Speaking Notes for the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages on the occasion of a Movie Night with Telefilm

Ottawa, Ontario
October 6, 2010

Ladies and gentlemen,

I cannot think of a better film to start this fall's screening than with the critically acclaimed, award winning and recently announced Canadian entry for the 2011 Oscars in the category of Best Foreign Film, Incendies.

As you may know, prior to its release on September 17, Incendies received worldwide acclaim following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. And the tributes continued to pour in when it was screened at the Telluride Film Festival, at the Venice International Film Festival and at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won Best Canadian Feature Film.

Our Government recognizes that for Canadian filmmakers to shine internationally, they must be given the right tools and the right environment to succeed. Our filmmakers are among the best in the world, and we are committed to helping them market their films to audiences at home and abroad. A key tool to ensure this is through international coproductions.

Coproductions promote our culture and our creators internationally, and strengthen our alliances with foreign countries. They benefit all Canadians by pooling creative, financial and technical resources and attracting foreign investment to productions that may not otherwise exist.

At the Toronto International Film Festival in September, I had the pleasure to announce that Canada has resumed its coproduction negotiations and the first country we are working with is India. It is an important step in our Government's commitment to coproduction, which will position the Canadian audiovisual industry as a global leader.

As a Canada-France co-production, Incendies is a wonderful example of co-production's benefits. It was produced by Luc Déry and Kim McGraw under the production company Micro_Scope Inc. in Canada, and TS Productions in France and distributed in Canada by Christal Films – I want to congratulate them.

I want take this opportunity to recognize the heart of this film, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, for bringing Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play to Canadian and international film audiences.

Films like Incendies move us, make us think, and most importantly, make us proud as Canadians of our film industry. I am very pleased to share this film with you.

It is now my great pleasure to invite to the stage two people who have made a significant contribution to Canadian film, and who have played an important role in the success of Incendies – Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and Canadian actress Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin.