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.

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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)

1979: Mourir à tue-tête (Anne-Claire Poirier)

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)