Message from Michel Roy

From financial lever to lever of success

For the past 44 years, Telefilm has been helping to strengthen the Canadian audiovisual industry’s ability to attain a world-class level of excellence in all areas of production. As a result, our country is home today to producers, directors, writers, actors, cinematographers and technicians who rank with the best in the world.

I have had the honour and privilege, for a fourth year, to chair a Board that has a firm grasp of the issues and challenges currently confronting the industry and that supports Telefilm’s senior management as the organization embarks on a major change of direction.

Our new corporate plan, which will guide us over the next four years, allows Telefilm to continue drawing on the experience it has gained in its key role as investor. The plan is also a result of the desire to change we instilled within the organization – a desire that guided all of our reflections.

The many consultation sessions we organized with industry stakeholders from coast to coast confirmed an essential notion: that the future of our audiovisual industry depends on stimulating Canadians’ demand for homegrown productions. Apart from addressing the promotional challenge this represents, we also need to fundamentally alter Canadians’ perceptions so that they are attuned to the value of our films, as well as to the essential role the audiovisual industry plays in our country’s economic and cultural development. We must work together to foster a true culture of success.

To achieve this, Telefilm will pursue its corporate vision through the four structural components of its new corporate plan:

1. maintain - indeed, strengthen - our role as an investor in high-quality productions, while modifying what we understand by performance—in other words, how we measure success—so that it encompasses not only commercial success as it applies to all distribution channels, but cultural success as well;
2. act as a catalyst to stimulate demand for multi-screen Canadian content and create a movement that aims to attract the public to home-grown productions;
3. become the point of reference for the industry by making strategic, leading-edge information available; and
4. simplify the funding access process while maintaining a best practices approach whereby “rigour” does not mean “rigidity.”

I would like to thank the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and departmental officials for their support of, and interest in the cause of Canada’s audiovisual industry.

I would like to thank the entire Telefilm team: my Board colleagues, who carry out their mandate with skill and dedication, ensuring that the organization has the tools and mechanisms it needs to operate as effectively and as efficiently as possible; Carolle Brabant, who has served as Executive Director for one year now and who has successfully assumed her leadership role; our senior management team, which oversees an effective management framework; and all our employees, for their commitment and for the close attention they pay to the needs of our clients.

I would also like to thank our partners and the industry representatives with whom we engage on a regular basis. Not only does your support enhance the work we do, but it is also an indispensable part of the unique cultural heritage we are building for all Canadians, which will benefit today’s generation as well as tomorrow’s.

Finally, hats off to the Canadian creators who distinguished themselves in 2010–2011 through works that truly made us proud, at home and abroad!

 

Michel Roy
Chair of the Board

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Message from Carolle Brabant

Telefilm embarks on a new direction

In March 2010, I enthusiastically agreed to lead Telefilm Canada, an organization that I know very well, given that I have been working here for more than 20 years. The mandate that was entrusted to me: to translate the Board’s vision into action and dare to change.

Supported by an equally enthusiastic team of managers and employees, we spent a good part of the year looking at our activities with a new eye. We consulted the industry, as well as the Telefilm team and our partners.

Of all the ideas that emerged from these consultations, one in particular held our attention: the idea of launching a movement in favour of Canadian content—a movement in favour of success.

This vision, laid out in our strategic plan, Fostering Cultural Success, is based on the conviction that our productions can move and attract the interest of audiences in Canada and elsewhere. Last year’s results offered convincing evidence of this.

Our productions honoured on the international stage

What a rewarding year for Canadian cinema! Two features alone, Incendies and Barney’s Version, took in a combined $25 million at the box office—and that was just a beginning. They also earned an impressive critical and popular success, racking up nominations during awards season. Incendies won eight Genie and nine Jutra awards, and was one of five features competing for the best foreign-language film Academy Award.

Barney’s Version, for its part, won the Leoncido d’Oro at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as the Audience Award at the San Sebastiàn International Film Festival. The film also won its star a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy and a Genie for best actor. In addition, Barney's Version received an Academy Award nomination for best makeup.

In all, Canadian feature films picked up 127 prizes around the world. From Xavier Dolan’s return to the Croisette at Cannes—where his second feature, Les amours imaginaires, was screened as part of the official selection Un Certain Regard - to the world premiere of director Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun at Sundance, Canadians were in the spotlight at several major international festivals.

Furthermore, Telefilm certified 57 new coproductions, generating a total of $213 million in foreign funding support for Canadian content. We held the ratio of program management costs steady at 6.2%, in accordance with our requirement to soundly manage the public funds with which we are entrusted.

The Canada Media Fund: a valued partner

We are proud to have ensured the transition of Canada Media Fund (CMF) programs and to have contributed to the launch of the CMF’s Experimental Stream. We renewed our services agreement with the CMF, at the same time marking the fifth anniversary of the partnership between our two organizations.

Getting closer to our clients

We changed our communications practices and enhanced our promotional activities, which resulted in greater media coverage of Canadian productions - all to the industry’s benefit. We also enhanced our visibility among our clients.

The launch of the Golden Box Office Award, given to English-language feature films, also helped put the spotlight on Canadian success stories. We also significantly increased our international presence by improving our microsites and conducting effective Google AdWords campaigns.

Partnerships with the public and private sectors allowed us to organize a series of screenings for parliamentarians of quality Canadian films. Under the honorary chairmanship of the Honourable James Moore, the screenings began with Gunless and continued with Incendies and Barney’s Version. These initiatives were enthusiastically received and helped make political decision-makers more aware of Canadian film successes.

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Major Telefilm initiatives under way

In 2011, Telefilm is embarking on a new corporate planning cycle. This is a decisive moment for us, as we are undertaking a major change in direction in order to foster cultural success.

Teams are already hard at work on three initiatives that will usher in significant changes that Telefilm and the industry deem to be important: the overhaul of our programs, the development of multi-screen promotional strategies for Canadian content and the introduction of new performance indicators. For Telefilm, these initiatives represent a stimulating challenge.

The industry can count on us!

Canada’s audiovisual industry has what it needs to take full advantage of the opportunities that will open up in the years ahead to exploit the value of its products. And while the challenges ahead are the industry’s own, it can count on Telefilm to help it meet them.

I would like to thank our Chair, Michel Roy, and the members of the Board for granting me their trust and support throughout the year. I would also like to thank Telefilm’s employees for their commitment and support. It is a pleasure as well as a privilege to work every day alongside such dedicated colleagues, who are passionate about film and, above all, determined to ensure that Canadian creators take their rightful place at home and around the world.

 

Carolle Brabant
Executive Director

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