Online Article: The Vancouver Sun

Indie films struggling with distribution
Canadian films generating great buzz, but distribution is the black hole of industry
August 05, 2006 by Marke Andrews

Source: The Vancouver Sun

The 11 films that make up this week's Western Canadian Indie Film Festival have a lot in common.

They were all made by relatively unknown Canadian directors. Almost all of them generated buzz, awards and positive reviews on the film festival circuit.

And most of them could not find a distributor who would put them in Canadian theatres.

In the case of Zacharia, actor and co-producer Colin Cunningham can't even find anyone who will put his film in a video store in the country.

Distribution is the black hole of the Canadian film industry. In order for a film to be successful, it helps to have a theatrical release. The more people who see the film, the better the chances of recouping production costs, because a successful run at home can lead to distribution in the more lucrative U.S., as well as in the so-called "secondary" markets where films make more money than in theatres: network, cable and pay television and, more important, home DVD and video.

Directors and producers often complain about the state of distribution in the country, but to be fair, distribution is a business, not a public service. Because only five per cent of Canadian moviegoers attend Canadian films (outside of Quebec, that number is closer to one per cent; the national percentage is skewed upwards because of the enormous support Quebecers pay to French-language Quebec films), there isn't a lot of money to be made on domestic movies. The list of Canadian films that have turned a profit, such as The Red Violin, is a short one. The Delicate Art of Parking, a mock documentary from Vancouver's Anagram Pictures, was a film festival hit, enjoyed a 13-week commercial run in Vancouver and also played Ontario. Yet Parking failed to make back its minuscule $1.3-million production budget, and its Montreal-based Canadian distributor, Cinema Libre, folded a few weeks before the film came out on DVD.

John Bain, senior vice-president of Maple Pictures, says it's difficult to make money theatrically on any movie, Canadian or otherwise.

"Ninety-five films out of 100, whether they're American, Canadian or international, you lose money theatrically," says Bain.

"On many Canadian films, even if they appear to have been unsuccessful theatrically, you can make money on the video and even more importantly, on the television sales," says Bain. "The difference between profit and loss on a Canadian film is the [TV] broadcast."

Maybe so, but Cunningham still scratches his head over his situation.

The Vancouver actor, who has appeared on series The X-Files, Big Sound, Stargate SG-1 and The Collector, wrote, co-produced and starred in the road comedy Zacharia Farted (since shortened to Zacharia). The film got great reviews on the festival circuit and was voted most popular Canadian film at the 1999 Vancouver International Film Festival (one of three audience-favourite awards the film won). It played an American Film Institute double bill with Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful at the world-famous Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles (now called Grauman's Chinese Theater).

The buzz was so great that both Miramax and Sony Classics were interested in the film, and Cunningham and co-producer Madison Graie put it in the hands of a major U.S. agent.

"This guy did absolutely nothing," Cunningham says. "He kept us at bay, and it was months before we finally let him go. By then, it was six months down the road, and all this heat that we had for the film was gone."

The lack of theatrical distribution affected other things as well. The film has yet to find a distributor for home video and DVD. Most recently, Cunningham met with a national video chain, which will not return his followup telephone calls and e-mails.

"We've won these awards, we've had credible reviews, and everywhere I go people are always asking where they can see the film," said Cunningham from the set of Saved, on which he has a role. "We just can't find a friggin' home for it."

Terrance Odette's Heater suffered a similar fate. The 1999 low-budget drama about two homeless men in Winnipeg took off after good reviews and word-of-mouth in Vancouver, and was accepted into the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Odette had a solid offer from a Canadian distributor, but wanted to wait until the Sundance screening to sign any deal. He didn't get a distribution offer south of the border, after which the Canadian distributor backed off.

The film did, however, land a limited DVD-video distribution deal in the U.S., but never found a distributor in Canada.

"Canadian distributors are mostly cherry-pickers," says Odette, from his home office in Hamilton, Ont. "You can tell the difference between Canadian and U.S. DVDs. Canadian DVDs don't have the extras, it's not 16-by-9 enhanced [the proper aspect ratio for widescreen projection], they won't use the 5.1 sound [the standard system for surround sound].

"And television and DVD in Canada is your market," says Odette, whose second film, Saint Monica, got theatrical and DVD distribution in Canada. "Theatrical is a waste of money, a very expensive loss leader [for the other markets]."

When it comes to DVD distribution, Odette hopes the film industry can follow the example of the music industry, where independent bands have found a niche market for their CDs.

Vancouver writer-director Scott Smith's Rollercoaster, a 1999 drama about teen suicide, followed a similar blueprint. It got festival awards and good reviews, but could not land a Canadian distributor. Smith ended up doing the job himself.

"Many of the distributors were not optimistic about finding a market for the movie," says Smith. "But I never got into negotiations with any of them once I figured out they were going to take the money for the [television broadcast] licences."

Smith's film got short runs at theatres in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon. He also got limited distribution in the U.S., where it's easier to find a video or DVD of the film than in Canada.

Smith doesn't indict Canadian distributors, recognizing that "there's little incentive for distributors to take films other than for the broadcast licenses."

Despite his frustrating ordeal, Cunningham doesn't regret the experience.

"Zacharia was a massive springboard for all of us involved with it," says Cunningham. Both Cunningham and Graie have been busy with acting roles and have produced a dozen country-music videos, Benjamin Ratner is one of the most in-demand Vancouver actors on the scene, and director Michael Rohl is currently making a series with American mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

"If I die tomorrow, I'd rather leave the film behind than a one-bedroom apartment," says Cunningham.

Zacharia, Heater and Rollercoaster are among the 11 movies in the Western Canadian Indie Film Festival, which runs to Aug. 10 at the Vancity Theatre.