Well, here I am. I don't have anything prepared now, but I'm going to work on it tomorrow, and hopefully I'll take some suggestions from other threads and such and do research tomorrow. It's Saturday tomorrow, so... I'll have lots of time.

Consider this post reserved for a real first post with a list of Canadian films.

I'm just wondering. Do Denys Arcand and Etom Egoyan kind of have a stranglehold in big directorial names in Canada? Or do they have even less of a following than here?

Speaking of Atom Egoyan, the trailer for his newest film looks very interesting

I hope you include some of his films, Joey, I've only seen The Sweet Hereafter and I look foward to sampling some of his other works.

Oh. I'm a little nervous about all this, because I want to do everything right.

Before I try to, you know, get a few things going here (while I take suggestions from other threads), there was an excellent made-for-TV film that aired in Canada a few weeks ago, that was Canadian made. I'm not sure if that qualifies. It was called "Terry", and the film told the story of Terry Fox. In 1980, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, and lost his right leg. He planned on running from coast to coast in Canada, to help raise money for cancer research. He started in Newfoundland and planned on running to British Columbia, but fell short of his goal when the cancer spread to his lungs.

This isn't a history thread, but the movie "Terry" aired on CTV (Canadian Television, the most well-known TV station in Canada) on September 11th. It's been 25 years since Fox started his run. The film starred Shawn Ashmore, who appeared in the films X-Mena and X2: X-Men United as Iceman, and will reprise the role in X3. He was born in British Columbia. The film was directed by Don McBrearty, who directed the 1997 Canadian-made film, The Arrow, about how Canada almost built one of the world's most advanced fighter planes, back in the 1950s. Dan Aykroyd, also a fellow Canadian, starred in the film.

So, yeah... this is just a little test for myself to get going. Hopefully, I'll get a list up later of some popular and more recognizable Canadian films, movie stars, and directors.

Here's an article I found. It's mainly just a bit of an introductory thing, as I'm still checking out different information.

The Genie Awards are an awards ceremony in Canada, honoring (yes, you guessed it!) Canadian films. Here is a list of some of the Genie award winners from 1980-1994 for Best Canadian Film.

1980: The Changeling
1981: Les Bons Débarras
1982: Ticket to Heaven
1983: The Grey Fox
1984: The Terry Fox Story (the original Terry Fox film, before the 2005 remake)
1985: The Bay Boy
1986: My American Cousin
1987: The Decline of the American Empire
1988: Un zoo, la nuit
1989: Dead Ringers
1990: Jesus of Montreal
1991: Black Robe
1992: Naked Lunch
1993: Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
1994: Exotica
1995: The Confessional (Le Confessionel)
1996: Lilies
1997: The Sweet Hereafter
1998: The Red Violin
1999: Sunshine
2000: Maelström
2001: The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)
2002: Ararat
2003: The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares)
2004: The Triplets of Belleville

If you click on any of the film titles, you will be directed to their IMDb pages, with information on the stars, the premises, and other information.

Not sure, actually. I guess for those who really know their Canadian films, those two names are more notable. I came across their names quite a few times when researching Canadian films. Which says a little about my actual knowledge of Canadian films. Guess this is a learning experience for all of us.

Information on Director Atom Egoyan:

Born in Egypt to Armenian parents, he was raised in Western Canada. Both his parents were painters, and he planned to be a playwright, but after making a short film, he became hooked on telling stories visually. Returned to ethnic " homeland" when he filmed Calendar (1993) in Armenia. Won attention at the Sundance Film Festival for earlier work, then broke through critically and commercially with The Sweet Hereafter (1997).

4 time Cannes Film Festival winner and the best, since Sergei Parajanov, filmmaker of Armenian ethnicity, the Egypt-born, Canada-bred, Oscar-nominated master of indie cinema, has collected an impressive 4 awards from the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.

A 7 time recipient of Canada's top Genie Awards, he is one of the most remarkable figures of the contemporary independent filmmaking.

While he has several distinguished Television and Opera works on his resume and such pictures as his debut "Next of Kin" 1984, Berlin and Moscow International Film Festival-winning "Family Viewing" 1987 and "The Adjuster" 1991 - his most critically acclaimed creation is The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and his most famous work is the astonishingly clever film-in-film Ararat (2002)

Information provided by IMBd.

Notable Films from Atom Egoyan

2005 - Where the Truth Lies
2002 - Ararat
1999 - Felicia's Journey
1997 - The Sweet Hereafter
1994 - Exotica
1993 - Calendar
1991 - The Adjuster
1991 - Montreal vu par (Six stories about Montreal, with six different directors: Atom Egoyan, Denys Arcand, Michel Brault, Jacques Leduc, Léa Pool and Patricia Rozema)
1984 - Next of Kin

Well-Known Canadian Celebrities and Stars

Jim Carrey
William Shatner
Michael J. Fox
Keanu Reeves
Pamela Anderson
Hayden Christensen
Neve Campbell
Carrie-Anne Moss (Canada IS The Matrix.)
Kiefer Sutherland (One of my favorite actors.)
Elisha Cuthbert (The TV show "24" has MANY Canadian stars and guest stars.)
Mike Myers
Donald Sutherland (Kiefer's father.)
Dan Aykroyd
Sarah Polley
Ryan Gosling
Matthew Perry
Mia Kirshner
Jennifer Tilly
Colin Mochrie (Most notably a regular on Whose Line is it Anyway?)
Natasha Henstridge
John Candy
Eugene Levy
Christopher Plummer
Norm MacDonald
Ryan Reynolds
Catherine O'Hara
Evangeline Lilly (Kate on "Lost")
William B. Davis (Cigarette Smoking Man from "The X-Files")
Sandra Oh
Dave Foley
Martin Short
Rachel McAdams (Swoon.)

And, that's just to name a few! I'll add some noteworthy work by their names later or tomorrow.

Joey, ever heard of John N. Smith? I know its a generic name, but he did a very powerful made for tv movie in '92 called The Boys of St. Vincent. It was about the Catholic Priest scandals in NewFoundland in St. Vincents Orphanage. I know you're from there, which is why i asked. You may find it interesting as a historic record as well, since you may even remeber the trails.

If anyone watches Black Robe, Exotica, Sweet Hereafter, Red Violin, Fast Runner (where's BJ?), Barbarian Invasions, of Triplettes of Belleville, I would love to discuss. I might look into Jesus of Montreal, which is another Arcand film i believe, and one that piqued my curiosity a few years ago but I never got around to seeing.

As for Canada, I know they have 32 Short Films... on dvd, so I'll probably check that one out. :o

Not a lot of people even know about them. Ask the general public if they know who Egoyan, Arcand or Cronenberg are and they'll just look at you like an idiot.

Well, that's interesting, because Cronenberg, unlike the other two, has actually left for the states and uses pretty big Hollywood line-ups in his films. Considering that in Mr. X's article 95% of film viewership is imported from the states, I'd think Cronenberg would actually be more well known. It is odd to me that locals didn't ralley around Arcand and Egoyan though, since almost every other country identifies with a couple of "its nation's" directors. I know you've seen several of them though, and I guess they must still get pretty big release there. But only 5%? That seems surprising considering how big they actually are over here...

Canada isn't really big on arts done by canadians. Well to be fair, Cronenberg isn't as unknown as the former two. It's just that canadians are just like americans. We watch the same movies, same tv, listen to the same music. Canadians would rather back up a director like Spielberg or Zemeckis as would most americans would do too..

I'm really excited about this Despite me being Canadian I have harldy (if at all) watched any Canadian Movies But we have some amazing actors including Sandra Oh (who right now is one of my favourites).

The Toronto Film Festival I found is getting progressively bigger. This year it was GIGANTIC! My friend worked for them 7 years ago and it was a lot more low key.

Entertainment Weekly wrote about the Toronto Film Festival, which was really neat

Oh, by the way, here is a link to the Entertainment Weekly Article:

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1107884_1_0_,00.html

neostorm, I'm pretty sure Toronto is number two in the film fests of the world. If not that high, definitely one of the very tops. Not sure how long it's been that way, but I dont think EW writing an artical on it is a huge deal...I'm sure they do so every year.

But then, I didn't read the link, and I really don't know any of this for sure...but....y'know.

mmm, Canadian films

I've always thought The Decline of the American Empire was too talky. Are Arcand films like that? How about The Barbarian Invasions?

The Sweet Hereafter is an excellent movie. Just the visuals alone and silent moments can make your emotions spin.

Hmm.... has anyone else seen The Hanging Garden?

Exotica.... wow.... I need to see that movie again.

BJ. You had Ataranjuat (Fast Runner) in your hands! Please watch it. Its a film that was incredibly well received and even won the Canadian award top honors. I'd love to discuss it with you...since I had alot of issues with it that I'm still thinking out. Granted its Inuit, and not Canadian, but I guess that makes it about as Canadian as it is American, so we'll cover it here. There will most likely never be an indigenous film festival because the stuff is so hard to come by with rare exception any way.

Same. I'm going to try to rent a few today. If anything, for Dolce!

I've got Speaking Parts! Which I'm going to try and watch this week. I'm obsessed with Egoyan, and I want to see Jesus of Montreal, since the only Arcand movie I've actually seen is Barbarian invasions, but I would like to become more familiar with his work. INvasions was one of the best movies two years ago. I'm looking for a comedy though, and I know the group (I forget their name) that did Kids in the Hall and Wet Hot American Summer are Canadian right? Anyway to find out what they did before crossing over? Any suggestions for a comedy? After watching two serious movies, I need something fun. Maybe a rewatch of Triplettes? One of my favorite animated movies ever!

32 Short Films About Glenn Gould

The title alone was plenty to get me interested in this movie. I like short films. This is supposed to be thirty-two of them coming together to form a biopic of an interesting man, which means it's probably somewhat experimental in nature. And I also like experimental films. So I figured might as well watch it for Canada.

My knowledge of Canadian cinema is pretty much two Egoyan masterpieces, The Barbarian Invasions and the animated Triplets of Belleville (I think). Needless to say, Thirty-two Short Films About Glenn Gould is nothing like any of these. This film is part biopic, part documentary, part experimental music video. And it's pretty bloody brilliant.

Going into this film I had no idea about this Gould. In fact, I didn't even know he was a real person. But the film provides a ton of info about him. Glenn Gould was a famous Canadian concert pianist, most notable for his performances of Johann Bach. He gave up live concerts at age 32 to focus on recording Bach and using the radio as means of reaching people. He only gave phone interviews, possibly because he loved to talk on the phone, often calling people and talking to himself for hours at a time. He wore heavy, winter clothing even in the middle of summer. He was just a strange, eccentric man.

32 Short Films is more like 32 Short Pieces of Information. The film contains classic biopic elements with Colm Feore playing Gould in an amazing performance that really captures the eccentricity of this man. These “films” are interesting and often most telling of the man. More straight to the point and factual are the documentaristic interviews with actual people who knew and interacted with Gould. While these sections may be informative, it's a bit harder to grasp and retain the info when it's “He said” and “He did,” compared with the acting of Feore. The final means of informing about Glenn's life were music video-esqu. That is, a close up of the inner workings of the piano as Gould's music plays overtop. There is a “short” with nothing but close-ups of brightly colored pills and a voice over explaining their uses and side effects that works similarly. These little bursts of random avant garde images were definitely my favorite – the 'experimental' side I had anticipated.

Definitely recommended for the music fan (classical, anyway) or anyone just looking for a different, interesting biopic.

Hmmm, maybe I'll take part in this too. I've heard great things about The Babarian Invasions, The Tripplets of Bellville, and Maelström -- and now I've got an excuse to watch them