Martin Katz, producer and champion of Canadian cinema, receives U of T honorary degree
Whether he’s selling screen rights or coaxing stars out of their trailers, Martin Katz says producing films often depends on the art of negotiation.
It’s a skill the producer and industry leader honed while earning his law degree at the University of Toronto. Today, he returns to his alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his role in shaping Canadian cinema and elevating it on the world stage as a producer, innovator and champion of the country’s creative industries.
Katz’s more than 30-year career has touched on almost every aspect of film and TV production, finance and business affairs – as well as the institutions that shape them.
As the founder and president of Prospero Pictures, he has shared Canadian stories with film festivals, awards shows and audiences around the world. His wide-ranging credits include five films with acclaimed filmmaker and fellow U of T alumnus David Cronenberg, the three-time Oscar-nominated drama Hotel Rwanda and the star-studded music talk show Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...
As former chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Katz led the launch of the Canadian Screen Awards. He’s also championed Canada’s cultural diversity as a director of French for the Future and vice-chair of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.
Originally from Winnipeg, Katz arrived at U of T in 1981 to study at what’s now the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law. But it was at a Toronto International Film Festival screening of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva that he found the medium that would come to define his career.
He went on to earn a second law degree at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne). A member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, he was a professor at the Université de Moncton and returned to U of T as a special lecturer in intellectual property law.
Katz’s eclectic interests eventually led him to expand into more creative pursuits. But his legal scholarship still came in handy when he entered the media realm.
“When you think about making movies, you’re negotiating all day long,” he told CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos in 2014. “You’re negotiating to get people out of their trailers or you’re negotiating to sell rights to your films.”
Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) selected for the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF 2025 WORLD PREMIERE
This genre-bending otherworldly drama follows two brothers’ journey to avenge the spirits that haunt them from their childhood.
Directed by L’nu filmmaker Bretten Hannam (Wildhood, TIFF ’21), Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) is an eerie thriller focusing on two Mi’kmaw brothers confronting their past trauma.
Mise’l (Blake Alec Miranda) and Antle (Forrest Goodluck) are siblings who have drifted apart after experiencing unimaginable horrors in their shared past. But when Mise’l returns to their home community following an unexpected visit by a malicious spirit, the pair must put their estrangement aside in order to rid themselves of the ghosts that haunt them. In order to do so, they will have to journey through Sk+te’kmujue’katik, a forest where time collapses on itself.
In these woods, their past is unveiled before them as they encounter ancestors they’ve never met, younger versions of themselves, and future iterations of their loved ones. Through it all, they must return to — and unravel — a critical moment in their lives.
For their third feature, Hannam has created a work that is not only a ghost story, but an interweaving of Mi’kmaw culture and the colonial history of the East Coast. With a gorgeously haunting score from Polaris Music Prize and Juno Award–winning musician Jeremy Dutcher, and beautifully shot by Guy Godfree (Sharp Corner, TIFF ’24; Brother, TIFF ’22), Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) is a genre-bending, otherworldly drama.
KELLY BOUTSALIS
Content advisory: coarse language, violence, frightening scenes, mature theme
Bretten Hannam is a two-spirit L’nu filmmaker living in Kespukwitk, Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) where they were raised. They wrote and directed the shorts New Skin (08), Puppy (10), Deep End (11), and Elmiteskuatl (19), and the features North Mountain (15) and Wildhood (21), which played the Festival. Skɨte’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) (25) is their latest film.
Telefilm Canada invests $25.8 million in 12 big-budget feature films in the English market
Cultivating the legacy and impact of the audiovisual sector for almost 60 years.Telefilm Canada announces funding of $25.8 million in 12 feature-length films in the English market under the Production Program, as part of the first round of decisions in the big budget stream, including international coproductions.
The selection of projects showcases diversity across regions, genres, languages and distribution, spanning a global presence, with eight out of the 12 films involving international coproduction partners.
Last week, 12 feature-length films in the French market were announced to receive funding from the big budget stream and the low-budget stream of the Production Program.
All Night Wrong (comedy)
Director: Jason James
Screenwriter: Jason Filiatrault
Production: ALL NIGHT WRONG Productions Inc
Distribution: Mongrel Media
Province: British Columbia
*Canada/UK coproduction
Cohen (drama)
Director: Louise Archambault
Screenwriters: Louise Archambault and Conner Molander
Production: Immina Films, A Media and Rhombus Media
Distribution: Elevation Pictures and Immina Films
Provinces: Quebec and Ontario
Languages: English and French
Daudistan (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Ariel Nasr
Production: Périphéria Productions Inc.
Distribution: Mongrel Media
Province: Quebec
Languages: English and Dari
*Canada/France coproduction
Dragon (science fiction/horror)
Director and screenwriter: Brandon Cronenberg
Production: Plausible Communications Corporation
Distribution: Elevation Pictures
Province: Ontario
*Canada/UK coproduction
Here We Are (comedy/drama)
Director and screenwriter: Mina Shum
Production: Thoughts From the Asylum Productions Ltd.
Distribution: Mongrel Media
Province: British Columbia
Languages: English, Cantonese and Mandarin
The Long Way (romantic comedy)
Director: Philip John
Screenwriter: Michael Amo
Production: Picture Plant Limited
Distribution: Game Theory Films
Province: Nova Scotia
*Canada/UK coproduction
Oddly Flowers (comedy/drama)
Director and screenwriter: Jordan Canning
Production: Shut Up & Colour Pictures Inc.
Distribution: VVS Films
Province: Nova Scotia
*Canada/UK coproduction
The Otters (family/adventure)
Director: Julien Decoin
Screenwriter: Cynthia Knight
Production: Multipix Management (Canada) Inc.
Distribution: Photon Films
Province: Quebec
*Canada/France coproduction
Taking the Waters (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Sophie Jarvis
Production: Reign Films Inc. and Ceroma Films Inc.
Distribution: Game Theory Films
Province: British Columbia
Languages: English and French
*Switzerland/Canada coproduction
Tombs (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Marie Clements
Production: MCM2 and Screen Siren Pictures
Distribution: Photon Films
Province: British Columbia
Languages: English and Cherokee
Trish (comedy)
Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais
Screenwriter: Marc Tulin (story by Marc Tulin, Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and Valérie Beaugrand-Champagne)
Production: Microscope Inc.
Distribution: Mongrel Media
Province: Quebec
*Canada/Belgium coproduction
Post Production:
Little Lorraine (thriller)
Director: Andy Hines
Screenwriters: Andy Hines and Adam Baldwin
Production: WANGO Films Inc. and Topsail Productions Limited
Distribution: Photon Films
Provinces: Ontario and Nova Scotia
Telefilm continues to receive a high volume of applications under the Production Program. In this first intake, 48 projects were assessed in the big budget stream including international coproductions, representing $116 million in funding requests. Telefilm met with all the teams from each of the projects. A shortlist was then created, and clients were informed after the federal election. Project submissions were considered by an Advisory Committee.
More funding decisions, including projects from the low budget stream in the English market, will be announced in the coming weeks. Statistics on all films funded in the year will be published in the 2025-2026 Annual Report.
An advisory committee composed of external and internal representatives has evaluated the projects and made its recommendations. The decision-making process is designed to ensure that Telefilm funds a balanced production portfolio reflecting a variety of genres, budgets, company sizes, regions of the country, and perspectives. A list of the selection committee members will be posted on Telefilm’s Project Financing Advisory Committees page once all funding decisions have been made.
About Telefilm Canada
As a Partner of Choice, Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation dedicated to the success of Canada’s audiovisual industry, fostering access and excellence by delivering programs that support cultural resonance and audience engagement. With a lens of equity, inclusivity and sustainability, Telefilm bolsters dynamic companies and a range of creative talent at home and around the world. Telefilm also makes recommendations regarding the certification of audiovisual coproduction treaties to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Launched in 2012, the Talent Fund raises private donations which principally support emerging talent.
Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and Letterboxd.
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Media contact:
Joyce Richards
Advisor, Strategic Communications
Telefilm Canada
Joyce.Richards@telefilm.ca
