100 Best Canadian Films – Seth Feldman

It was a good SCMS this year. In Toronto at the Sheraton there were hundreds of guests, panellists and academics, graduate students and senior professors, and the atmosphere was lively and congenial. There were some great panels on Canadian cinema, both by Canadians and Americans, along with stimulating ones on topics that synthetized the last year of scholarship, and which most likely will influence research to come. There was also socializing and events, where I got to chat with folks about this 100 Best Canadian Films project, and who were receptive towards it.

The first of these academics to have completed the request is my old documentary cinema professor Seth Feldman from my time at York University when I did my Masters there. Feldman is noteworthy in the Canadian film scholarship landscape for his academic practice at York University and his research on Canadian cinema and documentary. This includes a book on Allan King and a plethora of contributions to a myriad of anthologies on Canadian cinema and documentary, along with being a regular presence at conferences on these topics. Thanks again Seth!

100 Best Canadian Films is a series of personal versions of Canadian film history. Other lists includes those by Stacey Donen, Michael Marlatt, Jim Sheddan, Philippe Gajan, Kevin Laforest, Steve Gravestock, Olena Decock, 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.  – D.D.

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Seth Feldman’s 100 Best Canadian Films

Pre-NFB

1. Back to God’s Country (David Hartford, Neil Shipman, 1919)

2. Carry On, Sergeant! (Bruce Bairnsfather, 1928)

3. Rhapsody in Two Languages (Gordon Sparling, 1934)

4. The Viking (George Melford, Varick Frissell, 1931)

5. Tit-Coq (René Delacroix, Gratien Gélinas, 1952)

6. Lest We Forget (Frank Badgley, 1935)

NFB (1939-1959)

1. Churchill’s Island (Stuart Legg, 1941)

2. The War for Men’s Minds (Stuart Legg, 1943)

3. Alexis Tremblay Habitant (Jane Marsh, 1943)

4. The Loon’s Necklace (F. R. Crawley, 1948)

5. Neighbours (Norman McLaren, 1952)

6. Corral (Colin Low, 1954)

7. City of Gold (Colin Low, Wolf Koenig, 1957)

8. Skid Row (Allan King, 1956)

9. Begone Dull Care (Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart, 1949)

10. The Days Before Christmas (Wolf Koenig, Terence Macartney-Filgate, Stanley Jackson, 1958)

11. Back Breaking Leaf (Terence Macartney-Filgate, 1959)

12. A Chairy Tale (Norman McLaren, Claude Jutra, 1957)

13. Les Raquetteurs (Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx, 1958)

1960s – 1970s

1. Glenn Gould: On the Record (Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, 1959)

2. Universe (Colin Low, Roman Kroitor, 1960)

3. Lonely Boy (Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, 1962)

4. Warrendale (Allan King, 1967)

5. The Things I Cannot Change (Tanya Ballantyne, 1967)

6. In the Labyrinth (Roman Kroitor, Colin Low, Hugh O'Connor, 1967)

7. La Lutte (Michel Brault, Claude Jutra, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, 1961)

8. À Saint-Henri le cinq septembre (Hubert Aquin, 1962)

9. Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, 1963)

10. À tout prendre (Claude Jutra, 1963)

11. The Cat in the Bag (Gilles Groulx, 1964)

12. Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, 1961)

13. Wavelength (Michael Snow, 1967)

14. Reason Over Passion (Joyce Wieland, 1969)

15. The Hart of  London (Jack Chambers, 1970)

16. La Région Centrale (Michael Snow, 1971)

17. The Far Shore (Joyce Wieland, 1976)

18. Tiger Child (Donald Brittain, 1970)

19. The Mills of the Gods (Beryl Fox, 1965)

20. Waiting for Fidel (Michael Rubbo, 1974)

21. La vie heureuse de Léopold Z (Gilles Carle, 1965)

22. The Death of a Lumberjack (Gilles Carle, 1973)

23. Les Ordres (Michel Brault, 1974)

24. Nobody Waved Good-bye (Don Owen, 1964)

25. Goin’ Down the Road (Donald Shebib, 1970)

26. Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra, 1971)

27. Paperback Hero (Peter Pearson, 1973)

28. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Ted Kotcheff, 1974)

29. The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died (Jean Pierre Lefebvre, 1977)

1980s – 1990s

1. The Grey Fox (Phillip Borsos, 1982)

2. Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

3. The Wars (Robin Phillips, 1983)

4. Margaret Atwood: Once in August (Michael Rubbo, 1984)

5. Moose Jaw (Rick Hancox, 1992)

6. Canada’s Sweetheart (Donald Brittain, 1985)

7. My American Cousin (Sandy Wilson, 1985)

8. Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1986)

9. Night Zoo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1987)

10. A Winter Tan (Jackie Burroughs, John Walker, John Frizzell, Louise Clark, Aerlyn Weissman, 1987)

11. Bye Bye Blues (Anne Wheeler, 1989)

12. The Company of Strangers (Cynthia Scott, 1990)

13. Black Robe (Bruce Beresford, 1991)

14. Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)

15. Canal (Richard Kerr, 1981)

16. Illuminated Texts (R. Bruce Elder, 1982)

17. Lamentations (R. Bruce Elder, 1985)

18. ?O, Zoo! (Philip Hoffman, 1986)

19. Forbidden Love (Lynne Fernie, Aerlyn Weissman, 1992)

20. Kanehsatake (Alanis Obomsawin, 1993)

21. Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (François Girard, 1993)

22. Le Confessional (Robert Lepage, 1995)

23. Rude (Clement Virgo, 1995)

24. A Place Called Chiapas (Nettie Wild, 1998)

25. Last Night (Don McKellar, 1998)

2000s

1. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)

2. What These Ashes Wanted (Philip Hoffman, 2001)

3. Ararat (Atom Egoyan, 2002)

4. Le Confessional (Robert Lepage, 1995)

5. Ataranjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, 2002)

6. From the Journals of Knut Rasmussen (Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, 2006)

7. Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)

8. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)

9. Waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000)

10. Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal, 2006)

11. The Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand, 2003)

12. Beowulf and Grendel (Sturla Gunnarsson, 2005)

13. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005)

14. Fire (Deepa Mehta, 1996)

15. Water (Deepa Mehta, 2005)

16. The Trotsky (Jacob Tierney, 2009)

17. Maelström (Denis Villeneuve, 2000)

18. My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007)

19. Away From Her (Sarah Polley, 2006)

2010 –

1. Angry Inuk (Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, 2016)

2. Bear 71 (Jeremy Mendes, Leanne Allison, 2012)

3. High Rise (Katerina Cizek, 2009-2015)

4. Tom at the Farm (Xavier Dolan, 2013)

5. Mommy (Xavier Dolan, 2014)

6. Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau, 2011)

7. Take This Waltz (Sarah Polley, 2011)

8. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)