MONTREAL — Telefilm Canada announced today it has invested more than $2.5 million in 143 projects from 93 companies through the inaugural round of funding for its Development Stream for Racialized Persons.
Funding for the new racialized development stream was originally budgeted at $500,000 for the fiscal year, says the organization’s press release.
“The high submission of projects to this new stream demonstrates the need for targeted access to funding for racialized communities,” said Christa Dickenson, executive director and CEO of Telefilm Canada, in the release. “Support in development is a key step in helping projects gain momentum, so an increased level of funding this year will assist many racialized filmmakers at all career levels further their films.”
Telefilm provided a breakdown of the program data by key roles held by the filmmakers leading the projects. Of the 143 projects funded, screenwriters self-identified as Black for 51 of the projects, and as a person of colour for 91 projects. Similarly, producers identified as Black for 51 projects and as people of colour for 90 projects. The option to self-identify was voluntary.
Breaking down the data even further, 26 screenwriters identified themselves as Black men, 56 as men of colour, 23 as Black women and 31 as women of colour. Twenty-six producers self-identified as Black men, 46 as men of colour, 24 as Black women, 39 as women of colour, and five as gender diverse people of colour. Data was collected for additional categories, but for privacy reasons, Telefilm is not reporting numbers for a response rate of less than five.
“Ongoing data collection is essential as it allows Telefilm to see areas that need more attention, and how we can go further to create better support and access for those creators,” said Kathleen Beaugé, co-chair of Telefilm’s equity and representation action committee. “Furthering Telefilm’s data collection to allow us to get more detailed insights to address the needs of current and future film creators.”
Telefilm also said in its press release, to support an industry largely on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it made a one-time redirect of funds to support all eligible projects submitted to its Development Program. The total funding for Telefilm’s Development Program in the 2020-2021 fiscal year totalled more than $11.65 million, says the release.
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