1. The Necessities of Life (aka Ce qu’il faut pour vivre), an impressive film about an Inuit hunter who is sent to a sanitorium in Quebec City to be treated for tuberculosis in the 1950s, is one of nine films that have made the short list for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The film, which has dialogue in French and Inuktitut, was recently picked up by IFC for distribution in the United States, and it may get released across Canada some time next month. Lead actor Natar Ungalaaq also recently picked up a Best Actor prize from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, of which I am a member. We will find out on Thursday whether this film makes the cut as one of the final five nominees for the Oscar. — Associated Press, Globe and Mail, Canadian Press
2. A record number of Canadian films — ten, to be precise, and that’s not counting co-productions — are playing at this year’s Sundance and Slamdance festivals in Utah. — Globe and Mail
3. Stephanie Azam, who became the head of the English-language feature film division at Telefilm Canada a few months ago, is “hell-bent on shaking up English Canada’s moribund film sector, which currently accounts for less than 1 per cent of total Canadian box office, excluding Quebec.” She wants that figure to rise to between 1.5 and 2 per cent within 18 months. She also expects English-Canadian films to have grossed about $9.5 million by the end of the current fiscal year — nearly half of that due to Paul Gross’s war epic Passchendaele. — Globe and Mail
4. The falling value of the Canadian dollar could lure Hollywood productions back to this side of the 49th Parallel. — Hollywood Reporter
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