadian distributors who sell Canadian films and now TIFF has, I think very correctly, begun to use its brand, which has become global. It is one of the world's greatest festivals and hence has a brand or a currency that can be used abroad.
I think they are both doing the same thing. An orchestrated effort in activities between TIFF and Telefilm Canada is under way, I'm sure, and will emerge. They are in competent hands.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Sir, you are an agitator: such were the words spoken to Dustin Hoffman in one of my favourite films, The Graduate.
You are one of the few persons I know who has actually worked with him. Can you tell us in a little anecdote, in 30 seconds, about your favourite moment with Dustin Hoffman?
5:15 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
You look a little bit like Dustin Hoffman.
5:15 p.m.
Owner, Serendipity Point Films
Really? I'm a lot taller than he is. He's a short guy.
There are so many. It's tough to choose. In Barney's Version, we were shooting a scene in a bar in Montreal that used to be Mordecai Richler's favourite watering hole. That's why we were there. It was a scene between Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, who played his son in the film.
At one point, the director said at the end of a take, as directors do, “Cut.” Without turning around, Dustin, who had the back of his head to the camera—the camera was on Paul Giamatti—said, “Just keep rolling.” Then he said to Paul Giamatti: “Let's do it again, but this time just let it all go. Do it like a baby. Just let it all go.” Giamatti said his lines again. Dustin Hoffman said, “Let's do it again, even younger, like a baby.” The scene had to do with Paul Giamatti as a son telling his father that he had fallen in love and wanted to divorce his current wife because he had met the love of his life.
By the fourth or fifth time that Dustin had Paul redo the scene without cutting and without the director having anything further to do with it, Giamatti had tears in his eyes, and his face had completely changed. It became a remarkable take, which is the one that's in the film, and at the end of it was one of my favourite moments. Paul Giamatti went over to Dustin Hoffman and said: “This is why I went to acting school. Thank you.”
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
That's a great story.
Thanks to both of you for being here. I'm the MP for the West Vancouver and Whistler area. We have the Whistler Film Festival, which is a fledgling version of what you do, Mr. Handling.
You're both obviously icons on this scene. As the father of three teenagers, I have a question that is a little different from those of my colleagues. What would you suggest we do in Canada to inspire youth to be involved in this industry in whatever capacity?
Since it's so easy to go to you, Mr. Lantos, I won't. I'll go to Mr. Handling first and then come back to you, if that's okay.
5:20 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Toronto International Film Festival Inc.
I think young Canadians are avid to pick up cameras. They want to play in the medium. I don't think we really need to do anything more to encourage it, because it's self-generating. I think that with film, television cameras, gaming, and all of the visual media, kids and teenagers are naturally attracted to it.
I think it's about providing a context around that, which of course festivals like Whistler and organizations like TIFF can do. It's about taking that avid interest and providing historic context and cultural context, and opening young people to the riches of international cinema, to other ways of speaking and other ways of making movies.
There are so many different avenues that one can take. To me, cinema is a gateway into other cultures. It's one of the most efficient forms of international communication. It builds bridges incredibly efficiently. We have a children's festival that shows largely international foreign language films, because here in Toronto it's a very multicultural society. A lot of children are seeing films from the cultures from which their parents and grandparents came.
I think kids naturally are gravitating towards moving images. Our role, an institutional role, is to guide that and give them more context, I guess, and give them more opportunities.
