People here love their cinema. They are proud of it. We are proud of it. Cinema makes Quebec shine all over the world. However, Quebec cinema is in danger. We are artisans working in this industry and we are worried because there is danger at hand. On the eve of the Gala Québec Cinéma, it would be time for festivities, but the current situation forces us to raise a red flag for the future. We have to react. Productions for the next few years are compromised, due to decisions taken by the federal government of Justin Trudeau.
During the 2019 election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada promised to permanently increase Telefilm Canada’s budget by $50 million annually and to ensure that the organization increases the proportion of its funding devoted to production French language at 40% of its envelope rather than 33%. Following the 2021 federal election, the government increased its contribution to Telefilm over three years, from $20 million, to $35 million and to $50 million in 2023-2024.
This sum of $50 million should have been confirmed and made permanent in the federal budget last March or during the fall 2023 economic statement. This was not the case. We call on the government to make this announcement immediately.
Failure to do so will have deleterious effects on the film industry by depriving Telefilm Canada of the funds necessary to ensure the productions planned for the coming months. All the signatories of this letter wish to highlight the catastrophic impacts that the postponement of the sustainability of Telefilm Canada’s budget will have.
Clearly, Telefilm Canada will lose 40% of its budget allocated to production and dozens of projects awaiting financing will be canceled. This will jeopardize the jobs of thousands of people who depend on it. And it is also the public who will pay the price: there will be fewer Quebec films on our screens.
The film production industry is a major economic engine for Quebec. In 2021 and 2022, Quebec independent production represented approximately 37% of the total value of production volume, or a little over a billion dollars, providing the equivalent of nearly 23,000 direct and derived full-time jobs.
The update of Telefilm Canada’s budget by the addition of $50 million allowed an industry already very affected by the COVID-19 crisis to resume a more normal pace of production. This investment has paid off as demonstrated by the many recent successes in theaters. Since the start of 2023, four Quebec feature films have crossed the million and a half dollar mark in box office receipts, i.e. The time of a summer (Attraction, distributed by Immina Films), as well as Katak the brave beluga (10e Ave Productions, distributed by Maison 4: 3), Will, latest opus by Denys Arcand (Cinémaginaire, distributed by TVA Films) and My mother’s men (Jessie Films, distributed by Immina Films). Simple like Sylvain (Metafilms, distributed by Immina Films) also exceeds one million dollars in revenue, bringing to five the number of films having collected at least one million dollars in theatrical receipts, a performance that we have not seen since 2011.
Quebecers love their cinema. Since the pandemic, many people have seen films made by people here. We want to continue to offer them strong and meaningful works. But to do this, we must have a government that believes in its culture and funds it adequately.
This is why we, the signatories working within this industry, demand with one voice that the Government of Canada confirm, immediately and without delay, the lasting increase in Telefilm Canada’s budget of $50 million per year. , accompanied by the obligation to devote 40% of its total budget to French-speaking production.
If this is not done, and urgently, Quebec cinema will be in danger for the coming years. We deserve better.
Co-signatories
Roger Frappier, Denise Robert, Nicole Robert, Luc Déry, Christian Larouche, Denis Villeneuve, Denys Arcand, Patrick Roy, Patrick Huard, Claude Veillet, Richard Goudreau, Hélène Messier, Kim Nguyen, Luc Picard, Kim McCraw, Émile Gaudreault, Philippe Falardeau , Rémy Girard, Antonnello Cozzolino, François Arnaud, Olivier D. Asselin, Robin Aubert, Paul-E. Audet, Alexandre Auger, François Avard, Justine Baillargeon, Joe Balass, Manon Barbeau, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Rudy Barichello, Fabrice Barrilliet, Pascal Bascaron, Marilyn Bastien, Marie-Claude Beauchamps, Jean-Sébastien Beaudoin Gagnon, Charlotte Beaudoin-Poisson, Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne, Christine Beaulieu, Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr, François Bégin, Anaëlle Béglet, Louis Bélanger, Yves Bélanger, Sylvain Bellemare, Patricia Bergeron, Maxime Bernard, Pierre-Yves Bernard, Antoine Bertrand, Irène Bessone, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Charles Binamé , Marc Biron, Nadine Bismuth, Annie Blais, Annick Blanc, Caroline Bodson, Sonia Boileau, Catherine Boily, Céline Bonnier, Maude Bouchard, Michel-Marc Bouchard, Éric K. Boulianne, François Bouvier, Jason Brennan, Judith Brès, Manon Briand, Evelyne Brochu, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, Geneviève Brouillette, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Jorge Camarotti, Eric Canuel, Marilyn Castonguay, Catherine Chabot, Jean-François Chagnon, Estelle Champoux, Gabrielle Chapdelaine, Lyne Charlebois, Patricia Chica, Aisling Chin-Yee, Monia Chokri, Tania Choueiri, Raymond Cloutier, Nicolas Comeau, Sandra Coppola, Sylvain Corbeil, Denis Côté, Guillaume Cyr, Marie-Michèle Cyr, Valérie D’Auteuil, Marc Daigle, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Jacques Davidts, Marie Davignon, Guillaume de Fontenay, François Delisle GianLucca Della Montagna, Stéphanie Demers, Fanie Demeule, Mathieu Denis, Sophie Deraspe, Johannie Deschambault, Ariane Deschênes, Josée Deschênes, India Desjardins, Sonia Despars, Alain DesRochers, Josée Desrosiers, Caroline Dhavernas, Sébastien Diaz, Alexandre Domingue, Anne Dorval, Fany Drew, Louis-Philippe Drolet, Tristan Dubois, Nicolas Dufour-Laperrière, Félix Dufour-Paperrière, Rémi Dufresne, Geneviève Dulude-De Celles, Christine-Dallaire Dupont, Yanie Dupont-Hébert, Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre, Dominique Dussault, Jean-Philippe Duval, Guy Édoin, Anne Émond, Yan England, Bahija Essoussi, Raphaël Ettore, Christine Falco, Sophie Farkas Bolla, Marianne Farley, Martin Forget, Yves-Christian Fournier, Félize Frappier, Emanuel Fréchette, Rocio B. Fuentes, Sébastien Gagné, Stéphanie Gagné, Samuel Gagnon, Steve Galluccio, Jeannette Garcia, Juliette Gariepy, Jean-Pierre Gariépy, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Anne-Marie Gélinas, Emmanuelle Gilbert, François Girard, Maxime Giroux, Yan Giroux, Geneviève Gosselin-G ., Benoît Gouin, Maria Gracia Turgeon, Nancy Grant, Rachel Graton, Julie Groleau, Daniel Grou (Podz), Sylvain Guy, Étienne Hansez, Élaine Hébert, Geneviève Hébert, Martin Henri, Julie Hivon, Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais, Léonie Hurtubise, Eric Idriss-Kanago, François Jaros, Anik Jean, Mara Joly, Florence Julien-Gagnier, Olivier Kemeid, Cynthia Knight, Debra Kouri, Léane Labrèche-Dor, Robert Lacerte, Stéphane Lafleur, Patrice Laliberté, Guillaume Lambert, Jean-Christophe Lamontagne, Micheline Lanctôt, Ève Landry, Michel Langlois, Yan Lanouette-Turgeon, Stéphane Lapointe, Stéphanie Lapointe, Marie-Eve Larivière, Martin Laroche, Maryse Latendresse, Kelyna N Lauzier, Isabelle Lavigne, Geneviève Lavoie, Simon Lavoie, Khoa Lê, Maxime Le Flaguais , Jeanne Leblanc, Francis Leclerc, Lyne Legault, Catherine Léger, Jean-François Léger, Nicola Lemay, Martin Léon, Guy A Lepage, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Camille Lequenne, Philippe Lesage, Guillaume Lspérance, Marie-Evelyne Lessard, Yanick Létourneau, Marika Lhoumeau, Guillaume Lonergan, Kaven Mac Donald, Anik Magny, Fanny-Laure Malo, Sarah Mannering, Tobie Marier Robitaille, Galilé Marion-Gauvin, Guilayne Maroist, Mylène McKay, Andreas Mendritzki, Marc Messier, Charles-Olivier Michaud, Sara Mishara, Louis Morissette, Stéphanie Morissette, Stéphane Moukarzel, Béatrice Moukhaiber, Daniela Mujica, Serge Noël, Giacomo Nudi, Julie O’Bomsawin, Rafaël Ouellet, Hany Ouichou, Chantale Pagé, Stéphanie Pagès, Nicolas Paquet, Louis-Martin Paradis, Clodie Parent, Kevin Parent, Eric Parenteau, Bernadette Payeur, Fred Pellerin, Frédérick Pelletier, Guy Pelletier, François Pelloquin, Marie-Chantal Perron, Ginette Petit, Henri Picard, David Pierrat, Carmine Pierre-Dufour, Sébastien Pilote, Natalie Plante, Ronald Plante, Elodie Pollet , Léa Pool, Jeanne-Marie Poulain, Marie-Claude Poulin, Jean-François Pouliot, Brigitte Poupart, Sébastien Poussard, Johanne Prégent, Danielle Proulx, Luc Raymond, Patrick Raymond, Maxime René de Cotret, Sophie Ricard-Harvey, René Richard Cyr , Tim Ringuette, Marc-Antoine Rioux, Chloé Robichaud, Lucie Robitaille, Patrice Robitaille, Sébastien Rose, Julie Roy, Lise Roy, Annie Saint-Pierre, Line Sander Egede, Nancy Florence Savard, Geneviève Schmidt, Patrick Senécal, Barbara Shrier, Marc Simpson-Threlford, Neegan Sioui-Trudel, Anne Sirois, Michael Solomon, Martin Talbor, Martin Talbot, Yann Tanguay, Christine Tannous, Abeille Tard, Éric Tessier, Catherine Therrien, Yvann Thibodeau, Kim Thuy, Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette, Ziad Touma, Catherine-Anne Toupin, Charles Tremblay, François Tremblay, Ricardo Trogi, Camille Trudel, André Turpin, David Uloth, Sylvie Van Brabant, Guillaume Vasseur, Lucie Veillet, Patrice Vermette, Myriam Verreault, Marie Vien, Guillaume Vigneault, Véronique Vigneault, Pierre Villepelet , Kristina Wagenbauer, Laurence Wells and Mariloup Wolfe.