NITARIOS N ew O ntario's New Wave is Toronto's film festival held the largest retrospective of Canadian a catchy phrase for a films ever held in this country. Its success led to Perspective spirited generation of Canada, an on-going festival series, which has grown into the most English-Canadian prestigious venue for launching English-Canadian features. In filmmakers who came to 1986, the doors to the Ontario Film Development Corporation cinematic maturity during opened, providing a much needed alternative to the narrow, the early 1980s. Peter experimental restrictions of the 11821WAY 81 Mettler, Bruce McDonald, Ontario Arts Council and the , Patricia bureaucratic red tape of Rozema and Ron Mann, Telefilm Canada, headquartered along with Camelia in . From the start, the Frieberg, Alexandra Raffe, OFDC was unofficially Holly Dale, Janis Cole, mandated to create an Ontario Colin Brunton, Janis film culture, and under the Lundman and others, guidance of its first CEO, came bursting onto the Wayne Clarkson (who, as the Canadian movie scene former head of the Toronto with fresh, original films festival, had been responsible which rejected, equally, for launching Perspective Hollywood's conventional Canada), it proceeded to do so. dramas and the earlier English-Canadian The breakthrough came in 1987 when Rozema's first low-budget cineastes, like the Dons feature, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, won the Prix de la (Shebib and Owen), who had made downbeat films jeunesse at Cannes. The film, and Rozema herself, received a about heartbreak and loss. tremendous amount of international press attention, and Mermaids did an almost unheard of thing for an English-Canadian feature, it Although this group of talented artists do not make made money at the box office. Key New Wave films by Egoyan films with a unified aesthetic, they do have integrity, (Speaking Parts, Family Viewing, The Adjuster, Exotica, which pizzazz and an overwhelming belief in the power of won the International Critics' Prize at Cannes in 1994), by Bruce cinema. Graduates of U. of T.'s, Sheridan College's or McDonald (Roadkill, Highway 61) and by Peter Mettler (Top of His Ryerson's film departments, they gravitated to LIFT Head, Tectonic Plates) followed in the wake of Rozema's stunning (the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto), a success. funky film co-op located in a downtown warehouse, which was the spiritual successor to the defunct What is remarkable about this Toronto Filmmakers Co-op. group of filmmakers is that they, unlike previous gene- Leading the way into features were Mettler, with rations, have avoided the easy Scissere in 1982, and Mann with two exceptional films lure of big money and bigger on marginal art forms—Imagine the Sound, on jazz, and films in Hollywood. Rather, Poetry in Motion. Egoyan followed in 1984 with a fictional comic feature like their cinematic mentor, about identity, Next of Kin. Many of the young cineastes (all under 30) , they have worked on each other's films Mettler shot Next of Kin, Rozema's Passion chosen to stay in Canada and and McDonald's Knock! Knock! while McDonald edited Scissere, Egoyan's do what no other generation Family Viewing and Mann's Comic Book Confidential. McDonald also of English-Canadian feature OV3H SIH JO d01 3H guest-edited the 1988 "Outlaw Edition" of Cinema Canada, which filmmakers has done, actually THE TOP OF HIS HEA publicized the existence of this new breed of filmmakers. Despite the make a living in Canada while lack of a defining manifesto, the largely Toronto-based filmmakers practising their chosen existed through a dose-knit sense of cooperation, the kind rarely seen profession. in Canada since the growth of Quebec cinema in the early 1960s.

Two major events came into play in the 1980s which gave ■ Marc Glassman credence and cash to these young Ontario filmmakers In 1984, and Wyndham Wise

34 SUMMER 19 9 8 1980. In the 1990s, he scored Since then, she has appeared on Leo Ernest Ouimet major box office hits with Broadway, in Hollywood in Catherine O'Hara another SNL graduate, Michael films by directors as divergent Actor. Born, Toronto, 1954. Exhibitor and distributor. Born, Myers, in Wayne's World and its as Garry Marshall, Barbara From the North York suburbs of St. Martin, Quebec, 1877. Died, sequel. Michaels' latest release is Streisand, Woody Allen and Burnhamthorpe Collegiate, 1972. A trained electrician, Brain Candy, starring The Kids in most memorably in the title O'Hara landed a job as the hat Ouimet began showing films in the Hall, another one of his role of Eleni in 1985. A check girl for Toronto's Second Montreal on a regular basis in discoveries. performer of passion and City Revue in 1974. A few days 1905 with $50 and used Lumiere intelligence, Nelligan captured later she joined the touring equipment. He began Canada's this year's Best Supporting company, and when Gilda first film exchange in 1906 and Rick Moranis Actress at the Genies for her .Radner bolted for Saturday Night opened his first "Ouimetoscope" Actor. Born, Toronto, 1954. role in Mort Ransen's Margaret's Live in New York, she joined the the same year. By 1907, he had Moranis started in show business Museum. legendary troupe. Her out- built the largest (1,200 seats) as a radio deejay and stand-up rageous personas were featured luxury theatre in North America. comic, jobs which led him to in all 52 episodes of SCTV, from The next year he experimented Toronto's famed Second City Leslie Nielsen 1976-81. Along with her SCTV with sound equipment in his comedy troupe. In SCTV, he Actor. Born: Regina, 1926. The alumni, John Candy, Rick theatre. Although the Ouimetoscope teamed with Dave Thomas to son of a Royal Canadian Moranis and Martin Short, she was well ahead of its time, create the endearing toque- Mountie and the brother of a landed in big-budget Hollywood cheaper Nickelodeons eventually wearing, beer-swilling McKenzie Deputy Prime Minister, Nielsen films O'Hara launched her film put it out of business. Ouimet Brothers in "The Great White grew up in the North West career in 's After continued in the business as both North"; their antics spawned the Territories where, according to Hours in 1985, was in Tim the distributor (he had the box office hit, Strange Brew. him, "there was lots of Viking Burton's Beetlejuice, and played Canadian rights to Pathe films) Moranis successfully transposed discipline." After studying voice the harried mother in Chris and producer of newsreels. his comic nerd character from and acting with Lorne Greene, Columbus's mega-hit Home Alone SCTV to the big time in 1984 in Nielsen launched a film career in and its sequel. Ivan Reitman's smash hit, the mid-1950s. He played stolid Ghostbusters. Since then he has leading men for over two starred in Disney's Honey, I decades, including the captains Shrunk the Kids, opposite Steve in Forbidden Planet and The Martin in Parenthood and L.A. Poseidon Adventure. A self- Story, and as Barnie Rubble in confessed "closet comedian," he The Flintstones. reinvigorated his image by sending up those former roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun films. His Michael Myers Detective Drebin has become a Actor. Born, Toronto, 1964. A pop icon of the 1990s. graduate of Toronto's comedy club circuit and Second City Revue, Myers was hired by fellow Alanis Obomsawin Canadian, producer Lorne Director. Born, New Michaels, to write skits for the Hampshire, U.S.A., 1932. long-running Saturday Night Live. After growing up in an Myers soon became a regular on- Abenaki reservation near camera player. He extended his Montreal, Obomsawin popular skit about two suburban built a career as a singer- dudes with their own local cable storyteller, performing her show into the hugely successful own haunting tales and Wayne's World in 1992. Myers' chants, as well as character, Wayne Campbell, is traditional native material. about growing up young and In the 1970s, she began white in Scarborough's suburban making documentaries cele- mall culture, with Queen brating native life and cranked up on the radio while exposing the repercussions of driving down the DVP to the white injustice. NFB films like Gasworks on a Friday night. Incident at Restigouche and No Address deal with the realities of being victimized, poor and self- Kate Nelligan destructive. Obomsawin's Kaneh- Actor. Born, London, Ontario, satake: 270 Years of Resistance, a 1951. This charismatic per- retelling of the 1990 standoff former began her varied and between Mohawks and the justly celebrated international Canadian army, won interna- career on the London stage in tional acclaim, including the the 1970s with the National Toronto City Award for the best Theatre of Great Britain and the Canadian film at the 1994 Royal Shakespeare Company. Toronto International Film She won the London Critics' Festival. Best Actress Award in 1979. CAIWIDIIIN became known for , shot with in 1963, a film which presents the textures of life in rural Quebec by allowing the subjects to speak for themselves. 100 Films such as La bite lumineuse in 1982 explore the way les quibecois communicate while dealing with become pioneers in a movement that such topics as nationalist sensi- 1956 would become known variously as bilities and the relationship be- cinema verite, cinema direct or direct tween man and nature. Perrault, Director. Born, Toronto, 1935. huts: cinema. Either way, its portable, also a poet, makes films that While an employee of the NFB, ■ The NFB moves to Montreal. The realistic approach to filmmaking favour traditional occupations like former University of Toronto new buildings include laboratories, captured the attention of French hunting and fishing while anthropology student and poet complete production and post- documentary filmmaker , lamenting the encroachment of influenced the French New Wave, and Owen was assigned to direct a production services and the largest the modern world on deeply held sway over the documentary half-hour documentary project shooting stage outside of Hollywood. rooted ways of life. movement in Canada for a generation. about a probation officer and a FILMS ■ Nat Taylor opens the Toronto juvenile delinquent in 1964. He International Film Studios in Kleinberg, did not follow orders, delivering just outside Toronto, with two of the Daniel Petrie Skid Row () instead an edgy, urgent, now largest sound stages outside of Hollywood. legendary feature called Nobody Director. Born, Glace Bay, N.S., Waved Good-bye. It was the first 1920. After studying communi- film to give Toronto an identity. cations at Saint Francis Xavier 1957 1960 Owen followed up with several University in his home province Events: shorts, the intriguing Notes For a of Nova Scotia, Petrie went to Events: Film About Donna and Gail, and a the United States to attend ■ Sidney J. Furie shoots his first feature, A perceptive drama of late 1960s Columbia and Northwestern ■ At the new headquarters of the Dangerous Age, originally planned as a CBC- Canuck Zeitgeist, The Ernie Game. Universities. Working for most NPB, the future cream of Quebec TV production, in Toronto. of his career in the U.S., Petrie cinema—, , After leaving the NFB in 1969, ■ The Canada Council begins operations. Claude Fournier, Jacques Godbout, Owen directed several achieved critical acclaim for his ■ The NFB's City of Gold wins first Michel Brault, —embark unsatisfactory productions for screen adaptation of Lorraine prise for documentary at Cannes. on their careers. television, including a sequel to Hansbury's play, A Raisin in the Nobody Waved Good-bye, Sun, which starred Sidney FILMS Unfinished Business, in 1984. Poitier, in 1961. He has since directed many productions for (Norman McLaren and 1961 both cinema and television. In Claude Jutra) 1984, Petrie captured a Best City of Gold (Colin Low and Events: Film Genie for The Bay Boy, Director. Born, Montreal, 1927. Wolf Koenig) ■ directs his first which starred a young Kiefer The rugged Perrault is the Gilles movie, a student feature, with Denis Sutherland and Liv Ullmann, in Vigneault of Quebec cinema—its Heroux and Stephan Venne. his semi-autobiographical film ■ most traditionally nationalistic Nat Taylor produces The Mask in 3- about growing up in Cape filmmaker. After working in 1958 D, the first Canadian feature to be Breton. His two sons, Daniel Jr. documentary radio, Perrault extensively distributed in the U.S. (by and Donald, are both film Events: Warner Bros.). directors. ■ A Dangerous Age is released ■ Quebec schools are once again theatrically in England, but can't find allowed to show NFB films. Canadian distribution. Furie shoots his second feature, A Cool Sound From Hell, which receives the same fate, so he OEM moves to England. He tells the English Golden Gloves (Gilles Groulx) press: "I wanted to start a Canadian film La lutte (Michel Brault, Claude Fournier, industry, but nobody cared." Claude Jutra and Marcel Carriere) ■ ASN, Canada's longest running film The Mask (Julian Roffman) production company, closes down. Universe (Roman Kroitor and Colin Low) Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett)

A Dangerous Age (Sidney Furie) Now That April's Here (William Davidson) 1962 Les raquetteurs (Gilles Groulx Events: and Michel Brault) ■ Budge Crawley produces his first feature, Amanita Pestilens. The film has a number of minor distinctions to its 1959 credit, including the first screen appearance of Genevieve Bujold, the Events: first Canadian feature filmed in colour ■ With the release of Les raquetteurs, and the first to be shot simultaneously in Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx English and French. It is never released.

36 SUMMER 1996

The Luck of Ginger Coffey (Irvin FILMS Kreshner) Nobody Waved Good-bye (Don Owen) Lonely Boy (Roman Kroitor and Wolf Koenig) Seul ou avec d'autres (Denis Heroux, 1965 Denys Arcand and Stephane Venne) Events: ■ O.J. Firestone releases his Report of 1963 Film Distribution: Practices, Problems and Prospects. He recommends making the Events: CCA more generous for producers, the initiation of joint international film ■ Don Owen directs Nobody Waved agreements, and the establishment of a Good - bye for the NFB, the first film to film development corporation. give Toronto a cinematic identity. Eventually, most of Firestone's Meanwhile, Claude Jutra is doing the recommendations are adopted, but same for Montreal with a tout prendre. never as a comprehensive package. ■ The first feature-length English film made at the NFB, Drylanders, is released. FILMS ■ Pour la suite du monde is shown on Radio-Canada and draws an audience Memorandum (Donald Brittain) of one-and-a-half million. Mary Pickford Pas de deux (Norman McLaren) ■ The Province of Ontario follows the Le revolutionnaire (Jean Pierre Lefebvre) Actor. Born Gladys Smith, films, Pidgeon only emerged as a federal lead and creates the Ontario La vie heureuse de Liopold Z. (Gilles Carle) Toronto, 1893. Died, 1979. On leading man in the sound era, Arts Council, which has a mandate to Winter Kept Us Warm (David Sector) the Toronto stage from age appearing in 85 films from 1928- fund films of an experimental nature. four, Pickford was a star on 1978. Durable, and frequently cast ■ Canada signs its first co-production Broadway before appearing in as a man of principle or a doting agreement, with France. her first film for D.W. Griffith husband, Pidgeon reached his 1966 in 1910. Known as Little Mary, peak in the 1940s as the co-star in "America's Sweetheart," she Ford's How Green Was My Valley, Events: Drylanders (Donald Haldane) Wyler's Mrs. Miniver and LeRoy's ■ The first issue of the original Take One became the most popular and My Financial Career (Gerald Potterton Madame Curie. While performing appears, edited by Peter Lebensold and financially successful woman in and Grant Munro) silent cinema. In films such as opposite Greer Garson in the latter Pour la suite du monde (Pierre Perrault Adam Symansky. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, two films, the tactful actor and Michel Brault) ■ David Cronenberg shoots his first Pollyanna and Little Lord garnered two Oscar nominations. short, Transfer. Fauntleroy, Pickford played the heroine with idealism and 1964 spunk, and a subtle suggestion 1967 of the nymphet. She formed Events: United Artists with Griffith and ■ Events: Charlie Chaplin in 1919 and The theatrical release of Nobody ■ Christopher Chapman's A Place to Stand, married Douglas Fairbanks in Waved Good - bye in Toronto marks the very beginning of an English-Canadian a propaganda film for Ontario, is shown 1920. Pickford made over 200 feature film culture. The film first on a 30 by 66 ft. screen at Expo 67. films in 25 years and dominated opened in New York, and only after Although shot on 35mm, the film is American cinema until the favourable reviews did the NFB agree projected in 70mm and is a precursor to coming of sound, when her to its release in Canada. the IMAX process. ■ Little Mary character went out of ■ The federal cabinet approves in The Challenge for Change program is favour with audiences. She won principle the establishment of a loan launched at the NFB. Its goal to promote the Best Actress Oscar for Coquette fund to foster and promote the social change through the use of cinema. (29) and an Honorary Oscar in development of a feature film fund. ■ The Canadian Filmmakers 1976. ■ The Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Short Distribution Centre is established in Film Festival begins, the first continuous Toronto, the first of the alternative film festival in North America. distribution cooperatives to spring up Walter Pidgeon across the country. FILMS ■ Toronto-born and CBC-trained Actor. Born, St. John, N.B., 1897. Norman Jewison receives an Academy Died, 1984. Like most talented a tout prendre (Claude Jutra) award nomination for his direction of Canadians of his generation, Le chat dans le sac (Gilles Goulx) the ground-breaking U.S. racial drama, Pidgeon went south. Although I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a In the Heat of the Night, which wins five he did work in silent Fly (Derek Lamb) Oscars, including Best Picture.

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