The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) has launched the CFC North-South Marketplace, a series of initiatives over the next three years designed to support cross-border relationships for Canadian talent and create a more vibrant local industry.

The Copyright Collective Of Canada is supporting the venture, which will use CFC’s community of film-makers and industry professionals to broker creative and business exchanges and development assistance between Canadian talent and industry professionals in the US.

An advisory board of Canadian and US production and studio executives will be on hand to offer guidance. As part of the CFC North-South Marketplace, online contest The Reel Challenge: Make Your Own Movie will launch in early December.

Canadian film-makers will be encouraged to submit a film spot that addresses the importance of content protection in a compelling way. The winner will receive a $10,000 prize and second and third placed entries will each collect $2,500.

“The entertainment business is going through tumultuous change – new technology, new business models, and new audience behaviour,” CFC’s executive director Slawko Klymkiw said. “The 21st century realities force us to take a hard look at development, production, creation and distribution processes across all media.

“It is precisely this need – the need to assess the ways in which we marry an evolving business environment with our dynamic CFC talent base – that has inspired the North-South Marketplace.”

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