This text is part of the special Cinema section
The Quebec film industry has a lot to offer. What are the specificities that allow it to shine in Canada and internationally? The Quebec Film and Television Bureau, the Cultural Business Development Corporation and Telefilm Canada paint a portrait of this perpetually expanding sector.
“Montreal’s strengths lie at the crossroads of creativity and innovation,” says Christine Maestracci, President and CEO of the Bureau du cinéma et de la Télévision du Québec (BCTQ), when asked what which makes the metropolis a staple of the international film industry. According to her, the city has an experienced workforce trained in all the trades of the seventh art. “Our champions are recognized and honored around the world. There are of course the scriptwriters, the directors and the producers, but we must not forget the directors of photography, the editors or even the make-up artists”, she says, citing as an example the artistic director and production designer Patrice Vermette, who has received numerous awards, including an Oscar for Dunes by Denis Villeneuve.
While the talent of local film artists and artisans regularly leads them to work on world-class productions, the reverse is also true. With its infrastructure and a unique ecosystem close to other sectors in which Québec is one of the leaders, such as video games or artificial intelligence, Montréal is thus a destination of choice for the post-production of certain projects. foreign audiovisuals. “Along with Los Angeles and London, Montreal is a major hub for visual effects and animation,” explains Christine Maestracci. For the past ten years, the visual effects sector has experienced average annual growth of nearly 33%.
“This ecosystem will continue to grow,” warns the president and CEO, who highlights historic growth in 2021 for the Quebec film industry in general. And to continue: “There were 21 foreign shoots in Montreal last year. Before, it was just movies, but now a third are TV series. For her, the arrival of series filming in Montreal ensures continuity with regard to potential future seasons.
For its part, local production is not to be outdone since “a lot of content is not only produced and consumed in Quebec, but also radiates internationally,” emphasizes Christine Maestracci. According to Johanne Larue, director general of cinema and television production at the Society for the Development of Cultural Enterprises (SODEC), the singularity of local cinema is palpable and allows it to be exported. “It’s mostly Quebec films that represent Canada at the Oscars, and it’s Quebec cinema that shines at Cannes,” she points out. We manage to shoot films with universal and engaging themes that are at the same time rooted in the particularities of Quebec society. »
What about diversity?
“The opportunities in the Quebec audiovisual sector being numerous, it is essential to ensure that they are fair and accessible to all,” however warns Cathy Wong, Vice-President of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Official Languages Divisions at Telefilm. Canada. “In recent years, a great deal of effort has been made to eliminate any form of obstacle and to improve access to our various programs for filmmakers from under-represented groups,” she explains. When the industry mobilizes in solidarity, we see that we can succeed collectively. In fact, Telefilm Canada has been seeing an increase in the number of women applying for its assistance programs for several years now.
And so that all diversities — cultural, gender, etc. — are represented in front of and behind the camera, the important thing is to invest in funding programs as well as in training, mentoring and international co-production opportunities in order to be present at all stages of creation of a movie, believes Cathy Wong.
Economic benefits of the cinema industry in Quebec
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