Canadian film producer and distributor Leonardo Fuica says its time for filmmakers from Canada and the U.S. to develop and make movies together as official treaty co-productions.
“Americans already come up here (Canada) to shoot, because it’s cheaper and the quality of the technicians is the same,” Fuica told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday from the Cannes Film Festival. “Why U.S. producers could not do that with government infrastructure too? If they could bring some money, why wouldn’t the (Canadian) government help these companies come here and create more jobs?”
His comments came against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s surprise proposal for a 100 percent tariff on foreign films quickly giving way to proposals for Americans for the first time to participate in official co-production treaty projects to halt Hollywood’s production exodus.
Fuica, who launched his new Canadian distribution outfit Silence Films in Cannes as a division of his longtime Fuica Films Pictures production banner, sees official cross-border co-production projects generating jobs, new markets for indie films and expanding existing markets for North American talent and production companies.
“You have to evolve and you have to understand what it is and take chances,” Fuica argued about official co-productions, where production partners from two countries with a formal treaty agree to work together and follow respective government-funded requirements for talent and technical crews. He added these are challenging times for Canadian indie movies as most rely heavily on government subsidies and minimal private investment, and so rarely make money.
American producers, by contrast, eyeing downstream profits, shoot in Canada, Europe or elsewhere internationally to reduce production costs by tapping film tax credits and other incentives. That leaves Fuica with a business model where on the one hand he makes Canadian movies without government money, and on the other helps American producers navigate Canada’s tax credits and other soft money incentives to come shoot their projects north of the border.
So talk of American and Canadian filmmakers jointly developing and co-producing official treaty films between Canada and the U.S., and to be shot on either side of the border, hits Fuica’s sweet spot. “As a distributor and as a producer, I think it’s important to create jobs in the country you’re coming from, and helping partners to do so too to grow the industry,” Fuica said of official co-productions, where partners from two countries with a formal treaty agree to work together and follow respective government-funded requirements for talent and technical crews.
The result could be that an American movie that otherwise would be shot overseas, taking production jobs and leaving behind empty soundstages, might be a project as an international co-production ultimately shot back in the U.S.
His Silence Films banner is kicking off with the theatrical courtroom drama Neglected, which Fuica wrote, produced and directed and starring Mélanie Elliott, Félix Legault and Gabriel Coles. Neglected, which was shopped in Cannes by sales agent Monique White at California Pictures, is inspired by true events and centers on a young boy after a life of neglect and violence sees his life spiral into tragedy after a motel room incident.
Screenwriters on Neglected include Valérie Nadeau and Demian Fuica, while Daniel Sauvé served as director of photography. Fuica sees his film potentially selling widely internationally, given its subject matter: “Neglect affects everybody around the world. It doesn’t have a gender. It doesn’t have a color. Neglect is everywhere and in different types.”
Fuica has film credits that include La Run, He Shoots He Scores, The American Trap, Camping Trip and Dark Energy.