Manitoba Chamber of Commerce
Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/518232
n o r m a n norman churchill chamber of commerce flin flon & diStrict chamber of commerce gillam chamber of commerce the paS & diStrict chamber of commerce thompSon chamber of commerce left: Slating the next shot for midnight Sun. below: director roger Spottiswoode and the camera crew on one of the many special rigs designed to travel across the ice. Photos by Allen Fraser, courtesy of Original Pictures. manitoba film and tV producers put churchill in the spotlight. Photo courtesy of Merit Motion Pictures Set for release in 2015, the $17-million feature film is about a teenage boy who tries to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother in northern Canada. The project is an international co-production between Canada and Italy. That kind of relationship can be helped along with Access funds, which give local production companies the finances to connect internationally, says Nicole Matiation, executive director of On Screen Manitoba. "Access funds let film companies attend markets where they have the opportunity to meet with broadcasters or distributors as well as co-production partners and lets them develop the relationships that let them produce the shows that we see in Manitoba," Matiation says. "A show like Polar Bear Town, where American broadcasters were secured to the show first, is a clear example where you need to be out in the market to secure the appropriate partners." Manitoba has seen nearly $1 billion dollars in production in the last 10 years and over half of that was spent in the province on salaries, supplies and services, so it's significant when towns and regions with sparser populations, like Churchill, get to participate. Tourism and ecotourism are major contributors to the local economy, with the polar bear season in October and November being the largest tourism draw. So it's important to recognize that filmmakers have the potential to impact the local economy long after everyone has gone home. Once those productions are broadcast, they act like a kind of travelogue, advertising a location. "There is a tie-in to tourism," Carole Vivier says. "Tourism and film work hand in hand, and that's something we've been doing some work on with Travel Manitoba." ■