Since becoming Canada's first private film fund 25 years ago, Astral's Harold Greenberg Fund has continued to introduce ground-breaking opportunities for filmmakers across the country. In keeping with tradition, the Fund announces today the launch of a new Marketing Program designed to promote the most internationally successful Canadian projects. Throughout the next few months, the Fund will also be announcing 13 other exciting initiatives supported by the Industry Initiatives Program.
For its inaugural year, the Marketing Program will focus on Canadian feature film projects that have made it into major international film festivals. These projects may or may not have the support of a Canadian distributor for their domestic release, but must lack the support of a foreign sales agent. Filmmakers will be free to think outside the box and present the Fund with any type of marketing initiative, providing their goals and strategy to execute the project are clear. The Fund will provide up to $10,000 per selected project, but will allow the applicant to include other financing sources in their budget. The Fund plans to support three projects this year, with hopes to expand the program in the future to include an earlier phase for projects in production and a later phase to promote projects leading up to and during their release.
The Fund hopes that the support will enable filmmakers to maximize the unique sales opportunity that a major festival presents. They also hope to foster creative marketing skills amongst the filmmaking community and to promote Canadian projects to filmgoers and distributors, nationally and abroad.
"Often, we hear great stories about filmmakers who make it into major film festivals and, with little time and money, find incredibly creative ways to generate a lot of hype for their projects with filmgoers and distributors alike," says the Fund's English-Language Program President John Galway. "That is the kind of innovative spirit we want to support, and we want to share these stories which prove that, with creativity and resourcefulness, it is possible to make a big impact on a limited budget."
The Fund has been a long standing supporter of project development and promotional initiatives across the country, investing $200,000 each year through its Industry Initiatives Program. Funded by The Movie Network and Viewer's Choice, this program is reviewed annually by the English-Language Committee, including Suzette Couture, Damon D'Oliveira, Melanie Friesen, John Galway, Bryn Matthews, Jane Tattersall and Kevin Wright.