Canadian Heritage committee  Exactly. As I alluded to just now, the experiences in television can be transposed to feature films all over the world. Perhaps it cannot be done every time, but I feel that strategic partnerships ahead of the game, for example between the chains or the financing groups, may well

Canadian Heritage committee  First, on the financial side, we would like Telefilm Canada, which, we have to recognize, has already made a considerable effort, to give 75% of its performance criteria weighting to profitability, to how films do in theatres, and that there be a penalty for poor performance. Cu

Canadian Heritage committee  Currently, if a producer launches three films that do not perform very well, his proposals to Telefilm Canada will be given less consideration. That is a form of penalty. That is to say that his production activities may be affected by the poor performance. We are talking about t

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, but actually—

Canadian Heritage committee  No, exactly. It’s about economic performance, but also about festival performance. Telefilm Canada considers other criteria. I think the system is adequate. We just want the weighting of the factors inside the performance evaluation system to be reviewed.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have announced it publicly to the leadership at Telefilm Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think so, yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, but that does not mean eliminating art films. For five or six years, we have seen quite a troubling decline in the box office performance of Quebec films. Last week, in France, they published the results of theatre attendance for French films. French film producers have 44

Canadian Heritage committee  I am not able to tell you exactly when the Canada Media Fund changed its financial management system in such a major way. It created envelopes that are now managed by the broadcasters. There are mechanisms to define from year to year the envelopes that each one gets, whether Radi

Canadian Heritage committee  In my opinion, we are waiting for the government to start establishing a more favourable environment for private investment in the Canadian feature film industry. If other countries around the world can manage to bring more private funds into financing cinematic works, I feel the

Canadian Heritage committee  You have them in the form of tax credits. As a person or as a company, that’s as far as it goes. Everything is channelled through providing money or through governments. Among the private funds I know of in Quebec, we certainly have the Harold Greenberg Fund and the Cogeco Fund.

Canadian Heritage committee  Of course. The splitting of the audience as a result of the various platforms is one factor. At the same time, advertising revenues are dropping. Those revenues are the very bread and butter of the business model used by conventional broadcasters. I was going to draw your attent

Canadian Heritage committee  I won't deny that it does not come without some risk. That said, a number of our creators, our great artists or our cultural companies have succeeded in finding a place around the world and highlighting their skills and their talent in writing stories. That is the story of the C

Canadian Heritage committee  I am proud enough to be able to mention one thing to you. Recently, Quebecor launched an initiative to search out television creators and designers. Forgive me if I digress into television, but I will happily get back to feature films. So we have done that as par of C2 Montréal,

Canadian Heritage committee  Clearly, we are currently facing considerable challenges and there will be more of them in the years to come. For francophone television content, we still have some factors in our favour, however. Quebeckers’ attachment to their television and their artists is an undeniable advan