Canada's film and video industry saw a record-high $2.36bn(C$3.3bn) in revenues domestically and internationally in 2002-2003, up 8% fromthe year previous.

According to numbers released by Statistics Canada, distributorssold a record $1.14bn (C$1.6bn) in DVD and video cassettes while the nation'scinema circuits saw a near 15% rise in revenues, reaching $331.2m (C$462.6m).

While film nationalists can trumpet a 50% increase in market sharefor Canadian films at the box office, pragmatists will note that the increasewas from 2% to just over 3%, leaving foreign - mostly US - films with 96.9% ofthe take.

Still, it was the highest percentage in nearly 10 years, duealmost entirely to some exceptional performances of French-language films inQuebec, including Seraphin: Heart Of Stone, which broke the province'sbox office record and was the highest-grossing film in Canada last year. Itearned more than $6.9m (C$9.6m).

On the TV side, made-in-Canada fare maintained the status quo witha 14% share of the conventional TV market and a one point rise in the share ofthe pay-TV market from 21% in the previous year to 22%. Film and video exportsincreased 26.7%, hitting a new high of $185.5m (C$259m), more than five timesthe figure recorded 10 years ago.

The boon in home video was directly correlated to an increase inDVD ownership across the country. The percentage of Canadian households with aDVD player increased to 36% in 2002, compared to 20% in 2001.