The Spaces Between Grassroots Documentary ... - Ezra Winton

documentaries in Canada. Haynes adds: “The Circuit was developed to help the industry
and to help Canadian independent film and video find a home beyond festivals.” (Ibid,
p.2)
The discursive space that Haynes’s words fill conjure the work of Dorland and his
project of mapping the trajectory of film policy and film policy discourse from
governmentalism to economism. However, no a new stage needs to be added to
accommodate for new approaches like Film Circuit, that are addressing Canada’s cinema
problems. A next phase, it would seem, is volunteerism (or the very awkward non-
profitism). Behind this discussion of getting independent films out to Canada’s public are
countless community-organizer volunteers and dedicated people helping to spread the
buzz (or “viral market as Dodds would put it) about grassroots screenings. While the
Film Circuit does employ nine staff members, the project is part of the Toronto
International Film Group, a non-profit organization. Haynes explains that for each film
that screens, the proceeds are divided up into thirds: “One third for the exhibitor, one
third for the distributor, and one third for the community group.” (Ibid, p.4) Despite little
room for profit, Haynes says that the Circuit “creates between two and three million
dollars of revenue in the market that was not there before.” (Ibid, p.5)
With Cineplex Odeon, Bell Canada and Warner Brothers on board as funding
sponsors, (Ibid, p.4) it may seem difficult to see this initiative as ‘counter’ anything,
especially in terms of addressing the “historic bloc” of a domestic cinemascape
dominated by big studio, American-produced fiction. How can Film Circuit even call
itself grassroots when it works with large multinationals and pulls in an annual budget
tipping the scales between $300,000 and $400,000 per year? (Ibid, p.4) Unlike other
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