Telefilm touts diversity as key to future

News Brief: Canadian Film Industry

Telefilm Canada announces a new diversity initiative designed to increase representation within the “Canadian Film Portfolio” by 2020 through new initiatives and industry partnerships

By The Ex-Press

Right now, it’s all just words on a press release, but by 2020 the Canadian film landscape will look a lot different if Telefilm makes good on a promise of “diversity” they made earlier today (Thursday, September 8) in Montreal.

Seeking to increase the field of representation to better reflect the population of Canada, Telefilm Executive Director Carolle Brabant declared the following objective: “By 2020, [to] have a more representative and diversified feature film portfolio that better reflects gender, diversity and Canada’s Indigenous communities.”

To realize the long-term goal, Telefilm will partner with the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM) to create working policies that will promote the new initiative across both French and English-speaking film communities.

“When Canadian films are at their best, they reflect the rich experience and perspectives of the people who make up our diverse nation. Today’s announcement in an important step in the right direction, and we look forward to working with our partners to make this vision a reality,” said Reynolds Mastin, CMPA President and CEO.

His comments were echoed by Hélène Messier, President and CEO, AQPM: “The AQPM is pleased to partner in this new initiative to ensure that film production takes more into account the diversity of our society. By better addressing the fundamental issue of representation we can enrich Canada’s cultural offering.”

Telefilm’s recent investments in feature films reflects a changing agenda, with the last round of French-language funding assigned to two films by emerging female filmmakers, Geneviève Dulude-De Celles and Sophie Dupuis, and in May, Telefilm declared its support of women in documentary film with funding for such projects as Brigitte Berman’s Gordon Pinsent documentary, The River of My Dreams — playing at TIFF16 — Ann Shin’s My Enemy, My Brother, and Jennifer Baichwal’s (Payback, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark) latest, Anthropocene.