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| Seen on Main Street: lower frame covers up Saskatchewan's descriptive "Land of Living Skies" |
In recent days there has been a lot of media coverage about the provincial government's new budget, which will cut out the Saskatchewan Film tax credit and effectively cripple a growing local industry that as a resident of this province I've been rather proud of.
Way to go, provincial government!
If you follow this link, you can watch clips from a number of films that have been made here in Saskatchewan:
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150758433769136
You may be surprised at the quantity — and quality, for a relatively fledgling industry.
And if you follow this next one, you will be given reasons to consider why the film industry here has and should continue to be publicly subsidized, just as it is in every other province in this country: click here.
Want to see the whole picture? The Canadian film industry has been fighting to survive in the shadow of the Goliath that is the American film industry ever since the dawn of Hollywood. "The History of Film in Canada," an article at The Canadian Encyclopedia, explains how American film has edged out Canadian-made movies and television for such a long time. It's not that Americans make better films; it's that American interests have dictated the terms of distribution and they've had the money to put behind the marketing of their products. Click here.
The Quebec portion of the article, which comes at the end, is not quite up to date (that's in progress), but Quebecers support their film industry by going to see movies made in Quebec: films made in the mostly francophone province, due to their language, have a built-in audience with a lot less competition for viewers.
