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 Passchendaele producers (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!

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.

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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