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Bill Marsden Fil Fraser
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Interview with Bill Marsden, Alberta Film Commissioner emeritus, for Dreamers and Doers.
Q:
What is the value of Albertans telling Albertan stories? A:
The impetus at the moment is American production, its American
films that are coming into Alberta with an Alberta partner they are
getting a piece of the action by having an Alberta partner and that loan
money that the Alberta government t has goes to 20% of the money spent on
a film made in Alberta can get a grant from that fund if a
production spends a million dollars in Alberta they can get 200,000
dollars from that fund. If an
American production comes in and they have an Alberta partner they qualify
for that. So as far as I am
concerned there is too much Alberta money going into films that are made
for American television and are basically American subjects.
There was one that was made in Hollywood about a Hollywood hooker
and was shot in Calgary and had Alberta money in it.
What good does that do us? Id
like to see Alberta stories told like Bye Bye Blues like Fil Frasers
Marie Anne or Why Shoot the Teacher those are real
Alberta or at least prairie stories. There is a hell of a lot more value there as far as I
am concerned to Alberta and to Canada than can be found in American
projects. Ive nothing
against Toronto filmmakers or Montreal filmmakers although generally
speaking local filmmakers will always work closer to the heart
they know the subject and they will do a better job on it than foreign
production who just looks at the surface or an out of province
production Canadian company from the east who just looks at the surface
they dont see underneath. I think we live in exciting times seldom a dull moment in these days. I was fortunate to be in Alberta for some exciting years vie a vie film. There was a time when people would not have believed we would have a film industry in Alberta. We do have.
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