A federal government discussion to merge Telefilm Canada with The Canadian Media Fund has come under fire from high-profile Canadian artists. A letter signed by a who’s who of the film and television world — including Denys Arcand, Xavier Dolan, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Paul Gross, Sarah Polley, Deepa Mehta, Don McKellar and Robert Lantos — urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly against combining the two funding agencies. Telefilm Canada is more film-focused, delivering under $100 million in annual funding. The federal government, meanwhile, is looking at a sweeping overhaul of cultural policy that could include the merging of the two agencies. Some broadcasters such as Rogers have said that the two agencies should be merged, along with the Department of Heritage’s Canadian Periodical Fund, into one large entity dubbed the Canadian Content Investment Agency.

Source: thestar April 20, 2017 03:56 UTC