Radio-Canada gives French language features 12 million; Anglophone filmmakers migrate to Québec
Is this discriminatory?
Can we get the language police to force Radio-Canada to equally dole out the cash to Anglophones ? Can we force Parliament to do something? Can we move to Quebec and establish residency there? How many days do we need? 90? We can use that time to get our screenplays translated into French (we'll dub the film back into English later anyway).
You'd probably have to find someone who could read and write French as well so they can write up a nice proposal to Radio-Canada.
How's this for a plot: Old French grandparents die and leave their grandchildren (3 hot sisters) an old Parisian-style country cottage (if such a thing exists). As a celebration, the sisters have a huge house party. Lots of sex. It turns out to be a haunted house. Lots of gore. Two of the sisters die, and the sole surviving sister turns out to be pregnant with something evil (sequel!).
That would be great in French.
We probably just need an interpreter on set. That's pretty easy especially when most of the dialogue from the script will be replaced with screaming anyway. Clint Eastwood directed a film with an all Japanese cast, we should be able to at least understand a tenth of what we hear from our Québécois actors, given that we've been reading the backs of cereal boxes all these years.
Thanks Mr. Trudeau.
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4 comments:
Of course, I got the impression that Francophones in Quebec actually go to see Canadian French language films in theaters, more so then English speaking Canadians go to see English Canadian films. The reality may be completely different, but that is my impression.
My point, which I forgot to add, being that investing in French films is actually more fiscally prudent, you would think.
No, you are absolutely right. It is fiscally prudent. Québec has a culture that respects it's filmmakers and homegrown cinema (with a little Hollywoood thriller/horror thrown in for good measure).
If you gave us 12 million, we'd probably make one Atom Egoyan art film, which isn't to say that's a bad thing, but that to expect it to make money is foolish. Still, the more money being put into the English Canadian film industry, the more likely we are going to have success.
As it is, In 2005 (last data) English language films were just 1.1 percent of the entire English Canadian market, with French language films taking 26 percent of the French Canadian market.
Here is a quote from Telefilm a couple years ago, and hopefully this mentality has changed:
"To put it simply, we are
generally not prepared to invest more than $1 million in a film if it does not stand a reasonable chance of making more than $1 million at the box office. If the film can credibly hit that hurdle, we will be prepared to invest anywhere between $1 to $2.5 million in the project (excluding LFP
money). If it cannot credibly anticipate that result, producers should refrain from asking Telefilm to invest more than $1 million (including LFP)."
Grim reading here
The time is ripe for a remake of Porky's! No, seriously... Think about it.
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