Valerie Creighton, President and CEO at CMF
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced an investment of $49.3M in the development and production of 112 Canadian audiovisual projects, through seven different CMF programs. “Despite ongoing market and pandemic-related disruptions, the CMF has made--and will continue to make—every effort necessary to ensure Canada’s storytellers take their stories and experiences to screens here at home and beyond our borders. We’re pleased to announce Q1 and Q2 investments of close to $50M in 112 projects through several of our programs, in both the Convergent and Experimental streams. This includes the support we’re providing through the inaugural round of the Pilot Program for Racialized Communities, which is an important step towards an equitable funding ecosystem in Canada,” said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO at CMF.
Pilot Program for Racialized Communities - Production
The program recognizes the historic barriers members of racialized communities face and is designed to support the growth of English- and French- language audiovisual production from companies owned and controlled by racialized people. The CMF will provide $10.4M in funding to support the production of 20 projects by racialized creators hailing from British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. A total of 13 projects are in English and seven in French.
Indigenous Program - Production
The CMF recognizes the unique circumstances of the Indigenous community and delivers specific funding to support the growth of Indigenous production in Canada. Through this round of funding, the CMF will deliver $7.7M in funding for 18 projects from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, and Quebec.
Innovation & Experimentation Program
Projects funded through the Experimental Stream’s Innovation & Experimentation Program are Canadian interactive or immersive digital media content and software applications that are innovative and leading-edge. A CMF investment of $7.4M through the first round of funding of this program will support 10 Canadian innovative digital media projects.
Commercial Projects Program
CMF will invest, in the first round of funding, over $6.5M in the production of seven digital media projects. The Commercial Projects Program funds interactive and immersive digital media projects that have a high probability of commercial success.
Prototyping Program
An investment of $4.1M will enable the development of 20 digital media prototypes, including games, rich interactive media, and software applications through the first round of funding of the Prototyping Program. The Prototyping Program allocates funding to projects at the early stages of building a product to demonstrate its intended functionalities and design.
Francophone Minority Program - Production
A total of 20 convergent projects will receive $7.5M in funding as part of the first round of production financing through the Francophone Minority Program. This program supports projects which reflect the realities of living in French-language communities outside Québec.
English POV Program
A total of 17 projects will receive $5.7M in funding through the English Point-of-View (POV) Program. The program is designed to encourage one-off, point-of-view documentary production in the English-language market.