Cinema of Canada

Evangeline (1913), the first feature film in Canada; made by Canadian Bioscope Company

The first films that was shot in Canada were made at Niagara Falls, by Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière in June 1896 and Edison Studios in December 1896. James Freer is recognized as the first Canadian filmmaker. A farmer from Manitoba, his documentaries were shown as early as 1897 and were toured across England, under the title Ten Years in Manitoba, in an effort to promote immigration to Manitoba.

The first fiction film, Hiawatha, the Messiah of the Ojibway, was made in 1903 by Joe Rosenthal.[5] The first Canadian feature film, Evangeline, was produced by the Canadian Bioscope Company in 1913 and shot in Nova Scotia.

In 1917, the province of Ontario established the Ontario Motion Picture Bureau, "to carry out educational work for farmers, school children, factory workers, and other classes." The Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau followed suit in 1918. The British Columbia Patriotic and Educational Picture Service, which produced and distributed short films about British Columbia in an attempt to counteract "Americanism" in Hollywood films, operated from 1920 to 1923.

The Cinematograph Films Act 1927 established a quota of films that had to be shown in British cinemas that would be shot in Great Britain as well as nations in the British Empire that stimulated Canadian film production. However the Cinematograph Films Act 1938 mollified the British film industry by specifying only films made by and shot in Great Britain would be included in the quota, an act that severely reduced Canadian film production.[6]

In 1938, the Government of Canada invited John Grierson, a British film critic and film-maker, to study the state of the government's film production and this led to the National Film Act of 1939 and the establishment of the National Film Board of Canada, an agency of the Canadian government. In part, it was founded to create propaganda in support of the Second World War, and the National Film Act of 1950 gave it the mandate "to interpret Canada to Canadians and to other nations." In the late 1950s, Québécois filmmakers at the NFB and the NFB Candid Eye series of films pioneered the documentary processes that became known as "direct cinema" or cinema vérité.

Federal government measures as early as 1954, and through the 1960s and 1970s, aimed to foster the development of a feature film industry in Canada; in 1968 the Canadian Film Development Corporation was established (later to become Telefilm Canada) and an effort to stimulate domestic production through tax shelters peaked in the late 1970s (see Meatballs below).

As in all cinema, the line between broadcast and cinema continues to be blurred in Canada as the means of production and distribution converge.

A typical Canadian film production is made with money from a complex array of government funding and incentives, government mandated funds from broadcasters, broadcasters themselves, and film distributors. International co-productions are increasingly important for Canadian producers. Smaller films are often funded by arts councils (at all levels of government) and film collectives.

The National Film Board of Canada is internationally renowned for its animation and documentary production. More recently it has been criticized for its increasingly commercial orientation; only one third of its budget is now spent on the production of new films.

Much of Canada's film industry services American producers and films driven by American distribution, and this part of the industry has been nicknamed "Hollywood North".

The major production centres are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In 2011, Toronto ranked third in North America, behind only Los Angeles and New York City, in total industry production;[7] however, for several years previous, Vancouver's industry outputs exceeded those for Toronto.

Alliance Atlantis (acquired by CanWest Global Communications in 2007) is the major Canadian distributor of American and international films and in 2003 it ceased to produce films (and almost all television) to focus almost exclusively on distribution. Lions Gate Entertainment has also become a major distributor in recent years.

Distribution continues to be a problem for Canadian filmmakers, though an established network of film festivals also provide important marketing and audience exposure for Canadian films. The major festival is the Toronto International Film Festival, considered one of the most important events in North American film, showcasing Hollywood films, cinema from around the world, and Canadian film. The smaller Vancouver International Film Festival features films from around the world, and festivals in Montreal, Sudbury (Cinéfest), and Halifax (Atlantic Film Festival)—among other cities—are also important opportunities for Canadian filmmakers to gain exposure among film audiences. Very often, however, a Canadian film's largest opportunity to achieve a significant audience comes from negotiating television carriage rights with a broadcaster such as CBC Television, Crave or Showcase.[8]

Canada's national film awards were first introduced in 1949 as the Canadian Film Awards. Often plagued with organizational problems, they were taken over in 1978 by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to become the Genie Awards; in 2012, the Academy merged the Genie Awards with its Gemini Awards program for English-language television production to create the contemporary Canadian Screen Awards.

Although all Canadian films regardless of language are eligible for the Canadian Screen Awards, Québec Cinéma also presents the separate Prix Iris program for film production in Quebec. A few other regions in Canada also have their own regional film and television production awards, including the Rosie Awards in Alberta and the Leo Awards in British Columbia.

Many of Canada's film festivals present awards to honour the best Canadian and international films screened at each annual event; the most famous and important of these are the awards presented by the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival. Annual critics' awards are also presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Vancouver Film Critics Circle and the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma.

Various local chapters of ACTRA, Canada's labour union for actors and actresses, present annual ACTRA Awards to honour performances in film and television production within the chapter's local service area; ACTRA formerly presented Canada's main national television awards from 1972 to 1986, when they were taken over by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television as the Gemini Awards. Craft awards are also presented by the Directors Guild of Canada for film and television direction, the Writers' Guild of Canada for screenwriting, the Canadian Society of Cinematographers for film and television cinematography, and the Canadian Alliance of Film and Television Costume and Arts Design for costume design.

As well, the Toronto International Film Festival polls film critics and festival programmers from across Canada to announce an annual Canada's Top Ten list of the year's best Canadian feature and short films.

The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, British Columbia

Of all Canadian cultural industries, English-Canadian cinema has the hardest time escaping the shadow of its American counterpart. Between the marketing budgets of mainstream films, and the largely US-controlled film distribution networks, it has been nearly impossible for most distinctively Canadian films to break through to a wide audience.[8]

Although Canadian films have often received critical praise, and the National Film Board has won more Academy Awards than almost any other institution (for both their animation and documentary work), in many Canadian cities moviegoers do not even have the option of seeing such films, as they have poor distribution and are not shown at any theatres. One This Hour Has 22 Minutes sketch parodied an Atom Egoyan-like director whose films had won numerous international awards, but had never actually been released or exhibited.

Almost all Canadian films fail to make back their production costs at the box office. For example, Men With Brooms made CA$1,000,000 in its general domestic release, which by Canadian standards is fairly high. However, it was made on a budget of over CA$7,000,000. French-Canadian films, on the other hand, are often more successful—as with French-language television, the language difference makes Quebec audiences much more receptive to Canadian-produced films. In most years, the top-grossing Canadian film is a French-language film from Quebec. (See also Cinema of Quebec.) By comparison, Australian films, made in a country with a smaller population than Canada's, more frequently make their money back from the domestic market. Many do comparatively better; the best known example is Mad Max, made with the then unknown Mel Gibson, and with a budget of A$350,000, and which made A$5.6 million in its domestic release alone.

Although many Canadians have made their names in Hollywood, they have often started their careers in Los Angeles, despite Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal being thriving filmmaking centres in their own right. Some actors or directors who have started their early careers in Canada include: David Cronenberg, John Candy, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd, Michael J. Fox, Mike Myers, Ivan Reitman, Derek Harvie, Seth Rogen, Eugene Levy, Tom Green, Scott Mosier, and Paul Haggis. However, despite these successes, several actors have favoured moving to Los Angeles to further pursue their careers.

Canada's difficulties in the film industry are often difficult to explain. The following explanations have been proposed for why Canadian films and television have often failed to establish an audience in Canada or internationally:

• Films labelled as American films could often be better described as collaborations between Canada and the US. In addition, films which are sometimes designated as "American" productions often involve a higher-percentage of Canadian participation but the "American" designation is favoured for tax purposes. Also, unlike other countries who tend to have citizens with discernible accents, the American media too rarely highlights or identifies actors, directors or producers as Canadian in origin, leaving the false perception that few Canadians work in the industry.
• Canada's film industry competes directly with that of the United States. Production costs between the two countries are similar (they are lower in Australia) meaning that Canadian films often need a budget equal to that of an American film of similar quality. Canadian film studios rarely, if ever, have the budgets to make films that can directly compete with the most popular Hollywood fare. Instead, the vast majority of Canadian films are character-driven dramas or quirky comedies of the type that often appeal to critics and art house film audiences more than to mass audiences.[8]
• During the 1970s, Canada's tax policy encouraged making films merely to obtain a significant tax credit. As such, many films were produced merely for tax purposes, and quality became unimportant. For example, producers of Canadian films were allowed to take a fee out of the production costs, something that is not allowed in the United States, where producers may only take a fee once the film earns back its production costs (the exact situation that drove the plot line in The Producers). This rule, in particular, led to a large rush of Canadian-made B-movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
• While British, Australian and American filmmakers embrace their cultural heritage in film, Canadian films often have no discernible connection to Canada. It often comes as a surprise to many people that movies like Porky's, Children of a Lesser God and The Art of War were partially produced in Canada, as they are indistinguishable from films made entirely in the United States.
• When there are major Canadian productions, the lead roles often go to American or British actors. For example, in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, both the role of Duddy and his father went to American-born actors (the then unknown Richard Dreyfuss and the established character actor Jack Warden respectively). Joseph Wiseman, who played Duddy's uncle, was born in Montreal, but had not lived or worked in Canada in over forty years. Although this phenomenon is not as common today as it was in the 1970s, Canadian films do still sometimes cast famous foreign actors: Michael Caine starred in the 2003 film The Statement, Helena Bonham Carter played the lead role in 1996's Margaret's Museum and Olivia Newton-John had a starring role in Score: A Hockey Musical.[8]
• Unlike radio and television, which both have strict Canadian content regulations, there is no protection for Canadian content in movie theatres. The distribution networks for Canadian movie theatres are largely controlled by the American studio system, and Canada is in fact the only non-U.S. country that is considered part of the domestic market by Hollywood studios. As a result, the marketing budgets and screening opportunities for Canadian films are limited. In many cities outside of Canada's largest metropolitan markets, the local movie theatres almost never book a Canadian film, and even in many of the major markets Canadian films are usually only available in repertory theatres or on the film festival circuit. Once again, the exception is Quebec, which has many French-Canadian produced films running on multiple screens all over the province alongside both French-produced films and dubbed or subtitled American films.
• In a phenomenon which can be likened to the theory of cultural cringe, a considerable number of Canadians reflexively dismiss all Canadian films as inherently inferior to Hollywood studio fare. This is not necessarily connected to reality, as many critically acclaimed films have been made in Canada, but the idea nevertheless presents a significant hurdle to Canadian filmmakers seeking to build an audience for their work.

For all the industry's challenges, quite a few Canadian films have succeeded in making a cultural impact. Some of the most famous or important Canadian films include:

Canadian film tends to be more director-driven than star-driven, and have much more in common with the European auteur model of filmmaking than with the Hollywood star system. The most famous Canadian film directors are very often the real star power of their films, more so than the actors they cast. Notable Canadian film directors include:

Notable Canadian expatriate directors who are or have worked primarily in Hollywood include:

• James Cameron
• Bob Clark
• Edward Dmytryk
• Allan Dwan
• Sidney J. Furie
• Paul Haggis
• Mary Harron
• Arthur Hiller
• Norman Jewison
• Ted Kotcheff
• Shawn Levy
• Silvio Narizzano
• Daniel Petrie
• Ivan Reitman
• Jason Reitman
• Mark Robson
• Mack Sennett
• Roger Spottiswoode

See also Category:Canadian film directors.

• Al Christie
• Charles Christie
• Harold Greenberg
• Suresh Joachim
• Louis B. Mayer

• Ed Gass-Donnelly
• Paul Haggis
• Suresh Joachim
• Ian Iqbal Rashid
• Seth Rogen
• Evan Goldberg
• PJ Torokvei

• History of Canadian animation
• Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood
• List of Canadian films
• List of Canadian actors
• Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time
• Documentary Organization of Canada
• Northern (genre)
• Hot Docs
• List of filming locations in Metro Vancouver
• List of films shot in Toronto
• Montreal in films
• World cinema

• Shooting from the East: Filmmaking on the Canadian Atlantic by Darrell Varga, 2015, McGill-Queen's University Press

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cinema of Canada.

• Canadian Feature Film Database
• Canadian Film Encyclopedia
• Canadian Film Online
• The Toronto Film Map - Map of full-length feature films or television shows set in Toronto, indicating availability at University of Toronto Libraries and Toronto Public Library