In February, Wendy Bernfeld participated as a jury member for the CMF, and the results were announced in the following release detailing the programming:
01.03.11 Canada Media Fund invests $11.5 million in 36 new interactive projects
http://www.cmf-fmc.ca/news-actualites.html
Toronto, March 1st, 2011 – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) today announced an investment of $11.5 million in 36 new innovative interactive projects submitted in the second round of its Experimental Stream. The CMF offers financial assistance to support projects at various stages of their completion: production, development or marketing. In production, the CMF is investing $8.6 million in 17 new projects: 8 games, 4 websites, 4 mobile applications and 1 software application. Six of these projects are in English, 3 are French and 8 are bilingual.
The average commitment to each project is $509,000. Two projects are being carried out in British Columbia, 1 in Manitoba, 6 in Ontario and 8 in Quebec.
In development, the CMF is investing $1.9 million in 13 projects: 4 in English, 4 in French and 5 are bilingual. The average amount offered for each project is $150,000. Two will be developed in British Columbia, 3 in Ontario, 7 in Quebec and 1 in Nova Scotia.
Finally, in terms of marketing assistance, the CMF is investing $960,000 in 6 projects, with an average contribution of $160,000. Three of the projects are in English, and 3 are bilingual. Three projects are from British Columbia, 1 from Manitoba and 2 from Quebec.
“We’re proud to be able to announce our participation in funding these projects. The wealth of content and technological innovation demonstrated in the selected projects is truly remarkable”, said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO of the CMF. “The new approaches found to engage with users truly enrich the quality of our project portfolio. It’s a statement to the creativity and vitality of the Canadian interactive digital media industry.”
Projects were evaluated using the following criteria : innovation (40%), production team (15%), business plan (30%) and distribution strategy (15%). For projects at the production stage, the innovation and production team criteria (55% of the evaluation) were assessed by a jury of Canadian and international industry specialists (see their bios on our website): Wendy L. Bernfeld (Amsterdam), Lynda Brown-Ganzert (Vancouver), Sylvain Carle (Montreal), Jean-Pierre Faucher (Montreal), Dré Labre (Toronto), Lucie Lalumière (Toronto), Gavin McGarry (New York) and Catherine Warren (Vancouver). The remaining factors for the production projects, as well as the applications for development and marketing funding, were evaluated by analysts from the CMF Program Administrator|Telefilm Canada. All decisions made by the CMF are final.
Since the creation of its Experimental Stream in 2010, the Canada Media Fund has invested $27 million in 81 innovative interactive projects.
To see the List of approved production projects, click here.