Celluloid and censorship

>> Quebec filmmakers respond to
Conservative threats to pull their funding

by MATTHEW HAYS

Canada’s filmmaking community has been in a state of panic over the past week, after news broke that the Conservative government had slipped a questionable bit of legislation into a larger tax bill, one that, by last Thursday, was already set to receive its third reading in the Senate. Simply put, the legislation would allow the federal Heritage ministry to yank funding for movies or TV shows that contain “excessive” portrayals of violence and sex. As well, the legislation would allow for the withdrawal of tax credits to productions that were already relying on those crucial breaks for their very existence.

Critics immediately pointed out that the wording of the bill was so vague that it could apply to almost anything, giving the government far-reaching censorship powers.

Prominent members of Canada’s film milieu immediately denounced the ideas in C-10, with everyone from Cronenberg to Egoyan to Polley stating that to allow for such legislation to take place would be tantamount to censorship. Cronenberg even suggested that such a move would make creating films in Canada something akin to working under the repressive government in Beijing.

As of press time, protesters had won something of a reprieve. Bill C-10 now stands at the Senate, where public hearings will be held to discuss its potential. And while Conservative MPs have argued that there’s nothing nefarious behind the bill, perhaps the worst bit of news came when a prominent Christian evangelist, Charles McVety, told reporters he had lobbied the government for the bill. This has infuriated those in the film milieu, who see it as another indication that Harper’s government is Bush Lite.

Winners and losers

When contacted for this article, Quebec’s film community expressed horror and sadness at the prospect of Bill C-10 becoming law. Arnie Gelbart, the award-winning producer behind the Genie-winner Lilies, called C-10 “horrible.” Denise Robert, the producer behind the Oscar-winning Les Invasions barbares, called it “entirely unacceptable.” Steve Galluccio, playwright and screenwriter behind Mambo Italiano, said he was deeply “saddened that such a law would exist in Canada.” Kevin Tierney, producer of the hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop, suggested it was “ridiculous.” And Jean-Marc Vallée, director behind the hit feature C.R.A.Z.Y., called C-10 “completely absurd.” All of the filmmakers interviewed said the bill could easily have threatened their most famous projects.

But aside from the horrified responses, members of Quebec’s film milieu touched on another issue, and that is that this may be another case of the minority Conservative government not fully understanding Quebec. While Canadian filmmakers have long understood that lobbying for additional government funding for movies is a tough case, in Quebec, filmmakers have managed to do just that. In the last provincial election, Quebec’s film lobby argued for $10-million additional funds per year; Jean Charest heard the plea and responded, coughing up the new funds almost immediately, and making them permanent. Quebec’s film culture has done what filmmakers in the Rest of Canada (ROC) could only dream of: it’s created a popular, robust national cinema, one that’s embraced by the average Joe or Jane (or Jean and Jeanne) on the street.

Fade to blue

“This will not go down well in Quebec,” says Robert, when asked about the prospect of C-10. “It seems like the government wants to take on the role that the church had in Quebec in the ’40s and ’50s. We do not need another layer of government bureaucracy telling us what kinds of films we can make in Canada. Imagine: If this bill were law, then A History of Violence or Les Invasions barbares could have been blocked by the government. We’re supposed to trust our artists more than this.”

Gelbart says the move doesn’t just damage art, it also attacks commerce. “This news has already hit the U.S.,” he says, pointing to a story that ran in The Hollywood Reporter. “If foreign producers worry that their film projects might have their tax credits pulled after the film has been shot, they will definitely think twice about shooting here—it will just be too dicey. The breaking news of this bill may cost us hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. They have not thought this through at all. It doesn’t correspond to reality.”

And Robert says this threatens a fledgling industry, one that is entirely fragile. “It has taken us a long time to get to where we are in Quebec and Canada. There’s a lot of pride in our achievements. But it can be lost very quickly. A move like this by the government can really threaten what we’ve spent so long building up. It’s an incredibly stupid move on the part of the government.”