TORONTO, September 14, 2015—The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) is delighted to announce a new partnership with First Weekend Club that will see ten CMPA member films selected for presentation on the Canada Screens website.

CanadaScreens.ca is an online video-on-demand (VOD) platform that is devoted exclusively to the promotion and streaming of Canadian film. The service was launched by First Weekend Club earlier this year and is curated by some of Canada’s best-known filmmakers and talent including Robert Lantos, Jason Priestly, Sarah Polley, and Paul Gross.

Under the terms of this new partnership, CMPA will support the promotion of Canada Screens, and Canada Screens will cover the cost of reformatting the the ten winning productions to create versions that meet stringent international specs in the digital marketplace. This will increase the margins for the sales of these films as they are exported to global platforms.

“Canada Screens is unlike any other VOD service. Our goal is to provide not only great content, but to also connect filmmakers and talent with online audiences through moderated Q&As, panel discussions, exclusive behind the scenes footage and interviews,” says First Weekend Club’s Executive Director Anita Adams. “Canada Screens provides a great marketing vehicle for independent Canadian films.”

“We think initiatives like this offer independent producers a valuable opportunity to increase the discoverability of their content,” says Reynolds Mastin, CEO and President CMPA. “And the fact this opportunity also makes these films sale-ready for international SVOD/TVOD/AVOD/EST markets is a wonderful bonus.”

This program compliments the International Digital sales Database initiative launched by the CMPA last year. Authored by Wendy Bernfeld of Rights Stuff, the database provides one-stop-shopping for information producers need to monetize films, series, shorts and web series on services around the world.

Submissions are now open and will close on November 6th, 2015. To view details on how to submit films for consideration please click here. For more information on how to join the CMPA, please click here.

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