Telefilm Canada supported 126 new feature-length fiction and documentary films in the year to 31 March 2026, 31 of them official co-productions, according to the federal film agency’s 2025–26 annual report, published on Thursday 29 October. Its total support to the industry rose to C$148.4m ($106m) from C$144.5m the year before. Dollar figures use the European Central Bank reference rates for 31 March 2026, the last day of the fiscal year, which give C$1.39 to $1.
Key facts
- 126 new features supported in 2025–26, including 31 official treaty co-productions
- Production Programme: C$82.1m ($59m) for 103 features, including 16 top-ups and 11 greenlight advances
- Total support C$148.4m ($106m), up 2.7% from C$144.5m by our calculation
- Content market in Canada and National Canadian Film Day: C$11.6m ($8.3m), up from C$7.5m
- Canadian films took C$14.2m of Canada’s C$836.9m box office in calendar 2025
Telefilm is the main federal funder of Canadian features: films it backed took 98% of Canadian films’ box office in 2025, according to the report. The report shows where this year’s extra money went. Production barely moved; the increase went to a new content market and to National Canadian Film Day.
Where the money went
The Production Programme spent C$82.1m, up from C$81.7m. The report counts 103 features funded under it, a figure that includes 16 top-ups to films signed in earlier years and 11 greenlight pre-production advances. The previous report gave 121 features for the same programme without that breakdown, so the two years are not presented on the same basis and we would not read the gap as a straight fall.
Spending on the Theatrical Documentary Programme dropped to C$5.9m from C$6.6m, covering 25 features (three of them top-ups) against 26. Talent to Watch, the first-feature scheme, held at 17 films, with C$3.7m against C$3.6m. Development money rose slightly to C$11.4m across 306 projects.
The largest change sits outside production. Funding for the content market in Canada and National Canadian Film Day rose by C$4.1m to C$11.6m, which the agency puts down mainly to launching the content market. That is TIFF: The Market, which Telefilm oversees under a multi-year federal contribution agreement with the Toronto International Film Festival and which ran for the first time on 10–16 September 2026. Marketing support reached 120 features, up from 99, although the amount fell to C$11.6m from C$12.8m.
On co-productions, Telefilm funded 31 official treaty co-productions, including three amendments, worth C$28.3m, against 32 (including 10 amendments) worth C$18.7m a year earlier. It recommended 53 film and television co-production projects involving 23 partner countries.
The market the money is going into
The industry figures in the report are less comfortable. Using the Profile 2025 data for 2024–25, the volume of Canadian feature production fell 3.2% to C$460m and the number of Canadian features made fell from 147 to 132, while foreign production and production services rose 9.5% to C$5.32bn. Canadian films took C$14.2m at home in 2025, about 1.7% of the C$836.9m total by our calculation, and C$11.3m of that came from French-language releases.
The year has started better. Canadian films took C$5.8m in the first quarter of 2026, and their takings for the first nine months were up 77%, according to Telefilm’s own tracking.
Telefilm will hold its annual public assembly online on Thursday 3 December at 14:00 ET, with questions from the public accepted until 9 November.
Our reading
A flat production budget during a programme review means Canadian producers should not expect more Telefilm money per film in the coming year; the growth is going to markets and audience work. The agency says its review will bring success criteria that go “well beyond box office results”, and the next evidence will be the new evaluation framework and whether the TIFF market brings in co-production money that Telefilm cannot. More on our Telefilm Canada tag and the Canada region page.