Canadian Cinema : Summer 2015

We’ve got some good directors in Canada. To make a short list there’s Jean-Marc Vallée, Guy Maddin, David Cronenberg, Denis Côté, Sarah Polley, Stéphane Lafleur, Kazik Radwanski, Igor Drljača, Matt Johnson, Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas, Pavan Moondi, Luo Li, and Andrew Cividino. TIFF recently put together their Canada’s All-TimeTop Ten List which includes Atanarjuat, Mon oncle Antoine, The Sweet Hereafter, Léolo, Jésus de Montréal, Goin’ Down the Road, Dead Ringers, C.R.A.Z.Y., My Winnipeg, Stories We Tell and Les Ordres. All good films. They’ll be organizing special screenings this summer at the Lightbox to correspond with the list, which has just been published in the new issue of Montage. But these eleven titles are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of note-worthy Canadian cinema. TIFF again has an annual Canada’s Top Ten and there are the Canadian Screen Awards which highlight some of the best Canadian films each year. There are exciting films festivals in Toronto like TIFF, Hot Docs and Images where they even play a lot more Canadian films. There are serious film magazines like Cinema Scope, Point of View, and 24 Images where these films are discussed and the directors interviewed. I’m not one to necessarily be too patriotic but we have it pretty good here and our national cinema is pretty impressive in its diversity. There’s even now a National Canadian Film Day. There’s something to be proud of in all of this.