Program aims to be 'creative incubator' for Canadian docs

A new programto help create more feature-length, cinema-quality Canadian documentaries will launch in January 2009, the Canadian Film Centre and the National Film Board announced Thursday.

The program will help documentary directors develop their projects with the help of mentors and intensive workshops.

The CFC NFB Feature Documentary Program is intended primarily to be a "creative incubator," said program director Jerry McIntosh.

"We want to help directors kick-start their work and develop it with the best talent available."

The program, announced to a roomful of interested Canadian documentary makers at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto on Tuesday, is the first of its kind in Canada, McIntosh said.

Telefilm's theatrical documentary pilot program, whichhas run out, financed already developed projectsand did not provide the samekind of assistance to the filmmakers, McIntosh said.

Under the new program,four to six films will receive help over a six month period to develop a treatment and shoot and edit a demo.

The program is now seeking directors with established track records to submit film concepts. The deadline for submission is Aug. 29.

For filmmakers who are chosen, there is potential for co-production deals with the NFB or CFC after the program ends.

Canadian theatrical documentaries such as ManufacturedLandscapes and Up the Yangtze have had success in recent years.

Up the Yangtze, a documentary about the effects on a Chinese family of the Three Gorges Development, has its commercial opening in New York on Friday.