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A Must-See: Miroir Noir
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100 Best Canadian Films – Jerry White
If you’re a graduate student in Film Studies in Canada you’ve probably heard about Jerry White from one of his many students at conferences complimenting him as a great professor. Without having met him, I would agree as he promptly responded to my initial suggestion to participate to 100 Best Canadian Films and then quickly submitted his list only a few hours later (compared to a general non-response by many people that I’ve asked). The published work on Canadian cinema by the Dalhousie University professor White includes a book on Peter Mettler, two edited collections on Canadian cinema and regularly contributing to the Canadian Journal of Film Studies (see his article Présentation: Vers une Revue canadienne international in the newest issue), amongst other work.
100 Best Canadian Films is a series where experts on Canadian cinema contribute their personal surveys of 100 titles important to the nation’s film history. Other lists include those by André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
***
Jerry White’s 100 Best Canadian Films
Ten in a league of their own:
1963: Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault)
1968: Reason Over Passion (Joyce Wieland)
1987: Foster Child (Gil Cardinal)
1992: Le mouton noir (Jacques Godbout)
1993: 32 Short Films About Glen Gould (François Girard)
1994: Picture of Light (Peter Mettler)
1997: Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man (Alanis Obomsawin)
2002: Océan (Catherine Martin)
2006: From the Journals of Knud Rasmussen (Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn)
2016: Pays (Chloé Robichaud)
Ninety more, also masterpieces:
1920: The Romance of the Far Fur Country (Harold M. Wyckoff)
1943: Action Stations (Joris Ivens)
1948: Boogie Doodle (Norman McLaren)
1949: Begone Dull Care (Norman McLaren)
1954: Corral (Colin Low)
1957: City of Gold (Colin Low, Wolf Koenig)
1959: Emergency Ward (William Greaves)
1961: Golden Gloves (Gilles Groulx)
1961: La Lutte (Michel Brault et al.)
1961: Le Niger, jeune république (Claude Jutra)
1961: Le sport et les hommes (Hubert Aquin, Roland Barthes)
1961: L’Homme du lac (aka Alexis Ladouceur, Métis) (Raymond Garceau)
1961: Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipset)
1962: À St. Henri le cinq séptembre (Hubert Aquin)
1963: À tout prendre (Claude Jutra)
1964: Le chat dans le sac (Gilles Groux)
1964: L’Inventaire d’une colonie (Raymond Garceau)
1964: Nobody Waved Goodbye (Don Owen)
1965: High Steel (Don Owen)
1967: In the Labyrinth (Roman Kroiter, Colin Low, Hugh O’Connor)
1967: Warrendale (Allan King)
1967: Wavelength (Michael Snow)
1968: De mère en fille (Anne-Claire Poirier)
1969: Winds of Fogo (Colin Low)
1969: You Are on Indian Land (Mike Mitchell)
1970: The Hart of London (Jack Chambers)
1970: On est au coton (Denys Arcand)
1970: Un pays sans bon sens ! (Pierre Perrault)
1971: Goin’ Down the Road (Don Shebib)
1971: Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra)
1973: Réjeanne Padovani (Denys Arcand)
1973: Watching for the Queen (David Rimmer)
1974: Les filles du Roy (Anne-Claire Poirier)
1974: Les Ordres (Michel Brault)
1974: Montreal Main (Frank Vitale)
1974: Waiting for Fidel (Michael Rubbo)
1975: Gina (Denys Arcand)
1975: Man Who Chooses the Bush (Tom Radford)
1976: She is Away (R. Bruce Elder)
1977: Le vieux pays ou Rimbaud est mort (Jean-Pierre Lefebvre)
1981: Les Plouffe (television version) (Gilles Carle)
1982: Les fleurs sauvages (Jean-Pierre Lefebvre)
1983: Au clair de la lune (André Forcier)
1986: The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (Andy Jones)
1987: Le Grand Jack (Herménégilde Chiasson)
1987: Un Zoo la nuit (Jean-Claude Lauzon)
1988: À corps perdu (Léa Pool)
1988: The Cat Came Back (Cordell Barker)
1989: Jésus de Montréal (Denys Arcand)
1992: Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (Mark Achbar, Peter Wintonick)
1993: Calendar (Atom Egoyan)
1993: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin)
1993: Deux actrices (Micheline Lanctôt)
1993: Zero Patience (John Greyson)
1994: Eclipse (Jeremy Podeswa)
1994: Nunavut, episode 7: Qulangisi / Seal Pups (Zacharias Kunuk)
1995: Le Confessional (Robert Lepage)
1995: Live Bait (Bruce Sweeney)
1996: Cosmos (Roger Frappier, producer)
1996: Kissed (Lynn Stopkewich)
1997: Silent Tears (Shirley Cheechoo)
1997: The Fifth Province (Donald McWilliams)
1998: Big Bear (Gil Cardinal)
1998: Earth (Deepa Mehta)
1999: Emporte-moi (Léa Pool)
1999: Full Blast (Rodrique Jean)
1999: My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts (Toril Kove)
1999: Quand je serai parti, vous vivrez encore (Michel Brault)
2000: Life Without Death (Frank Cole)
2000: Maelström (Denis Villneuve)
2000: Traître ou patriote (Jacques Godbout)
2001: Marriages (Catherine Martin)
2001: Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk)
2002: Fix: Story of An Addicted City (Nettie Wild)
2002: Gambling, Gods and LSD (Peter Mettler)
2002: La turbulence des fluides (Manon Briand)
2002: Punch (Guy Bennett)
2002: Various Positions (Ori Kowarski)
2002: Yellowknife (Rodrique Jean)
2003: Totem: Return of the G’psgolox Pole (Gil Cardinal)
2003–06: Slings and Arrows (Peter Wellington)
2004–06: This is Wonderland (George F. Walker, Dani Romain, Bernard Zuckerman)
2006: Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal)
2006: La neuvaine (Bernard Émond)
2008: Passage (John Walker)
2012: Tout ce que tu possèdes (Bernard Émond)
2013: Sarah préfère la course (Chloé Robichaud)
2014: Me and My Moulton (Toril Kove)
2016: Quebec My Country Mon Pays (John Walker)
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100 Best Canadian Films – David L. Pike
David L. Pike is the author of the great book Canadian Cinema Since the 1980s (you can read a good review of it by Steve Gravestock in Cinema Scope issue 54) and he provided a short introduction that puts the list in context. This 100 Best Canadians Filmsseries, along with the qualifiers that Pike mentions, can also be seen as personalized versions of the more institutional Canada on Screen list, which screenings have been really exciting. By asking participants to provide one-hundred titles I hope that more off-beat, eccentric and less ‘official’ titles find a place in the canon. As well I hope to provide an image of what an in-depth Canadian cinema cinephilia would look like.
Other 100 Best Canadian Films lists includes those by Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
***
As befits my critical stance as an American parasitizing Canadian cinema, most of my list is culled from the ones already posted on Toronto Film Review. I have attempted to triangulate the three overlapping but not quite identical selection criteria requested at various places on the blog (“100 titles important to Canadian film history”; “lists by film critics and scholars on their personal, subjective favorite films (or shows!) that have been made here in this country”; “100 Best Canadian Films”) while mostly sticking to the generous selection criteria. My list includes around a dozen shorts, so I have arbitrarily counted them two for one to make my 106 look a little more like an even 100. Because I will be sharing this list with my students, I have also included links to NFB/ONF and YouTube. – D.L.P.
David L. Pike’s 106 Best Canadian FIlms
3. La petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre (Jean-Yves Bigras, 1951)
8. À tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)
15. Isabel (Paul Almond, 1968)
21. La vraie nature de Bernadette(Gilles Carle, 1972)
22. Wedding in White (William Fruet, 1972)
23. Les dernières fiançailles(Jean Pierre Lefebvre, 1973)
26. Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1974)
29. La Tête de Normande St-Onge(Gilles Carle, 1975)
33. Les Bons débarras(Francis Mankiewicz, 1980)
35. My Bloody Valentine(George Mihalka, 1981)
36. The Grey Fox (Philip Borsos, 1982)
37. Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1982)
39. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)*
40. Sonatine (Micheline Lanctôt, 1984)
41. My American Cousin(Sandy Wilson, 1985)
42. Le déclin de l’empire américain(Denys Arcand, 1986)
43. I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing(Patricia Rozema, 1987)
44. Life Classes (William D. MacGillivray, 1987)
45. Un zoo, la nuit (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1987)
47. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
48. Roadkill (Bruce McDonald, 1989)
49. Jésus de Montréal(Denys Arcand, 1989)
50. Next of Kin (Atom Edoyan, 1989)
51. Les noces de papier (Michel Brault, 1989)
52. Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)
53. The Company of Strangers (Cynthia Scott, 1990)
54. Masala (Srinivas Krishna, 1991)
55. Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)
56. Highway 61 (Bruce McDonald, 1992)
57. Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992)
58. Calendar (Atom Egoyan, 1993)
60. Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould (François Girard, 1993)
61. Zero Patience (John Greyson, 1993)
62. Double Happiness (Mina Shum, 1994)
63. Eclipse (Jeremy Podeswa, 1994)
64. Exotica (Atom Egoyan, 1994)
65. Le confessional (1995, Robert Lepage)
66. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
67. Rude (Clement Virgo, 1995)
68. When Night Is Falling(Patricia Rozema, 1995)
69. Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996)
70. Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1996)
71. Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 1996)
72. Kissed (1996, Lynn Stopkewich)
73. Cube (Vincenzo Natali, 1997)
74. The Hanging Garden(Thom Fitzgerald, 1997)
75. The Sweet Hereafter(Atom Egoyan, 1997)
77. Emporte-moi (1999, Léa Pool)
78. Last Night (Don McKellar, 1999)
79. New Waterford Girl(Allan Moyle, 1999)
80. Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)
83. Maelström (2000, Denis Villeneuve)
84. Waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)
85. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner(Zacharias Kunuk, 2001)
86. Last Wedding (Bruce Sweeney, 2001)
87. Bollywood/Hollywood (Deepa Mehta, 2002)
88. FUBAR (Mike Dowse, 2002)
89. La face cachée de la lune(2003, Robert Lepage)
90. La grande séduction(Jean-François Pouliot, 2003)
91. Les Invasions barbares(Denys Arcand, 2003)
92. Stryker (Noam Gonick, 2004)
93. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)
94. A History of Violence(David Cronenberg, 2005)
95. Water (Deepa Mehta, 2005)
96. Away from Her (Sarah Polley, 2007)
97. Eastern Promises(David Cronenberg, 2007)
98. My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)
99. Frozen River(Courtney Hunt, 2008)
100. Pontypool (Bruce McDonal, 2008)
101. Polytechnique (2009, Denis Villeneuve)
102. Incendies (Denis Villeneuve, 2010)
103. Monsieur Lazhar (2011, Philippe Falardeau)
104. Stories We Tell(Sarah Polley, 2012)
105. Orphan Black, season 1 (Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, 2013)
106. Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)
* In honor of Geoff Pevere
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New Music Video : Dog Daze
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Essential Cinema : Who Has Seen The Wind
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100 Best Canadian Films – Paul Corupe
A hidden gem of Canadian film scholarship: Canuxploitation! Your Complete Guide to Canadian B-Film. If you’ve taken any undergrad Canadian cinema class you probably already know that throughout the history of Canadian films there have been a lot of documentaries, but it’s probably thanks to rep cinemas or friends (for millennials that didn't live through this earlier period) that you would have discovered the grindhouse films of the tax-shelter years or other more eccentric titles: The Silent Partner, Strange Brew, Brain Candy, The Brood, Drying up the Streets, Black Christmas, Ginger Snaps and so on (quite a few of these that I saw for the first time at the Mayfair in Ottawa). And thanks to Canuxploitation! there’s a great immediate resource to read more about them and discover similar titles. And I need to thank Paul Corupe for contributing such an eclectic list, an alternative canon for Canadian cinema.
Paul founded the up-to-date Canuxploitation! site, and has written on Canadian cinema in magazines like Rue Morgue and Take One, but perhaps an even greater accomplishments are his script writing for the Bravo On Screen series, which in each episode focused on specific canonical Canadian titles, which includes Nobody Waved Good-bye, Roadkill and Crime Wave (these really need to be released on DVD).
100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
***
Canuxploitation's 100 important Canadian films: Towards an Alternative Canon
- A Cool Sound from Hell (Furie, 1959)
- Across This Land with Stompin' Tom Connors (Saxton, 1973)
- The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (Jones and Jones, 1986)
- Adulterous Affair (Leversuch, 1966)
- Amanita Pestilens (Bonnière, 1963)
- American Nightmare (McBrearty, 1983)
- Back in Action (Ziller, 1993)
- Bambi Meets Godzilla (Newland, 1974)
- Beyond the Black Rainbow (Cosmatos, 2010)
- Beyond the Seventh Door (Benedikt, 1987)
- Big Meat Eater (Windsor, 1982)
- Blood and Guts (Lynch, 1978)
- Black Christmas (Clark. 1974)
- Blackout (Matalon, 1978)
- The Bounty Hunters (Pischiutta, 1985)
- Brain Candy (Makin, 1996)
- Breaking Point (Clark, 1976)
- The Brood (Cronenberg, 1979)
- The Canadian Conspiracy (Boyd, 1985)
- The Changeling (Medak, 1980)
- Class of 1984 (Lester, 1982)
- Comic Book Confidential (Mann, 1988)
- Corpse Eaters (Passmore and Vetter, 1974)
- Crime Wave (Paizs, 1985)
- Cross Country (Lynch, 1983)
- Cube (Natali, 1997)
- Deadline (Azzopardi, 1981)
- Death Weekend (Fruet, 1976)
- Deathdream (Clark, 1972)
- Deranged (Gillen, 1974)
- Diary of a Sinner (Hunt, 1974)
- Deux Femmes en Or (Fournier, 1970)
- Downtime (Hanec, 1985)
- Dragon Hunt (Wiener, 1990)
- Drying Up the Streets (Spry, 1978)
- East End Hustle (Vitale, 1976)
- Elvis Gratton (Falardeau and Poulin, 1981)
- FUBAR (Dowse, 2002)
- The Gate (Takacs, 1987)
- Gina (Arcand, 1974)
- La guerre des tuques (Mélançon, 1984)
- Heartaches (Shebib, 1981)
- Heavenly Bodies (Dane, 1984)
- Hell Bent (Kozak, 1994)
- High Ballin' (Carter, 1978)
- H.I.Z.: Erection Der Zombie (Kennedy and Sweeney, 2007)
- Hobo With a Shotgun (Eisener, 2011)
- Hookers on Davie (Cole and Dale, 1984)
- Hot Wheels (McBrearty, 1979)
- Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (Edmonds, 1975)
- Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (Lafleur, 1977)
- Ivy League Killers (Davidson, 1959)
- IXE-13 (Godbout, 1971)
- Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (Flicker, 1978)
- Kubasa in a Glass: the Fetishised Winnipeg TV Commercial 1976-1992(L'Atelier national du Manitoba, 2006)
- The Last Pogo (Brunton, 1978)
- The Little Girl who Lived Down the Lane (Gessner, 1976)
- Loving and Laughing (Sone, 1971)
- The Mask (Roffman, 1961)
- Metal Messiah (Takacs, 1978)
- Midnight Matinee (Martin, 1988)
- Mindfield (Lord, 1989)
- Mondo Nude (Tudhope, 1979)
- Montreal Main (Vitale, 1974)
- My Bloody Valentine (Mihalka, 1981)
- Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (Brunton, 1988)
- Naked Flame (Matlansky, 1964)
- Oddballs (Lente, 1984)
- Parents (Balaban, 1989)
- The Peanut Butter Solution (Rubbo, 1985)
- Pin: A Plastic Nightmare (Stern, 1989)
- Porky’s (Clark, 1981)
- Project Grizzly (Lynch, 1996)
- Recommendation for Mercy (Markowitz, 1976)
- Rituals (Carter, 1979)
- Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare (Fasano, 1987)
- Rock and Rule (Smith, 1983)
- Safety or Slaughter? (Crawley, 1958)
- Satan’s Choice (Shebib, 1965)
- Scanners (Cronenberg, 1981)
- Science Crazed (Switzer, 1989)
- Sexcula (Hollowich, 1974)
- Shivers (Cronenberg, 1975)
- Shoot (Hart, 1976)
- Siege (Donovan, 1982)
- The Silent Partner (Duke, 1979)
- Sins of the Fathers (Rosen and Jarvis, 1949)
- Sissy Boy Slap Party (Maddin, 2004)
- Skip Tracer (Dalen, 1977)
- Social Acceptability (Crawley, 1957)
- Springtime in Greenland (Paizs, 1981)
- Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (De Martino, 1976)
- The Suburbanators (Burns, 1995)
- Sudden Fury (Damude, 1975)
- Things (Jordan, 1989)
- Tomorrow Never Comes (Collinson, 1978)
- Top Of The Food Chain (Paizs, 1999)
- Valérie (Heroux, 1969)
- Vengeance is Mine (Trent, 1976)
- Wrestling Queen (Vallely, 1973)
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Recommended : In The Name of All Canadians
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New Release : Sundowners (Opening August 25th)
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100 Best Canadian Films – Stephen Broomer
The publishing of Stephen Broomer’s Hamilton Babylon: A History of the McMaster Film Board last year along with some screenings revealed this too little known artistic movement in Canadian cinema. The year is 1966 and the newly founded McMaster University’s film department is ideologically torn between the aesthetic projects of its two founders: whether it should continue in the vein of the avant-garde films of John Hofsess or of the broad comedies of Ivan Reitman? It’s a stimulating read, extensively researched and full of original commentary, and reveals fundamental problems for the Canadian film industry, both for the experimental and narrative sectors, that are still relevant today.
100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
***
99 CANADIAN FILMS
Dear David: In response to your request for a list of 100 significant Canadian films, I have chosen to give you an idiosyncratic list of 99 films that informed my sense of Canadian cinema’s scope ’n variety, films I encountered growing up in Toronto, on local television, and in school and through such diverse sources as Cinematheque Ontario, Canuxploitation, and Pratley’s Feature Film Guide. I have tried to give an equal weighting to fiction, documentary, and experimental films, since Canada’s got such a rich tradition across the board. But don’t expect only ‘rich tradition’! If I could, I’d put every TV movie Emmeritus Productions ever made on this list (tip of the hat to Paul C.) – S.B.
FICTION/DOCUDRAMA:
The Bitter Ash (Larry Kent, 1963)
À tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)
Winter Kept us Warm (David Secter, 1965)
Countdown Canada (Rob Fothergill, 1967)
Picaro (Iain Ewing, 1967)
The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (Peter Pearson, 1968)
The Neon Palace (Peter Rowe, 1970)
The Only Thing You Know (Clarke Mackey, 1971)
Rip-Off (Don Shebib, 1971)
The Pyx (Harvey Hart, 1973)
Wedding in White (William Fruet, 1973)
Paperback Hero (Peter Pearson, 1973)
Black Christmas (Bob Clark, 1974)
Recommendation for Mercy (Murray Markowitz, 1974)
Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1974)
Skip Tracer (Zale Dalen, 1977)
Blood Relatives (Claude Chabrol, 1978)
The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979)
Mourir à tue-tête (Anne Claire Poirier, 1979)
My Bloody Valentine (George Mihalka, 1981)
Visiting Hours (Jean-Claude Lord, 1982)
Beyond the Seventh Door (Bozidar D. Benedikt, 1987)
Un zoo la nuit (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1987)
The Carpenter (David Wellington, 1988)
Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller (Michael Rubbo, 1988)
George’s Island (Paul Donovan, 1989)
Highway 61 (Bruce McDonald, 1991)
Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)
Liar’s Edge (Ron Oliver, 1992)
Calendar (Atom Egoyan, 1993)
Zero Patience (John Greyson, 1993)
Sweet Angel Mine (Curtis Radclyffe, 1996)
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (Lee Demarbre, 2001)
DOCUMENTARY:
Churchill’s Island (Stuart Legg, 1941)
Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway switchman (Roman Kroiter, 1954)
Corral (Colin Low, 1954)
The Days Before Christmas (Stanley Jackson, Wolf Koenig and Terence Macartney-Filgate, 1958)
Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault, 1963)
Revival (Don Shebib, 1965)
Helicopter Canada (Eugene Boyko, 1966)
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen (Donald Brittain and Don Owen, 1966)
The Things I Cannot Change (Tanya Ballantyne, 1966)
The Fogo Process Films (Colin Low, 1967)
R34 (Jack Chambers, 1967)
A Married Couple (Allan King, 1969)
Sad Song of Yellow Skin (Michael Rubbo, 1970)
August and July (Murray Markowitz, 1973)
Accident (Patrick Crawley and Martin Duckworth, 1973)
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (Donald Brittain, 1976)
The Inquiry Film (Jesse Nishihata, 1977)
Home for Christmas (Rick Hancox, 1978)
Hookers on Davie (Janis Cole and Holly Dale, 1984)
Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland (Kay Armatage, 1987)
Comic Book Confidential (Ron Mann, 1988)
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)
In the Gutter and Other Good Places (Cristine Richey, 1993)
Reconstruction (Laurence Green, 1995)
Fiction and Other Truths: A Film about Jane Rule (Lynne Fernie and Aerlyn Weissman, 1995)
Project Grizzly (Peter Lynch, 1996)
A Place Called Chiapas (Nettie Wild, 1998)
Claire’s Hat (Bruce McDonald, 2001)
Gambling, Gods and LSD (Peter Mettler, 2002)
Tyler’s Barrel (Matt Gallagher, 2002)
Hardwood (Hubert Davis, 2005)
Special Ed (John Paskievich, 2013)
I Drink (Peter McAuley and Jim Shedden, 2013)
EXPERIMENTAL:
Portrait of Lydia (John Straiton, 1964)
Steel Mushrooms (Gary Lee-Nova, 1967)
Palace of Pleasure (John Hofsess, 1967)
Soul Freeze (Bob Cowan, 1967)
Rat Life and Diet in North America (Joyce Wieland, 1968)
Reason Over Passion (Joyce Wieland, 1969)
The Hart of London (Jack Chambers, 1970)
Connexions (Greg Curnoe, 1970)
Wildwood Flower (Keewatin Dewdney, 1970)
Essai à la mille (Jean-Claude Labrecque, 1970)
N-Zone (Arthur Lipsett, 1970)
Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper (David Rimmer, 1970)
La region centrale (Michael Snow, 1971)
Rhapsody on a Theme from a House Movie (Lorne Marin, 1972)
Hearts in Harmony (Judy Steed, 1973)
Rameau’s Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen (Michael Snow, 1974)
Sweet Movie (Dusan Makavejev, 1974)
Everything Everywhere Again Alive (Keith Lock, 1975)
Black Forest Trading Post (Andrew Lugg, 1976)
Trapline (Ellie Epp, 1977)
The Art of Worldly Wisdom (R. Bruce Elder, 1979)
The Road Ended at the Beach (Phil Hoffman, 1983)
Landfall (Rick Hancox, 1983)
On Land Over Water (Six Stories) (Richard Kerr, 1984)
36 Short Films (James D. Smith, 1984)
Bricolage (David Rimmer, 1985)
A Trilogy (Barbara Sternberg, 1985)
Undivided Attention (Chris Gallagher, 1987)
Consolations (Love is an Art of Time) (R. Bruce Elder, 1988)
Cloister (Carl E. Brown, 1989)
Machine in the Garden (Richard Kerr, 1991)
Ville Marie (Alexandre Larose, 2006-2009)
Axis (John Kneller, 2014)
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100 Best Canadian Films – Fabrice Montal
As an important programmer at the Cinémathèque québécoise, I need to thank Fabrice Montal for this list. I’m impressed by the choices and the range, and I'm especially impressed how Jean-Marc Vallée’s Les mots magiques was included. It's really rare. Montal is also an important scholar on the work of the Montreal experimental filmmaker Robert Morin.
Aside from a general difficulty to get people to contribute (though I'm very grateful to everyone that has!) some things have become apparent after having run the 100 Best Canadian Films series for almost six months and getting fifteen lists: It seems like there are more Québécois folks who are (very) knowledgeable of their own province's cinema, compared to Anglophones and an English Canadian narrative cinema. Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is a stronger enthusiasm for Canadian cinema in places and cities other than Toronto (we can be a little jaded here). A couple of Americans contributed, which shows that Canadian cinema has made an impact elsewhere. And I wish that I received more contributions from more diverse contributors, but hopefully this will remedy itself through future contributors. A reminder: 100 Best Canadian Films is an open series and please let me know if you want to, or know anyone, that would like contribute
(I could be reached at through my email davidd329@gmail.com).
100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
Aside from a general difficulty to get people to contribute (though I'm very grateful to everyone that has!) some things have become apparent after having run the 100 Best Canadian Films series for almost six months and getting fifteen lists: It seems like there are more Québécois folks who are (very) knowledgeable of their own province's cinema, compared to Anglophones and an English Canadian narrative cinema. Perhaps not too surprisingly, there is a stronger enthusiasm for Canadian cinema in places and cities other than Toronto (we can be a little jaded here). A couple of Americans contributed, which shows that Canadian cinema has made an impact elsewhere. And I wish that I received more contributions from more diverse contributors, but hopefully this will remedy itself through future contributors. A reminder: 100 Best Canadian Films is an open series and please let me know if you want to, or know anyone, that would like contribute
(I could be reached at through my email davidd329@gmail.com).
100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. – D.D.
***
Here are my choices, a list made sincerely and randomly . No order at all. No hierarchy. No genre. – F.M.
Fabrice Montal’s 100 Best Canadian Films
- Yes Sir! Madame (Robert Morin, 1994)
- L’eau chaude, l’eau frette (André Forcier, 1976)
- Requiem pour un beau sans-cœur (Robert Morin, 1992)
- Warrendale (Allan King, 1967)
- Soif (Michèle Cournoyer, 2013)
- Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (Guy Maddin, 2002)
- Le Déclin de l’empire américain (Denys Arcand, 1986)
- eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
- Mourir à tue-tête (Anne Claire Poirier, 1979)
- Away from Her (Sarah Polley, 2006)
- Les bons débarras (Francis Mankievicz, 1980)
- Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
- Sonatine (Micheline Lanctôt, 1984)
- Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)
- La Région Centrale (Michael Snow, 1971)
- La Lutte (Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra et al, 1961)
- Gambling, Gods and LSD (Peter Mettler, 2001)
- The Days Before Christmas (Stanley Jackson, Wolf Koenig, Terence McCartney-Filgate, 1958)
- Bestiaire (Denis Côté, 2012)
- Grass : History of Marijuana (Ron Mann, 2000)
- Paul Tomkowitz: Street Railway Switchman (Roman Kroitor, 1953)
- Quebec-U.S.A ou l'invasion Pacifique (Claude Jutra, Michel Brault, 1962)
- Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990)
- Nobody Waved Goodbye (Don Owen, 1964)
- A Tout Prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)
- Curling (Denis Côté, 2010)
- Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald, 1996)
- The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)
- Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
- Picture of Light (Peter Mettler, 1994)
- Noël à l’île-aux-Grues (Richard Lavoie, 1963)
- Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1970)
- Les Raquetteurs (Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx, 1958)
- Waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)
- Careful (Guy Maddin, 1992)
- Thirty-Two Shorts Films About Glenn Gould (Francois Girard, 1993)
- Pour la Suite du Monde (Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault, 1963)
- Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)
- Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
- Le Festin des morts (Fernand Dansereau, 1965)
- Il était une fois dans l’est (André Brassard, 1974)
- My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)
- Le Chat dans le sac (Gilles Groulx, 1964)
- Entre la mer et l’eau douce (Michel Brault, 1967)
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)
- The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980)
- Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)
- Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, 1961)
- Lies My Father Told Me (Jan Kadar, 1975)
- A Winter Tan (Jackie Burroughs, John Frizzell, Louise Clark, John Walker, Aerlyn Weissman, 1987)
- Le démantèlement (Sébastien Pilote, 2014)
- City Out of Time (Colin Low, 1959)
- Il était une chaise (Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra, 1957)
- Ryan (Chris Landreth, 2004)
- The Corporation (Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott; 2003)
- C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)
- Mommy (Xavier Dolan, 2014)
- Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)
- Sur la trace d’Igor Rizzi (Noel Mitrani, 2006)
- La Gammick (Jacques Godbout, 1974)
- Bûcherons de la Manouane (Arthur Lamothe, 1962)
- La vie heureuse de Léopold Z. (Gilles Carle, 1965)
- Le bonhomme (Pierre Maheu, 1972)
- La faim (Peter Foldes, 1972)
- 60 cycles (Jean-Claude Labrecque, 1965)
- Rat Life and Diet in North America (Joyce Wieland, 1968)
- Canadian Pacific (David Rimmer, 1974)
- Chronique de la vie quotidienne: Samedi (Pierre Bernier, Jean Chabot, Roger Frappier, Claude Grenier, Jacques Leduc, 1977)
- La cuisine rouge (Paule Baillargeon, Frédérique Collin, 1980)
- La Donation (Bernard Émond, 2009)
- Au clair de la lune (André Forcier, 1982)
- La Sarrasine (Paul Tana, 1991)
- « Quiconque meurt, meurt à douleur » (Robert Morin, 1998)
- Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis (Daïchi Saïto, 2009)
- En terrains connus (Stéphane Lafleur, 2011)
- Imitations of Life (Mike Hoolboom, 2002)
- The Street (Daniel Cross, 1997)
- The Street (Caroline Leaf, 1976)
- Life Without Death (Frank Cole, 2000)
- Les mots magiques (Jean-Marc Vallée, 1998)
- Hommes à louer (Rodrigue Jean, 2009)
- Les démons (Philippe Lesage, 2015)
- Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, 2015)
- J’aime, j’aime pas (Sylvie Groulx, 1996)
- Laurentie (Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie, 2011)
- Lost Song (Rodrigue Jean, 2008)
- La vie rêvée (Mireille Dansereau, 1972)
- La liberté d’une statue (Olivier Asselin, 1990)
- Elephant Song (Charles Binamé, 2014)
- Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, 2013)
- À l'ouest de Pluton (Henry Bernadet, Myriam Verreault, 2008)
- Télesphore Légaré, garde-pêche (Claude Fournier, 1959)
- Novembre (Nicolas Roy, 2001)
- Roméo onze (Ivan Grbovic, 2012)
- Prelude (Michael Snow, 2000)
- Mamori (Karl Lemieux, 2010)
- La mémoire des anges (Luc Bourdon, 2009)
- Brouillard 14 (Alexandre Larose, 2015)
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A Cinema Of Imagination in English Canada
The release of Big Little Lies out now on Blu-ray is a reminder of what’s lacking so much in Canadian cinema: beauty, generosity and spirit. The community of and around these three mothers and their children is going through many challenges and problems but there’s a resilience that holds everyone together. The interior emotional world of these characters oscillates between anger and joy, sadness and humor. It’s by this fine balance, accentuated by a powerful soundtrack, that Big Little Lies captures a truth of the human spirit today. The image that comes to mind is that of Madeline telling people to fuck off with a smile as she has the best interest of her family and friends in mind. That is to mean well and to fight for it. In Big Little Lies everyone are themselves: they are complex characters that have experienced challenges, they are beautiful and full of emotions, they need to be loved and are loving, and at the end they get what they need (to cite the Rolling Stones song that plays during the end credits). If Jean-Marc Vallée is still the best working Canadian director it’s not because he has gone stateside and has more resources (though this is obviously a plus as it has given him more freedom), it’s because he proposes a cinema of three things: dreams, imagination and winning. So to repeat these three terms, since they are so necessary though actually scarce: dreams, imagination and winning. Dreams as it’s so important to believe in a future or another world where so many of today’s problems are no longer prescient and happiness is possible. Imagination as it’s necessary to believe, to imagine these possibilities and relationships to make them real. And finally winning as it through these wishes coming true and perseverance eventually paying off, which gives meaning to the struggle that it took to get there. Humanist beliefs for sure, but why have they become so hard to find and rare in an English Canadian cinema? Why is it when so many Canadian directors finally get a chance to make a film the end result is usually the opposite: reality, oppression and defeat? A collective imagination doesn’t have to essentially rely on social reality and its problems, an individual defeat that’s a symptom of institutional malaise. Why instead of dreaming success and victory that instead so many of these directors put forward defeat and failure? I know that the world is and can be a shitty place but this only makes the potential for imagination and victory even more important: at least in art it doesn’t have to be.
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Jacques Rancière can be valuable here as he has a novel manner to articulate the link between art and democratic politics. His concept of the distribution of the sensible refers to the communal forms of naturalized perception within a particular social order. For Rancière social formations are naturally oligarchic therefore the powers of artistic operations are capable of reconfiguring hegemonic perceptions of reality. Art is able to dispute any sense that existed meanings of socio-cultural life is inevitable. This can be seen in his two favored regimes of imageness: the artistic image for Rancière, which creates discrepancies within a given order of expectation of reality as it attempts to dismantle normalized standards of representation; and symbolic montage that connects disparate elements to create affinities, whose co-belonging shows these elements as being part of the same world, as it blends familiarity with mystery. Two other important terms are politics which for Rancière is anything that reframes the sensory community and police which is anything that reinforces the status quo.
Through a Rancièrien perspective the positive qualities of this idea of an English language Canadian Cinema of the Imagination becomes political, in that they imagine a world of co-habituation while also troubling the apparatus, the institutions that circulate in the financing and distribution of these works.
The current genre of the English Canadian miserablist drama seems to be have been solidified by the institutionalization of the discourse formations of and surrounding the work of Atom Egoyan – whose films regularly denounces the problems of society and shows the effects of alienation, while routinely being celebrated for it – as this model, and themes about Canadian fiction like the garrison mentality and weird sex and snow shoes, has ended up creating a collective imagination of individuals being separated instead of finding a place within a larger social community. This ossification might have its roots in the creation of a state-sponsored fiction film industry in favor of social portrayals and in opposition to the communal popularity of American films. It can even be seen as disseminating into current CBC television productions like the reboot of Anne of Green Gables that focuses more on sensationalism and violence than the earlier joyous moments and accomplishments of its original. In this context programming can be seen as supporting this industry and curation favoring those that work within this system.
The current genre of the English Canadian miserablist drama seems to be have been solidified by the institutionalization of the discourse formations of and surrounding the work of Atom Egoyan – whose films regularly denounces the problems of society and shows the effects of alienation, while routinely being celebrated for it – as this model, and themes about Canadian fiction like the garrison mentality and weird sex and snow shoes, has ended up creating a collective imagination of individuals being separated instead of finding a place within a larger social community. This ossification might have its roots in the creation of a state-sponsored fiction film industry in favor of social portrayals and in opposition to the communal popularity of American films. It can even be seen as disseminating into current CBC television productions like the reboot of Anne of Green Gables that focuses more on sensationalism and violence than the earlier joyous moments and accomplishments of its original. In this context programming can be seen as supporting this industry and curation favoring those that work within this system.
Part of this problem is that there are so few directors with a clear, personal vision of hope. Instead of believing in coherence and breath the reigning model is that of fragmentation and group-consensus. Feeding social expectations and stereotypes instead of exceeding them.
If there’s a noble tradition in English Canadian cinema its roots can be seen in the work of Don Owen and Allan King: the documentary tradition, focusing on the people and streets of Toronto and elsewhere, as it hesitates towards fiction. In this middle-ground there is room for imagination to appear where through improvisation surprises can occur to show off what makes us unique. This tradition can be seen as continuing in the work of Kazik Radwanski (Scaffold) and Matt Johnson (Nirvanna The Band The Show). But there’s also a more imaginative Canadian film history hidden behind this: I’m thinking about the line that traces John Paizs’ Crime Wave to Matt Johnson’s Operation Avalanche in English Canada, and Gilles Carle’s La vie heureuse de Léopold Z to Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y.in Québec. A leap to dreams, imagination and winning is possible and nobler. And there’s a history of these works in Canadian cinema that shows it has been done in the past. Some examples that come to mind includes King’s Who Has Seen the Wind?, Peter Mettler’s The Top of his Head, Donald Brittain’s Family: A Loving Look at CBC Radio and Terrance Odette’s Saint Monica.
So how to break the mold? How to combat individualism and cynicism? The answer, to restate it, is quite simple (though hard to achieve): find the possibility to dream, imagine and find success (how ever intimate it’s defined: it can be as small as two friends high-fiving after a rough day). Some recent examples that come to mind that strive for this includes Pierce Csurgo and Mitch Greenberg’s La Chasse and its fantasy narrative to recover a stolen painting; the expanded cinema route of Rebeccah Love’s live readings of short stories and plays and the over-ambitiousness of the longer short film Acres; or finally Mark Cira’s work that’s oversaturated with symbolism whether through the story of a young girl being diagnosed with diabetes (Sweet Yoyo) or an out of control Instagram short.This Cinema of Imagination in English Canada would be one that’s loyal to one’s emotions and intellect. It would need to be faithful to one’s personal history and the people that have crossed it. It’s currently what’s so exciting about Canadian cinema and it might just have to take place at the margins: A small group of friends making work, coming together and dreaming that happiness and success is possible.
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100 Best Canadian Films – Helen Faradji
It was around 2010 when I discovered Helen Faradji’s regular editorials to the online website of the Québécois film magazine 24 Images. They were stimulating, relevant, critical, written with care and generous. Not only did they engage with the Québécois film community directly but also the rest of the world, the history of cinema and online film culture. This was something unique as the ‘serious’ film critics that I read – the Ciment’s and the Delorme’s – didn’t talk about anything remotely Canadian and the internet was still a terra non grata. Also the magazine itself, with two women in the lead editorship positions (this includes Marie-Claude Loiselle), regularly put forward (and still does) extensive dossiers on the history of Canadian, though specifically Québécois, cinema. The first issue I bought is from October-November 2010 with the feature ‘Rêver L’ONF de Demain’. This sort of publishing just doesn’t happen in English-language Canada: where in Montreal they honor the film history that I came before them in Toronto, and other places in English-Canada, it just seems like young directors like to publicly complain about funding and distribution. But what about the past?! It just seems like a minority interest after having attended a few of the Canada on Screen series that only had about another twelve people in attendance…
But anyways, I’m honored to post Faradji’s 100 Best Canadian Films list since I think it’s a good one and I’ve both learned a lot and have been influenced by her 24 Images editorials, up until she stopped writing them in 2015.
100 Best Canadian Films is an open series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Fabrice Montal, Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. Please let me know if you’re interested in contributing. – D.D.
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Helen Faradji’s 100 Best Canadian Films
- Begone Dull Care, Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart (1949)
- Neighbours, Norman McLaren (1952)
- The Days Before Christmas, Stanley Jackson, Wolf Koenig, Terence McCartney-Filgate, (1958)
- Les raquetteurs, Gilles Groulx, Michel Brault (1958)
- Very Nice, Very Nice, Arthur Lipsett (1961)
- La Lutte, Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra (1961)
- Les Bûcherons de la Manouane, Arthur Lamothe (1962)
- Lonely Boy, Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor (1962)
- Nobody Waved Good-bye, Don Owen (1964)
- Pour la suite du monde, Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault (1963)
- Le Chat dans le sac, Gilles Groulx (1964)
- À tout prendre, Claude Jutra (1964)
- Rouli-Roulant, Claude Jutra, (1965)
- La vie heureuse de Léopold Z., Gilles Carle, (1965)
- Entre la mer et l’eau douce, Michel Brault (1967)
- Wavelength, Michael Snow (1967)
- Pas de deux, Norman McLaren (1968)
- A Married Couple, Allan King (1969)
- On est au coton, Denys Arcand (1970)
- On est loin du soleil, Jacques Leduc (1970)
- La région centrale, Michael Snow (1971)
- Mon oncle Antoine, Claude Jutra (1971)
- La vraie nature de Bernadette, Gilles Carle (1972)
- Le temps d'une chasse, Francis Mankiewicz (1972)
- La vie rêvée, Mireille Dansereau (1972)
- La maudite galette, Denys Arcand (1972)
- Réjeanne Padovani, Denys Arcand (1973)
- La mort d’un bûcheron, Gilles Carle, 1973
- Il était une fois dans l’Est, André Brassard (1974)
- The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Ted Kotcheff (1974)
- Black Christmas, Bob Clark (1974)
- Bar salon, André Forcier (1974)
- Night Cap, André Forcier (1974)
- Les ordres, Michel Brault (1974)
- Shivers, David Cronenberg (1975)
- L’eau chaude, l’eau frette, André Forcier (1976)
- Parlez-nous d’amour, Jean-Claude Lord (1976)
- Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort, Jean Pierre Lefebvre (1977)
- Chronique de la vie quotidienne: Samedi, Pierre Bernier, Jean Chabot, Roger Frappier, Claude Grenier, Jacques Leduc (1977)
- J. A. Martin, photographe, Jean Beaudin (1977)
- Pea Soup, Pierre Falardeau et Julien Poulin (1979)
- Les bons débarras, Francis Mankiewicz (1979)
- Mourir à tue-tête, Anne Claire Poirier (1979)
- Le confort et l’indifférence, Denys Arcand (1981)
- Crac!, Frédéric Back (1981)
- La bête lumineuse, Pierre Perrault (1982)
- Au clair de la lune, André Forcier (1982)
- Videodrome, David Cronenberg (1983)
- La guerre des tuques, André Melançon (1984)
- La femme de l’hôtel, Léa Pool (1984)
- Sonatine, Micheline Lanctôt (1984)
- Le voleur vit en enfer, Robert Morin, Lorraine Dufour (1984)
- Elvis Gratton, Pierre Falardeau (1985)
- Le déclin de l'empire américain, Denys Arcand (1986)
- Un zoo la nuit, Jean-Claude Lauzon (1987)
- Family Viewing, Atom Egoyan (1987)
- L’homme qui plantait des arbres, Frédéric Back (1987)
- Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg (1988)
- Alias Will James, Jacques Godbout (1988)
- Le party, Pierre Falardeau (1989)
- Jésus de Montréal, Denys Arcand (1989)
- Naked Lunch, David Cronenberg (1991)
- Léolo, Jean-Claude Lauzon (1992)
- Requiem pour un beau sans cœur, Robert Morin (1992)
- Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, François Girard (1993)
- Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Alanis Obomsawin (1993)
- Yes Sir! Madame…, Robert Morin (1994)
- Exotica, Atom Egoyan (1994)
- Crash, David Cronenberg (1996)
- Hustler White, Bruce LaBruce (1996)
- Hard Core Logo, Bruce McDonald (1996)
- The Sweet Hereafter, Atom Egoyan (1997)
- Last Night, Don McKellar (1998)
- When the Day Breaks, Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis (1999)
- Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Zacharias Kunuk (2001)
- Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary, Guy Maddin (2002)
- Gaz Bar Blues, Louis Bélanger (2003)
- The Corporation, Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott (2003)
- La face cachée de la lune, Robert Lepage (2003)
- The Saddest Music in the World, Guy Maddin (2003)
- Ryan, Chris Landreth (2004)
- C.R.A.Z.Y., Jean-Marc Vallée (2005)
- Petit Pow! Pow! Noël,Robert Morin (2005)
- Manufactured Landscapes, Jennifer Baichwal (2006)
- My Winnipeg, Guy Maddin (2007)
- Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang, 2007
- Rechercher Victor Pellerin, Sophie Deraspe, 2007
- À l'ouest de Pluton, Henry Bernadet, Myriam Verreault (2008)
- Next Floor, Denis Villeneuve (2008)
- Hommes à louer, Rodrigue Jean (2009)
- Incendies, Denis Villeneuve (2010)
- Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg (2012)
- Enemy, Denis Villeneuve (2013)
- Felix et Meira, Maxime Giroux (2014)
- Mommy, Xavier Dolan (2014)
- Minarsky, chute mortelle, Matthew Rankin (2015)
- Les démons, Philippe Lesage (2015)
- Vaysha l’aveugle, Theodore Ushev (2016)
- Room, Lenny Abrahamson (2016)
- Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau, Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie (2016)
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100 Best Canadian Films – Réalisatrices Équitables and Films Fatales Montréal
When I first emailed Nicole Giguère at Réalisatrices Équitables she suggested making a list of all films directed by women. A great idea! Which the collective efforts of the members of the women film collectives in Montreal Réalisatrices Équitables and at Films Fatales Montréal did an amazing job at organizing. It’s an important contribution.
100 Best Canadian Films is an open series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Helen Faradji, Fabrice Montal, Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. Please let me know if you’re interested in contributing. – D.D.
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Pour saluer l’apport incontournable des réalisatrices à notre cinématographie nationale, voici une liste de 100 films réalisés par des femmes. Cette liste a été élaborée collectivement par plusieurs membres de Réalisatrices Équitables et de Films Fatales Montréal. Ce sont des films de tous genres, importants, pertinents, originaux, qui expriment les réalités, la vision et l’imaginaire des femmes sur plusieurs décennies. Nous invitons les gens du milieu et les cinéphiles à les découvrir ou à les revoir. - N.G.
Réalisatrices Équitables and Films Fatales Montréal’s 100 Best Canadian Films
1972 | La vie rêvée | Mireille Dansereau |
1974 | Les filles du roy | Anne Claire Poirier |
1976 | The Street | Caroline Leaf |
1979 | La cuisine rouge | Paule Baillargeon et Frédérique Collin |
1979 | Mourir à tue tête | Anne Claire Poirier |
1981 | Depuis que le monde est monde | Sylvie Van Brabant |
1982 | Journal inachevé, vision subjective de l'exil | Marilu Mallet |
1982 | Transitions | Barbara Sternberg |
1983 | Flamenco at 5:15 | Cynthia Scott |
1984 | Sonatine | Micheline Lanctôt |
1985 | Quel numéro what number | Sophie Bissonnette |
1987 | Les bleus au coeur | Suzanne Guy |
1987 | Le grand remue-ménage | Sylvie Groulx, Francine Allaire |
1987 | I've Heard the Mermaids Singing | Patricia Rozema |
1987 | Loyalties | Anne Wheeler |
1988 | La peau et les os | Johanne Prégent |
1990 | Au chic resto pop | Tahani Rached |
1990 | The company of strangers | Cynthia Scott |
1991 | Des lumières dans la grande noirceur | Sophie Bissonnette |
1992 | Le singe bleu | Esther Valiquette |
1992 | Forbidden Love | Lynne Fernie, Aerlyn Weissman |
1993 | Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance | Alanis Obomsawin |
1994 | Double Happiness | Mina Shum |
1995 | Paysage sous les paupières | Lucie Lambert |
1995 | Le jardin oublié | Marquise Lepage |
1996 | Kissed | Lynne Stopkewich |
1997 | Tu as crié let me go | Anne Claire Poirier |
1998 | Les enfants de Refus global | Manon Barbeau |
1998 | 2 secondes | Manon Briand |
1998 | A Rustling Of Leaves: Inside The Phillippine Revolution | Nettie Wild |
1999 | Le chapeau | Michèle Cournoyer |
1999 | Emporte-moi | Léa Pool |
1999 | Black, Bold, Beautiful: Black Women's Hair | Nadine Valcin |
2000 | Des marelles et des petites filles | Marquise Lepage |
2000 | Les fantômes des trois Madeleine | Guylaine Dionne |
2000 | Parsley Days | Andrea Dorfman |
2000 | American Psycho | Mary Harron |
2001 | Trois princesses pour Roland | Andrée-Line Beauparlant |
2001 | La fiancée de la vie | Carole Laganière |
2001 | Mariages | Catherine Martin |
2001 | Le pays hanté | Mary Ellen Davis |
2001 | Black Soul-Äme noire | Martine Chartrand |
2002 | Squat | Ève Lamont |
2002 | War Babies ...Nés de la haine | Raymonde Provencher |
2002 | Fix: The Story of an Addicted City | Nettie Wild |
2002 | Undying Love | Helene Klodawsky |
2003 | My Life Without Me | Isabel Coixet |
2004 | Elles étaient cinq | Ghislaine Côté |
2004 | Suckerfish | Lisa Jackson |
2005 | Le Fantôme de l'opératrice | Caroline Martel |
2005 | Water | Deepa Mehta |
2005 | Eve and the Firehorse | Julia Kwan |
2006 | Manufactured Landscapes | Jennifer Baichwal |
2006 | The Danish Poet | Torrill Kove |
2008 | L'atelier de mon père | Jennifer Alleyn |
2008 | Borderline | Lyne Charlebois |
2008 | À l'ouest de Pluton | Myriam Verreault, Henri Bernardet |
2008 | Before Tomorrow | Madeline Ivalu - Marie-Helene Cousineau |
2008 | Dirt | Meghna Haldar |
2009 | La théorie du tout | Céline Baril |
2009 | Les Signes vitaux | Sophie Deraspe |
2009 | Cairo Time | Ruba Nadda |
2009 | H2Oil: The Documentary | Shannon Walsh |
2011 | Over my dead body | Brigitte Poupart |
2011 | Trente tableaux | Paule Baillargeon |
2011 | Gabrielle | Louise Archambault |
2011 | The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom | Tara Johns |
2011 | Pink Ribbons Inc | Lea Pool |
2011 | A family portrait in Black and White | Julia Ivanova |
2012 | Dans un océan d'images | Helen Doyle |
2012 | Lesbiana, une révolution parallèle | Myriam Fougère |
2012 | Inch Allah | Anaïs Barbeau-Lavallette |
2012 | Stories We Tell | Sarah Polley |
2012 | The World Before Her | Nisha Pahuja |
2012 | Midnight's Children | Deepa Mehta |
2012 | Femelles | Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre |
2013 | Sarah préfère la course | Chloé Robichaud |
2013 | Catimini | Nathalie St-Pierre |
2013 | My Prairie Home | Chelsea McMillan |
2013 | Molly Maxwell | Sara St. Onge |
2014 | L'empreinte | Carole Poliquin, Yvan Dubuc |
2014 | Un film de chasse de filles | Julie Lambert |
2014 | SOL | Susan Avingaq, Marie-Helene Cousineau |
2014 | John and Michael | Shira Avni |
2014 | To Taste the Ground | Shannon Harris |
2015 | Le profil Amina | Sophie Deraspe |
2015 | Les êtres chers | Anne Émond |
2015 | La passion d'Augustine | Léa Pool |
2015 | Une courte histoire de la folie | Isabelle Hayeur |
2015 | Away From Her | Sarah Polley |
2015 | The Saver | Wiebke von Carolsfeld |
2015 | The Embargo Project II | Caroline Monnet, Zoe Hopkins, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Lisa Jackson, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril |
2016 | Avant les rues | Chloé Leriche |
2016 | Angry Inuk | Alethea Arnaquq-Baril |
2016 | Werewolf | Ashley Mackenzie |
2016 | Beeba Boys | Deepa Metha |
2016 | We Can't Make The Same Mistake Twice | Alanis Obomsawin |
2016 | Window Horses | Ann-Marie Fleming |
2016 | The Prison in Twelve Landscapes | Brett Story |
2017 | Suck It Up | Jordan Canning |
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Jean-Marc Vallée at the Emmys
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100 Best Canadian Films – Dan Browne
A regular fixture of the Toronto experimental film scene (I think we first met at Early Monthly Segments), Dan Browne has been a well-respected and prolific multimedia artist since his student days at Ryerson University in 2004, having presented his work in galleries, exhibitions and festivals both locally and abroad. His newest piece Palmerston Blvd.just premiered at Wavelengths and I personally have a soft spot for The Water Suite, which played outside of my condo. Browne's website and vimeo account are a treasure trove of his works, and I tend to agree with his claim that there isn’t enough writing on Canadian experimental cinema, which this list helps to remedy. Let’s hope someone takes that on as a future project.
100 Best Canadian Films is an open series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Réalisatrices Équitables and Films Fatales Montréal, Helen Faradji, Fabrice Montal, Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. Please let me know if you’re interested in contributing. – D.D.
***
I made a ‘Top 100 Films’ list many years ago in response to the American FilmInstitute’s “100 Greatest” list—unfortunately I’ve since lost it, which is too bad because it was written by a different person, and I would love to know what was on there. However, without looking at the earlier list, I can point out two main differences with this one. First, the films and videos gathered here reflect the maturation of my interests in cinema as an artistic medium. As a result, there is not much narrative to be found, and the inclusion of many short form works points to their equivalence with (and potential superiority to) feature-length formats. Second, and perhaps more important, the majority of filmmakers included here are people whom I know personally. This personal connection has become, for me, one of the most profound aspects of sharing moving images. I think considering art as analogous to food can yield productive insights—for instance, certain films/meals are enjoyed best when consumed closest to the source, their images/tastes most nourishing when encountered within their community of origin. With this truth in mind, context becomes a feature, not a bug. Finally, I should point out that nearly half the films on this list were made after the year 2000, and while this ratio is a result of my own personal timeline, it also supports my belief that we are in a golden age for moving images today, especially in the realm of non-narrative personal cinema. Hopefully, some readers may be intrigued enough to seek out some of these works and their makers. Many are available online for free! Thanks for the invitation to contribute. – D.B.
Dan Browne’s 101 Best Canadian Films
1. Begone Dull Care (1949), Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart.
2. Neighbours (1952), Norman McLaren.
3. Very Nice, Very Nice (1961), Arthur Lipsett.
4. Lines Horizontal (1962), Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart.
5. 21-87 (1964), Arthur Lipsett.
6. Water Sark (1965), Joyce Wieland.
7. Wavelength (1967), Michael Snow.
8. Palace of Pleasure (1966-67), John Hofsess.
9. Rat Life and Diet in North America (1968), Joyce Wieland.
10. Pas De Deux (1968), Norman McLaren.
11. Circle (1968-69), Jack Chambers.
12. VTR St-Jacques (1969), Bonnie Sherr Klein.
13. The Ballad of Crowfoot(1969), Willie Dunn.
14. Reason Over Passion (1969), Joyce Wieland.
15. Treefall (1970), David Rimmer.
16. The Hart of London (1970), Jack Chambers.
17. La Region Centrale (1971), Michael Snow.
18. North of Superior (1971), Graeme Ferguson.
19. Variations on a Cellophane Wrapping(1972), David Rimmer.
20. 98.3 KHz: Bridge at Electrical Storm (1973), Al Razutis.
21. Cinefuge 1-5 (1974-81) John Porter.
22. Les Ordres (1974), Michel Brault.
23. Spiral (1974), Sorel Etrog.
24. 'Rameau's Nephew' by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen (1974), Michael Snow.
25. The Book of All the Dead (1975-1994), R. Bruce Elder
26. Atmosphere (1976), Chris Gallagher.
27. Down On Me (1980), John Porter.
28. Toy Catalogue (1981-2010), John Porter.
29. Seeing in the Rain (1981), Chris Gallagher.
30. So Is This (1982), Michael Snow.
31. A and B in Ontario(1984), Joyce Wieland and Hollis Frampton.
32. Everything Everywhere Alive Again(1984), Keith Lock.
33. Beach Events (1985), Rick Hancox.
34. Primiti Too Taa (1986), Colin Morton and Ed Ackerman.
35. A Life (1986), Frank Cole.
36. White Museum (1986), Mike Hoolboom.
36. White Museum (1986), Mike Hoolboom.
37. Cruel Rhythm (1991), Richard Kerr.
38. Manufacturing Consent(1992), Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick.
39. Girl From Moush (1993), Gariné Torosian.
40. Picture of Light (1994), Peter Mettler.
41. Cube (1995), Vincenzo Natali.
42. Hard Core Logo (1996), Bruce McDonald.
43. The Book of Praise (1997- ), R. Bruce Elder.
44. Imprint (1997), Louise Borque.
45. Last Night (1998), Don McKellar.
46. eXistenZ (1999), David Cronenberg.
47. Maelström (2000), Denis Villeneuve.
48. waydowntown (2000), Gary Burns.
49. Krapp’s Last Tape (2000), Atom Egoyan.
50. The Heart Of the World(2000), Guy Maddin.
51. Brakhage (2000), Jim Shedden.
52. Vinyl (2000), Alan Zweig.
53. What These Ashes Wanted(2001), Phil Hoffman.
54. Trains of Winnipeg (2001-2004), Clive Holden.
55. *Corpus Callosum (2002), Michael Snow.
56. Gambling Gods and LSD (2002), Peter Mettler.
57. perhaps/We (2003), Solomon Nagler.
58. c: won eyed jail (2004), Kelly Egan.
59. The Finite (2004), Alexi Manis.
60. Triage (2004), Carl Brown and Michael Snow.
61. Surfacing (2004), Barbara Sternberg.
62. buffalo lifts (2004), Christina Battle.
63. 1000 Plateaus(2004-2012), Steven Woloshen.
64. Blue Monet (2006), Carl Brown.
65. Manufactured Landscapes(2006), Jennifer Baichwal.
66. View of the Falls from the Canadian Side(2006), John Price.
67. Parícutin (2007), Erika Loic.
68. Outside Sarajevo (2007), Ajla Odobasic.
69. The Garden of Earthly Delights (2008), Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof.
70. Spiders in Eden (2008), Ty Tekatch.
71. B. bison (2008), Alex Rogalski.
71. B. bison (2008), Alex Rogalski.
72. Tattoo Step (2008), Mike Maryniuk.
73. Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis (2009), Daïchi Saïto.
74. Tamalpais (2009), Chris Kennedy.
75. Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands(2009), Peter Mettler.
76. Sugar Beach (2011), Mark Loeser.
77. Markings #1-3 (2011), Eva Kolcze.
78. You Speak My Language (2011), Tom Sherman.
79. Activated Memory I (2011), Sabrina Ratté.
80. Intertidal (2012), Alex Mackenzie.
81. ♥++ (2012), Clint Enns.
82. The Pool (2012), Christine Lucy Latimer.
83. Animated Self-Portraits(2012), Madi Piller.
84. her silent life. (2012), Lindsay McIntyre.
85. Black Rectangle (2013), Rhayne Vermette.
86. The Broken Altar (2013), Mike Rollo.
87. Pepper’s Ghost (2013), Stephen Broomer.
88. House Arrest (2013), Richard Kerr.
89. Citizens Against Basswood (2013), Jaimz and Karen Asmundson.
90. Notes From the Anthropocene (2014), Terra-Jean Long.
91. Axis (2014), John Kneller.
92. Lunar Almanac (2014), Malena Szlam.
93. BROUILLARD – passage #14 (2014), Alexandre Larose.
94. Life and People (2014), Barry Doupé.
95. Self Portrait #1 (2015), Scott Fitzpatrick.
96. Second Sun (2015), Leslie Supnet.
97. Holland, Man. (2015), Aaron Zeghers.
98. Le bulbe tragique (2016), Guillame Vallée.
99. Spectres of Shortwave (2016), Amanda Dawn Christie.
100. Nutag – Homeland (2016), Alisi Telengut.
101. Relucesco (2016), Shannon Harris.
101. Relucesco (2016), Shannon Harris.
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100 Best Canadian Films – Olena Decock
My first memories of Olena are from our undergrad in Canadian cinema classes back at the University of Ottawa – a period of taking Gary Evans courses on the NFB and John Grierson, and going through the classic Canadian cinema books like those by Leach and Melnyk.
I’m no longer sure how exactly we got there but I have a nice memory of attending that year's Genies (now the Canadian Screen Awards) where we got to meet Dave Foley and one of the Passchendaeleproducers (this was before either of us have seen it).
Fast-forward a few years and we’re both living in Toronto working in the industry and it’s good to know that the passion is still going strong. For Olena this includes working for both TIFF and Hot Docs in their Industry Programming.
Finally, I’m really impressed with the selection and variety on Olena’s list as it reflects a deep knowledge of Canadian cinema and a sincere appreciation. Thanks for contributing!
Finally, I’m really impressed with the selection and variety on Olena’s list as it reflects a deep knowledge of Canadian cinema and a sincere appreciation. Thanks for contributing!
Here’s hoping, what with all of the current changes in film funding and production in this country, that new and interesting works will keep on getting made. Though I’m sure that it will!
100 Best Canadian Films is an open series of personal surveys of the history of Canadian cinema. Other lists includes those by Dan Browne, Réalisatrices Équitables and Films Fatales Montréal, Helen Faradji, Fabrice Montal, Stephen Broomer, Paul Corupe, David L. Pike, Jerry White, André Loiselle, Paul Williams, Greg Klymkiw, Pat Mullen, Jason Anderson, Daniel Kremer, Yves Lever, Piers Handling, Marcel Jean, Mike Hoolboom and myself. Please let me know if you’re interested in contributing. – D.D.
***
Confessions of a Canadianaphile
I started off with good intentions. “I know a hundred essential Canadian works”, I said with conviction. But my list of titles scribbled on a piece of paper amounted to much more than a hundred.
I tried to eliminate titles. “Perhaps I could neglect some of the classic films”, I said to myself. Many names will surely be repeated on other lists in this blog. But in re-watching works by Roman Kroiter, Arthur Lispett or Ryan Larkin online, they still elicit wonder.
I tried to compromise. “Perhaps, I'll just list feature films instead of essential works”, I said in desperation. But denying that Kids in the Hall, Emily Kai Bock or Simon Olivier Fecteau had any influence on the Canadian cinema zeitgeist felt neglectful. Denying these works as essential reimagines cinema as a silo, rather than a complex weave of references and influences.
I resolved to cheat. And here we are: 150 essential works to mark what they say is a 150 years, in chronological order to map the changing tides of the cultural landscape. Everything from a harrowing doc showcasing the pov of a rape victim; an Oscar-winning animated short film; a CBC television series concentrated around mocking the CBC itself; and even an unnecessarily controversial comedy (remember when that federal bureaucrat was fired for organizing a screening of Young People Fucking?); there's something for everyone. Some are the best; some are the most influential; but all are not-to-be-missed. – O.D.
Olena Decock’s 150 Best Canadian Films
Year | Title | Director | Format |
1952 | Neighbours | Norman McLaren | Short |
1954 | Corral | Colin Low | Short |
1954 | Paul Tomkowicz: Street-railway Switchman | Roman Kroiter | Short |
1957 | Chairy Tale, A | Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra | Short |
1958 | Days Before Christimas, The | Wolf Koenig, Terence Macartney-Filgate, Stanley Jackson | Short |
1958 | raquetteurs, Les | Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx | Short |
1961 | Very Nice, Very Nice | Arthur Lispett | Short |
1962 | Lonely Boy | Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor | Short |
1963 | Pour la suite du monde | Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault | Documentary |
1964 | À tout prendre | Claude Jutra | Feature Length |
1964 | Nobody Waved Goodbye | Don Owen | Feature Length |
1965 | Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen | Donald Brittain, Don Owen | Documentary |
1967 | In the Labyrinth | Roman Kroitor, Colin Low, Hugh O’Connor | Documentary |
1967 | Things I Cannot Change, The | Tanya Ballantyne Tree | Documentary |
1967 | Warrendale | Allan King | Documentary |
1968 | Pas de deux | Norman McLaren | Short |
1968 | Walking | Ryan Larkin | Short |
1969 | A Married Couple | Allan King | Documentary |
1970 | Goin' Down the Road | Don Shebib | Feature Length |
1970 | On est au coton | Denys Arcand | Documentary |
1971 | Acadie, l'Acadie?! | Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault | Documentary |
1971 | Mon oncle Antoine | Claude Jutra | Feature Length |
1972 | Street Musique | Ryan Larkin | Short |
1975 | Shivers | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1977 - 1993 | Passe-Partout | TV Series | |
1979 | Brood, The | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1979 | Fast Company | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1979 | Mourir à tue-tête | Anne-Claire Poirier | Feature Length |
1980 | Sweater, The/Le chandail | Sheldon Cohen | Short |
1981 | Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography | Bonnie Sherr Klein | Documentary |
1981 | confort et l'indiférence, Le | Denys Arcand | Documentary |
1983 | Videodrome | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1984 | Sonatine | Micheline Lanctôt | Feature Length |
1985 | Anne of Green Gables | - | TV Series |
1986 | déclin de l'empire américain, Le | Denys Arcand | Feature Length |
1986 | Fly, The | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1987 | I've Heard the Mermaids Singing | Patricia Rozema | Feature Length |
1988 | Dead Ringers | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
1988 - 1994 | Kids in the Hall | - | TV Series |
1989 | Jésus de Montréal | Denys Arcand | Feature Length |
1990 - 1996 | Road to Avonlea | - | TV Series |
1991 | Highway 61 | Bruce McDonald | Feature Length |
1991 | Montréal vu par... | multiple directors | Feature Length |
1992 | Léolo | Jean-Claude Lauzon | Feature Length |
1993 | Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance | Alanis Obomsawin | Documentary |
1993 | Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould | François Girard | Feature Length |
1993 - 2008 | Royal Canadian Air Farce | - | TV Series |
1993 - present | This Hours Has 22 Minutes | - | TV Series |
1994 | Double Happiness | Mina Shum | Feature Length |
1994 | Exotica | Atom Egoyan | Feature Length |
1994 | Yes Sir! Madame... | Robert Morin | Feature Length |
1995 | confessionnal, Le | Robert Lepage | Feature Length |
1995 | When Night is Falling | Patricia Rozema | Feature Length |
1996 - 1997; 2003 - 2005 | The Newsroom | - | TV Series |
1996 | Hard Core Logo | Bruce McDonald | Feature Length |
1996 | Kissed | Lynne Stopkewich | Feature Length |
1996 | Tu as crié LET ME GO | Anne-Claire Poirier | Documentary |
1997 | Cube | Vincenzo Natali | Feature Length |
1997 | Project Grizzly | Peter Lynch | Documentary |
1997 | Sweet Hereafter, The | Atom Egoyan | Feature Length |
1998 | violon rouge, Le | Francois Girard | Feature Length |
1998 - 2000 | Twitch City | - | TV Series |
1999 | Emporte-moi | Léa Pool | Feature Length |
1999 | Last Night | Don McKellar | Feature Length |
1999 | New Waterford Girl | Allan Moyle | Feature Length |
2000 | Maelstrom | Denis Villeneuve | Feature Length |
2000 | waydowntown | Gary Burns | Feature Length |
2001 | Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner | Zacharias Kunuk | Feature Length |
2001 | invasions barbares, Les | Denys Arcand | Feature Length |
2001 | Un crabe dans la tête | André Turpin | Feature Length |
2001-2018 | Trailer Park Boys | - | TV Series |
2002 | Bollywood/Hollywood | Deepa Mehta | Feature Length |
2002 | FUBAR | Mike Dowse | Feature Length |
2003 | La grande seduction | Jean-François Pouliot | Feature Length |
2003 | Love that Boy | Andrea Dorfman | Feature Length |
2003 | Mambo Italiano | Émile Gaudreault | Feature Length |
2003 | Saddest Music in the World, The | Guy Maddin | Feature Length |
2004 | Ryan | Chris Landreth | Short |
2004 | Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire | Peter Raymont | Documentary |
2005 | C.R.A.Z.Y. | Jean-Marc Vallée | Feature Length |
2005 | Metal: A Headbanger's Journey | Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Jessica Joy Wise | Documentary |
2005 | Water | Deepa Mehta | Feature Length |
2006 | Away From Her | Sarah Polley | Feature Length |
2006 | Manufactured Landscapes | Jennifer Baichwal | Documentary |
2006 | Monkey Warfare | Reg Harkema | Feature Length |
2006 | Une dimanche à Kigali | Robert Favreau | Feature Length |
2007 | Eastern Promises | David Cronenberg | Feature Length |
2007 | My Winnipeg | Guy Maddin | Documentary |
2007 | Up the Yangtze | Yung Chang | Documentary |
2007 | Young People Fucking | Martin Gero | Feature Length |
2009 | Cairo Time | Ruba Nadda | Feature Length |
2009 | Carcasses | Denis Côté | Documentary |
2009 | Invisible City | Hubert Davis | Documentary |
2009 | J'ai tué ma mère | Xavier Dolan | Feature Length |
2009 | Polytechnique | Denis Villeneuve | Feature Length |
2009 | Reel Injun | Neil Diamond | Documentary |
2010 | Hard Core Logo 2 | Bruce McDonald | Feature Length |
2010 | High Cost of Living, The | Deborah Chow | Feature Length |
2010 | How to Be Alone | Andrea Dorfman | Short |
2010 | Incendies | Denis Villeneuve | Feature Length |
2010 | Modra | Ingrid Veninger | Feature Length |
2010 | Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage | Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen | Documentary |
2010 | This Movie is Broken | Bruce McDonald | Feature Length |
2011 | Café de Flore | Jean-Marc Vallée | Feature Length |
2011 | Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster | Nathan Morlando | Feature Length |
2011 | Hobo With a Shotgun | Jason Eisener | Feature Length |
2011 | Monsieur Lazhar | Phillippe Falardeau | Feature Length |
2011 | "Niagara Falls" by Ohbijou | Jared Raab | Music video |
2011 - 2014 | En audition avec Simon | - | Web series |
2012 | 100 Musicians | Charles Officer | Short |
2012 | Boxing Girls of Kabul | Ariel Nasr | Documentary |
2012 | Crackin' Down Hard | Mike Clattenburg | Short |
2012 | End of Time, The | Peter Mettler | Documentary |
2012 | Goon | Mike Dowse | Feature Length |
2012 | Laurence Anyways | Xavier Dolan | Feature Length |
2012 | Lesser Blessed, The | Anita Doron | Feature Length |
2012 | Liverpool | Manon Briand | Feature Length |
2012 | "Oblivion" by Grimes | Emily Kai Bock | Music video |
2012 | Rebelle | Kim Nguyen | Feature Length |
2012 | Stories We Tell | Sarah Polley | Documentary |
2012 | World Before Her, The | Nisha Pahuja | Documentary |
2013 | Asphalt Watches | Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver | Feature Length |
2013 | F Word, The | Mike Dowse | Feature Length |
2013 | Grand Seduction, The | Don McKellar | Feature Length |
2013 | Noah | Walter Woodman, Patrick Cederberg | Short |
2013 | Rhymes for Young Ghouls | Jeff Barnaby | Feature Length |
2013 | Sarah préfère la course | Chloé Robichaud | Feature Length |
2013 | Vic + Flo Saw a Bear | Denis Côté | Feature Length |
2013 | When Jews Were Funny | Alan Zweig | Documentary |
2014 | "Beat the Drum Slowly" by Timber Timbre | Chad Vangaalen | Music video |
2014 | Heartbeat | Andrea Dorfman | Feature Length |
2014 | In Her Place | Albert Shin | Feature Length |
2014 | My Prairie Home | Chelsea McMullan | Documentary |
2014 | Porch Stories | Sarah Goodman | Feature Length |
2014 | Tu dors Nicole | Stéphane Lafleur | Feature Length |
2014 | Valley Below, The | Kyle Thomas | Feature Length |
2015 | Bacon & God's Wrath | Sol Friedman | Short |
2015 | Closet Monster | Stephen Dunn | Feature Length |
2015 | How Heavy This Hammer | Kazik Radwanski | Feature Length |
2015 | HURT | Alan Zweig | Documentary |
2015 | Ninth Floor | Mina Shum | Documentary |
2015 | o negative | Steve McCarthy | Short |
2015 | Sleeping Giant | Andrew Cividino | Feature Length |
2016 | Angry Inuk | Alethea Arnaquq-Baril | Documentary |
2016 | Jean of the Joneses | Stella Meghie | Feature Length |
2016 | Old Stone | Johnny Ma | Feature Length |
2016 | Operation Avalanche | Matt Johnson | Feature Length |
2016 | Stairs, The | Hugh Gibson | Documentary |
2016 | "Miniskirt" by Braids | Kevan Funk | Music video |
2017 | Unarmed Verses | Charles Officer | Documentary |
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the nirvanna the band canon
since the second season of nirvanna starts this friday, october 27th on viceland and city, i decided to make a thorough filmography related to the show, matt johnson and the zapruder films team, from the more ‘official’ credits like the original web-series, its reboot and the two feature films to the more hidden, ephemeral works - hidden on the dvds or online - which are just as important. taken as a whole,these smaller, somewhat obscure videos add a larger dimension and complexity to the main body of work as they provide opportunities to create and experiment, test jokes and engage in the short form. but what makes them great, as with the official credits, is how they become opportunities to explore the world, engage folks and through their imagination create fantasy narratives. these videos could be witty and sweet, funny and innovative, about their influences or pop culture. i hope this master list is of interest, some links are embedded. – d.d.***
nirvana the band the show
ten episode web-series (2007-2009) : the beginning, the buzz, the break in, the basement, the banned, the b-day, the battle of the bands, the burn, the band, the rivoli
bonus episode : the buena vista social club (dvd extra, with audio-commentary by christ kelley, a friend)
special features : the deleted scenes (fifteen videos), the adventures (four videos, including the famous update day), live @ the rivoli (july 31, 2009, the final show), the auditions (five videos), the piano sessions (five videos), dead: the ntbts blooper reel (seven videos), interactive menu screens, one alternate opening (the burn).
audio-commentary : all ten episodes (the band’s is special for matt and jared discussing their production model)
top secret : matt sees parkour, iraq: shubadak, (directed by kathryn mallinson, editor of ntb, matt’s cut), ntb tv pilot, turner classic movies, condom dance
the dirties
feature film (2013)
special features : five different trailers, anatomy of a scene, making of the dirties, the piano session, mistakes were made, mr. muldoon’s cut, cat stevens cover, twelve deleted scenes, the visitor (three house productions) with an intro, commentary, and reading by matt and owen; five press and extras materials (the world premiere interview, a slamdance tv feature, bars and tone, the 7th art interview, forty-eight production stills)
audio-commentary :five in total including a hidden one on close encounters of the third kind
top secret : lhotsky and fisher: honolulu blue (matt johnson, student film, 2004), my mother’s pearls (matt johnson, curt lobb), matt johnson’s acting for screen and stage
operation avalanche
feature film (2016)
special features : five featurettes and four deleted scenes
audio-commentary :three different ones (matt’s is really good, more vulnerable than usual)
nirvanna the band the show
eight episode television series – season one (viceland, 2017) : the banner, the booking, the bean, the blindside, the big time, the boy, the buffet, the bank
special features : four piano sessions, twelve deleted scenes and operation avalanche (short the dirties-like video, from the big time)
eight episode television series – season two (viceland, 2017) :brand new, starts october 27th
random videos
breakingnewsTO :occupy reporter hijacks station(2011)
breaking news – comic con (three parts, funny or die)
how canadians celebrate spring (canadian tire, with jay mccarrol)
actor in other projects
shorts, features, and documentaries :
captain coulier, jay as the silver robot iggy (lyndon casey, 2008)
the revenge plot, matt scheming with teenagers (jared raab, 2011)
cosmotive inc. (thomas hackett, 2012)
d.i.y. (peter baxter, eric ekman, ben hethcoat, 2014)
spice it up, matt as a passport photographer (calvin thomas, lev and yonah lewis, 2014, unreleased)
diamond tongues, matt as john matheson, over-the-top actor in film-within-the-film (pavan moondi and brian robertson, 2015)
how heavy this hammer, matt as a hardware store employee (kazik radwanski, 2015)
unproduced / unrealized / screenplays
nirvana the band the movie (a cross-country journey with ntb, abandoned)
encyclopedia brown screenplay by matt johnson (warner bros.)
kill hitler, in pre-production
john a. macdonald biopic screenplay by josh boles
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A Must See : Martine Chartrand's Âme noire
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Black Star : Walk Good
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Black Star : Home Feeling
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