Four months after Les Films Sevilla had practically put an end to their activities in Quebec overnight, the former director of the company regained control in part of the important catalog of Quebec films. Patrick Roy’s new company, Immina Films, will therefore ensure the “sub-distribution” of films from Seville in Quebec, without going so far as to buy them back. This is enough to reassure the film industry, who feared that the Americans would get their hands on the rights to the main successful Quebec films.
This is because Les Films Seville has belonged since 2007 to the Toronto-based company Entertainment One, which was in turn acquired by the American giant Hasbro in 2019. Thus, by announcing the end of its distribution activities in Quebec and the dismissal of ost of the employees at its Montreal office, Les Films Sevilla, sparked a wave of panic in the local film industry last June. Many saw with a dim view that the Americans of Hasbro inherit the task of promoting films like Fires, Mummy, The great seduction or Good Cop, Bad Cop.
However, Quebec law specifies that films must be distributed by a Quebec company. “Seville continues to exist, there are still employees in Montreal. The company remains Quebec and therefore complies with Quebec rules on distributors. It could very well have continued to ensure the distribution of American films, but it preferred to trust us”, rejoices Patrick Roy, who left Les Films Sevilla and Entertainment One in June, before announcing two months later that he started his own distribution company.
The new company, which will be called Immina Films, has reached an exclusive agreement with Entertainment One in order to exploit in Quebec the foreign films which are still the property of Seville. As for the Quebec catalog, Immina Films will have the task of ensuring “sub-distribution” throughout Canada. At the end of August, it was clarified in the press that Patrick Roy’s new company had only undertaken to take on future contracts for Seville Films, such as the theatrical release of the film December 23, by Myriam Bouchard.
Public aid
The Association of Independent Film Distributors of Quebec (RDIFQ) is delighted that Patrick Roy has finally reached an agreement for the entire Seville Films catalog. “With the departure of Patrick Roy from Seville, we did not see how this company was still from Quebec. It was feared that she would manage to evade the law. […] This agreement therefore solves the problem in the short term, but it is not certain that in 5-10 years, Seville will not be bought by the Chinese and that everything will have to start again, ”tempers the president of the RDIFQ, Chantale Pagé.
Following a meeting a few weeks ago with representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Mme Pagé is now convinced of the validity of the public assistance granted to Patrick Roy so that he can set up his new company. She had however issued serious reservations at the end of August. In addition to a helping hand from SODEC, the distributor was able to count on a financial contribution in the form of preferred shares of $1.25 million from Investissement Québec, which also agreed to a loan of 1.5 million.
This agreement therefore solves the problem in the short term, but it is not certain that in 5-10 years, Seville will not be bought by the Chinese and that everything will have to start again.
Questioned again on this subject on Monday, Patrick Roy sharply denied having orchestrated the end of Seville Films to create his own company and benefit from public aid. “It was not me who made the decision to end the distribution side at Sevilla. It was a decision I had to live with. I could have gone to do something else, I could have gone to work for another distributor, but I chose to set up my own company, not knowing if I was going to be able to do it, ”explains the manager of Immina Films .
Immina Films will look like Seville Films before this summer. Not only will the new entity administer the same catalog, but several Seville alumni will also work there. Patrick Roy indeed let it be known on Monday that he will be surrounded by Marie-Hélène Lamarche, Xavier Trudel and Nancy Giroux, all previously from Seville Films.