The Quebecor Fund board of directors last week announced a total of $635,000 in funding has been awarded to three projects in the latest round of its Film Production Assistance Program.
The funds will be shared by the following Canadian film producers and distributors: Item 7 Inc., Max Films Inc., Lamalga Films Inc. (Amalga Créations Médias Inc. and Les films du Lac Inc.), Les Films Opale Inc., Studios h264 Inc. and Immina Films.
Production company Item 7 and distributor Les Films Opale are receiving funding for Le sablier, which is based on the true story of Édith Blais and Luca Tacchetto and follows two young travelers “whose journey from Spain to Togo takes a nightmarish turn when they are abducted by jihadist forces and held in the Malian desert”, reads a description in a Quebecor Fund press release. This film is adapted and directed by Kim Nguyen.
Producer Max Films and distributors Les Films Opale and Studios h264 have been awarded funding for their project, La portraitiste. Set in Montreal in 1962, the film follows Françoise, trapped in a stifling marriage and working as a police station receptionist, whose talent as a sketch artist and gift for telepathy lead to her being drawn into a chilling investigation that uncovers family secrets echoing her own past.
Producer Lamalga Films and distributor Immina Films are to receive funding for Maudits Français, which follows Ambre, a self-conscious Frenchwoman who flees her uptight family to study photography in Montreal, where she falls for Thomas, “a Quebecer who is fascinated by France and allergic to maple syrup”. When her visa expires, Ambre must return to France, but the couple are unwilling to separate and decide to get married. “Their clashing families meet in France to celebrate a marriage with one language but not always the same words, two cultures and many friction points” — raising the question: will the couple survive their nuptials?
Since it was launched in September 2010, the Film Production Assistance Program has granted 120 projects a total of nearly $20.5 million, including nearly $19.5 million for 106 film projects and more than $1 million for 14 event projects, according to Quebecor Fund’s press release.
Quebecor Fund also announced last week it is investing $400,000 and the Canada Media Fund (CMF) is contributing $500,000 toward the business models of three companies under the Export Assistance Program (EXAP), which supports the development of audiovisual content for non-Quebec and international markets as well as marketing efforts. The three companies who will share the $900,000 in funding are Duo Productions Inc., PVP Distribution Inc. and La Fête Content & Concept Inc.
Since its inception in March 2014, Quebecor Fund has invested more than $14 million in 71 export business models with 39 partner companies, while the CMF, which joined Quebecor Fund in supporting the EXAP in 2017, has invested nearly $6.4 million, according to the press release.
In addition, since June 2020, Quebecor Fund has granted specific funding to promote women’s shareholding in the partner companies that receive EXAP support. In this round, Les Productions La Fête Inc. will receive an $80,000 grant to support the transfer of shares to key female personnel. To date, total financing of $800,000 has been extended under this component to seven companies and 20 new shareholders, Quebecor Fund said.
The application submission deadline for the next round of Quebecor Fund’s Film Production Assistance Program is May 19.
Quebecor Fund is also currently accepting funding applications for its Television Production Assistance Program until April 1.
