Village Gamer

Telefilm Canada has announced that it is supporting the production of five feature films, two in English and three in French, through the Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF). A total of $3.7 million in funding is being invested in the selected projects for the second quarter of 2013-2014. Please note that on September 19, 2013, Telefilm announced $12 million in funding support for nine feature-film projects for the first quarter of 2013-2014, and in an industry advisory on January 6, 2014, Telefilm announced $4 million in financing for 18 lower-budget feature-film projects.

“Comedies, dramatic comedies for the entire family, dramas, period dramas, thrillers—this is a diverse line-up of films aimed at a variety of audiences,” said Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director, Carolle Brabant. “In addition to the latest offering from the internationally renowned Xavier Dolan, there are new projects by Mathieu Denis (Code 13, co-director of Laurentie), a talented young filmmaker; by Warren Sonoda (Ham & Cheese, Unrivaled), a prolific feature, music video and commercial director; by Jean Beaudry (Les Matins infidèles, Le Cri de la nuit), an award-winning filmmaker; and by Peter Howitt, who helmed such films as Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson, and Laws of Attraction, starring Julianne Moore.”

Atlantic Region

Swearnet
Genre: comedy
Director: Warren Sonoda
Writers: Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells
Production: Swearnet Inc., The Pits Inc.
Distribution: Entertainment One Films Canada
Confirmed actors: Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Tom Green, Carrot Top

In the wake of losing a coveted TV network deal, the actors who play the Trailer Park Boys find themselves out of a job and stage an all-in comeback by launching “Swearnet”, a balls-out, offensively extreme Internet channel that is complicated by their post-fame lives, at-odds relationships and trademark hilarious hedonism.

Release date: August 2014

Quebec Region

Mommy
Genre: drama
Writer-director: Xavier Dolan
Production: Métafilms, Xavier Dolan
Distribution: Alliance Vivafilm
Confirmed actors: Anne Dorval, Suzanne Clément, Antoine Olivier Pilon

A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbour, a woman, inserts herself into the mother and son’s household, providing the mother with needed support.

Film currently in production.

Corbo
Genre: period drama
Writer-director: Mathieu Denis
Production: Max Films Media Inc.
Distribution: Équinoxe Films
Confirmed actors: Anthony Therrien, Antoine L’Écuyer, Karelle Tremblay, Tony Nardi, Marie Brassard, Jean-François Pronovost, Dino Tavarone, Francis Ducharme

Release date: Fall 2014

Montreal, spring 1966. In a Quebec undergoing profound change, 16-year-old Jean Corbo, an idealistic teen with a Quebecoise mother and a father of Italian origin, is torn between his two cultures. After making friends with Julie and François, two radical-left activists, he joins an underground group determined to spark a socialist revolution in the province. The group is the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). From that moment on, Jean begins moving inexorably toward his destiny.

La Gang des hors-la-loi
Genre: family comedy-drama
Director: Jean Beaudry
Writer: André Melançon
Production: Les Productions La Fête (Gang) inc.
Distribution: Films 2.0 and K-Films Amérique
Confirmed actors: André Kasper, Guy Thauvette, Charles Gillespie, Marie-Jo Thério

The film tells the story of 12-year-old Nicolas, who has to use every trick he can to reclaim the village baseball field that the mayor wants to turn into a municipal dump. Nicolas also wants to re-establish his relationship with his grandfather, Jérémie, who started drinking after the death of his son, Nicolas’s father. Despite the obstacles he faces, Nicolas succeeds in rallying the local kids and young tourists and forming a happy and motley “gang of outlaws.”

Release date: Summer 2014

Western Region

Reasonable Doubt
Genre: thriller
Majority Canadian coproduction with Germany
Director: Peter Howitt
Writer: Peter A. Dowling
Production: Reasonable Doubt Productions BC Inc.
Distribution: Entertainment One Films Canada
Confirmed actors: Samuel L. Jackson and Dominic Cooper

After a fatal hit and run, up and coming assistant D.A. Mitch Brody must prosecute a man for the crime he committed. Mitch does his best to throw the case, and is successful when some inconclusive evidence arises. Following the trial, Mitch quickly realizes that he may not have been responsible for the accident and finds himself struggling to hunt the man he got acquitted.

Release date: Early 2014