Canadian Cinematographer April 2013 Vol. 5, No.1 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan Hutton csc EDITOR EMERITUS Donald Angus EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Susan Saranchuk admin@csc.ca EDITOR
From The PRESIDENT Joan Hutton csc
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2 • Canadian Cinematographer - April 2013
T
he 56th CSC Annual Awards Gala has come and gone with a bang. It was a tremendous evening with over 300 people in attendance. I would like to congratulate all the winners for their outstanding achievement. It is an honour well deserved for work that exemplifies excellence in cinematography. The winner’s names can be viewed at the CSC website, csc.ca. A full account of the gala will be published in the May issue of Canadian Cinematographer. There is a new specialty television channel being floated, which could be a much-needed cultural shot in the arm for Canada. A CRTC application has been filed for Starlight, a channel devoted entirely to Canadian content, with a major emphasis on theatrical release features. The channel will also show Canadian made made-for-TV movies, documentaries and TV series. Canadian features have become somewhat the orphans of our industry. They’re produced, but are mostly unnoticed by Canadians in general. Often, they have short theatre runs and then they’re gone. It’s not because we make bad movies, but quite the contrary. The production muscle backing Starlight attests to that. All are esteemed filmmakers, internationally recognized artists with armfuls of awards. Its list of backers reads like a who’s who of Canadian filmdom; Robert Lantos, David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Denys Arcand, Paul Gross, Patricia Rozema, Denis Villeneuve and Niv Fichman to name a few. The channel will be run by Norm Bolen, former Alliance Atlantis content VP. Canadian broadcasters, at one time, included Canadian features in their schedules as part of their Canadian content obligations, but, that seems to have fallen by the wayside, with them opting for the American series format. Even when they did show Canadian features, it was spotty at best. This is not a complaint because our industry has done exceedingly well in the made-for-television department. It’s just not so good for Canadian made features. A channel such as Starlight is a terrific idea and long overdue on our television landscape. It provides new life for our features and the chance for Canadian viewers to be touched by Canadian culture. In its proposal, Starlight is asking that the channel be included on basic cable to guarantee its revenue stream. The channel would add about $10 yearly to subscriber’s bills, a small price for defining Canadian identity. Significantly, Starlight will plow $23 million of its revenue back into our industry to produce 10 to 12 movies a year.
Starlight’s proposal is scheduled to be heard by the CRTC on the 23rd of this month. I do hope the CRTC sees the importance and value of Starlight because this is a triple win situation, for our film & television industry, for our culture and for Canadian viewers.
