TORONTO – On day one of the Toronto International Film Festival, Rogers Group of Funds announced today that it will partner with CBC and Telefilm Canada in their Feature-Length Theatrical Documentary Program, bringing the budget for the program up to $1,250,000.
The Rogers Group of Funds will contribute $125,000 to each project in the form of recoupable equity.
"Rogers has been a significant contributor to Canadian documentary production for more than 20 years. Supporting this important initiative is a logical fit for us. Rogers, Telefilm and CBC together make a great partnership," said Phil Lind, Vice Chairman, Rogers Communications, in a release.
The Feature-Length Theatrical Documentary Program is a one-year pilot program intended to bring promising feature-length English-language documentaries to audiences with a particular eye on cinemagoers in Canada.
CBC Television, Rogers Group of Funds and Telefilm Canada have partnered to provide production funds which will allow for two feature-length documentary projects to be financed.
Successful filmmakers will be awarded $625,000 towards the financing of their theatrical documentary. Telefilm will make a recoupable equity investment of $250,000 in each production. CBC’s contribution will be a $250,000 licence fee for which they will receive the right to the Canadian television premiere of each film following its commercial theatrical release.
Rogers Group of Funds will provide a recoupable equity investment of $125,000 to each production.
www.telefilm.gc.ca/theatrical-documentary
www.cbc.ca/independentproducers
www.rogers.com/english/aboutrogers/communitysupport/index.html
The deadline for submitting production proposals is November 1, 2005. All submissions are to be made to Telefilm Canada.
The Rogers group of funds offers support to Canadian independent producers with three different types of funding: Rogers Telefund offers loans to Canadian independent producers; Rogers Documentary Fund, Canada’s premier source of funding for documentary films and Rogers Cable Network Fund, an equity investor in Canadian programs with a first window on a Canadian cable channel.
