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Letter to Louis L Roquet, Chair, Canada Media Fund

October 25, 2010

Mr Louis L Roquet
Chair
Canada Media Fund
50 Wellington Street East, 4th floor
Toronto (ON) M5E 1C8

Dear Mr Roquet,

As the Guidelines for 2011-2012 are being decided, the Documentary Network would like to share with you the concerns of its member organizations with regard to the situation of one-off documentary film and, in particular, that of auteur or point-of-view documentary in the francophone market.

The Documentary Network believes that measures specifically designed to protect one-off documentary, and auteur documentary in particular, are needed: the latter is especially vulnerable in the current climate despite continued audience success (on television, in theatres, and on new media platforms) and the willingness of numerous broadcasters to program a genre whose cultural significance is universally acknowledged.

The Documentary Network, founded in 2003, brings together the country’s leading professional audiovisual organizations as well as institutions, broadcasters and distributors involved in documentary film in both anglophone and francophone markets across Canada.

In their recommendations to the CMF, the members of the Documentary Network have proposed specific measures designed to protect one-off documentary film and to ensure its continued growth.

Documentary Network members hope that these measures will meet the following objectives:

• Guarantee the current level of the documentary envelope.
• Ensure that the weight assigned to the audience factor has no negative impact on the performance evaluation of one-off documentaries, which by definition are less likely than series of all genres to reach comparable one-year audience numbers.
• Facilitate the funding of francophone auteur documentary since a critical mass of these films is a condition necessary to the emergence of high-quality films and plays an essential role for the next generation of filmmakers.
• Make optional the digital component of one-off documentary and auteur documentary: that requirement creates problems in some cases related to the relevance and ethics of some content; on the financial side, it leaves film projects open to problems securing additional funding, which could threaten the genre itself.
• Support distribution of documentary films on new platforms in order to reach Canadian and international viewers and to prevent their illegal distribution.

We thank you in advance for your attention to this letter and remain at your service for any further information you may need.

Sincerely yours,

— Nathalie Barton, Chair

Signed by the following Documentary Network members:

• Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada (APFC)
• Association québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son (AQTIS)
• Association des producteurs de film et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ)
• Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ)
• Astral Media, Canal D/ Chaînes ASTRAL
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) / Société Radio-Canada (SRC)
• Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) / Guilde canadienne des réalisateurs (GCR)
• Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) / Documentaristes du Canada (DOC)
• Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) / Alliance des arts médiatiques indépendants (AAMI)
• Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
• Société des Auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC)
• Télé-Québec (TQ)
• Vidéographe