Canadian Heritage Committee on April 21st, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 30 seconds.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

During these last 30 seconds, I would simply like to repeat that I sincerely hope you will accept the next mandates you are offered.

I also hope that everyone here will attend the next Film Night on May 3. It is a wonderful opportunity to get together and talk movies. I have even heard that shuttle buses may run between the SOCAN cocktail location and the Canadian Museum of History for the viewing.

[Carolle Brabant]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, Mr. Nantel and Ms. Brabant.

We have one more question from Mr. DeCourcey, from the Liberals.

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Would Mr. Vandal agree to share his time with me?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes, who is going to be the questioner, please?

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

I'll pass it to Mr. Vandal.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you very much, Mr. DeCourcey.

Welcome.

I read in your brief you've supported production and marketing of 87 feature films and 300 projects. My question to you is, what percentage of those would be in both official languages, broken down between French, English, and indigenous productions, if you could just share that with us?

[Carolle Brabant]

For official languages, it's one-third and two-thirds. Last year 32% of our projects went to French projects and 68% went to English projects.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

One-third French?

[Carolle Brabant]

One-third French and two-thirds English.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

For indigenous?

[Carolle Brabant]

Indigenous last year I think was around 4%.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Okay, 4%. Do you have any special marketing outreach to mine that and nurture it on the indigenous side?

[Carolle Brabant]

One of the key challenges for the film industry is that it's very competitive, and often it's difficult to make the first film. The first film is often received as a calling card, and it's often difficult particularly for emerging talent. The micro-budget production program was designed for that. We have a special stream for aboriginal content, and that stream worked extremely well.

I'm proud to say there was a film we financed, not through the micro-budget production program, called Avant les rues, and it is the first film in the Atikamekw language. If you come to Quebec, it's screening in Quebec right now and it has received very good reviews.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

On page 3 you said you “need to make decisions supported by meaningful metrics. It's vital we make informed decisions based on value-added research”.

What does that mean? Can you say more about that?

[Carolle Brabant]

One of the things we're proud about at Telefilm is that we designed a new index to measure the success of our films.

Basically, six or seven years ago, we were only measuring the success of our films based on the Canadian box office. Given the environment we're in, and given the type of films we're financing, which are independent content, their successes are often abroad or internationally.

I'll give you two examples.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have two minutes.

[Carolle Brabant]

There was one Canadian film that was very successful in the late 2000s, Blindness. It was very successful internationally to the point that the investment was completely reimbursed. It did approximately $700,000 in the box office in Canada, so when we were talking about successes, strictly based on box office, this film was under the radar.

The other one is The Captive from Atom Egoyan—and there are multiple other examples—that did extremely well also on the international scene. We found that our success needed to be told differently by taking into account and measuring the information about international sales.

Also, as I was saying, 60% of the films we're financing are emerging talent. The way they build their career—Denis Villeneuve is an example—is by being selected in festivals, winning prizes in festivals, and moving onto the index. The index is about telling the story of the successes of our filmmakers in festivals such as Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, and Berlin. We want to continue improving on that index to get a good matrix.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

You have thirty seconds.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you very much.

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

I only have one question to ask you, Ms. Brabant.

In your strategy, how do you make sure that you have an impact in all of the regions of eastern, central and western Canada? I am asking you that because I was born in the Atlantic region, where we have developed a culture in this industry.

[Carolle Brabant]

First of all, we have offices throughout Canada. We focus on partnerships at festivals, but we also partner with the provincial agencies. We try to create leverage. We devoted a lot of effort to working in co-operation with our provincial partners. Through the Talent Fund, we also identified people in the industry, outside of the cinema industry, who become our spokespeople to highlight that sector. I really believe in the value of working together to showcase our industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm sorry, we're well over time here.

I would like to ask members, when you wish to ask questions and you want to change and you want to split, to be mindful that when you only have five minutes, you go over time and that affects everyone else, and it affects the ability of our presenters to present. Please let us know if you are changing or if you're splitting well before you do. Thank you very much.

Before we move to the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ms. Brabant, we have one minute, and I want to ask you a question.

First, I want to thank you, Ms. Brabant, for mentioning producers and writers. I think we only focus on actors, and we don't see that we have some of the best and the greatest writers and producers in the world. I want to congratulate you on your focus on animation because, as you well know, not only on animation but on special effects, etc., Canada has become number one in the world. I hope that you recognize, as Mr. DeCourcey said, the ability to move across the country, because British Columbia is number one in the world in terms of special effects in animation.

Second, I just want to ask one thing and that is: how do you see CBC playing a role in helping with distribution? BBC has done that very well for British film, and I wonder if you see CBC with a role to be able to help you with distribution.

[Carolle Brabant]

I think it's a key role that CBC and broadcasters can play. The survey we did recently showed that Canadians are watching their content mostly on their television, and they watch a lot of content. I think that the example of Corner Gas shows that when we are working together, combining the broadcaster, the theatrical release, as well as the platform release, we can reach a high number of Canadians.

It's interesting that you mention it. I had meetings with a representative from the CBC, and we really want to be working together to showcase the great talent we have in Canada.