Canadian+Cinema+of+the+1990s

Canadian Cinema of the 1990s: A Complex Refusal to Conform

[|Pump Up the Volume Trailer (1990 Dir. Allan Moyle)] =[|Canadian Timeline 1990s] = = = =Three Pillars of Canadian Cinema or A National Cinema: = ===A. These highlight the "deep diversity" of Canadian film and identity, from George Melnyk's "radical regionalism" and definitions of "Metis, the nation born of intermarriage between Europeans (mostly French) and Aboriginals (mostly Cree) to Philosopher Charles Taylor's focus on second-level identity of Italian and Ukrainian immigrants and their descendents. ===

===B. They also bring up the National Cinema Question: Is Canadian cinema a single national cinema with English and French elements or a more pluralistic conglomeration of various cinemas, from English Canadian Cinema to Quebec and Aboriginal Cinemas? ===

===C. Divisions between Canadian cinemas shed light on Quebec's drive for separation since the 1970s and the conflict between English speaking and French speaking communities that go back to the beginning of colonialism in America. Although a 1980 referendum on sovereignty for Quebec failed by a 60/40 vote, the 1995 referendum was almost a dead draw. To this day, Quebec has never formally signed on to the Canadian constitution, and the rest of Canada has never formally recognized Quebec as a "distinct society." ===

===D. Two Assumptions: Canada is a nation-state, and Canada has within it three groups whose cohesiveness go back to its foundation as a nation-state and remain. ===

=The Three Pillars/Experiences of Canada and Canadian Cinema =

===A. The Aboriginal: refers to a group of peoples indigenous to the continent whose linguistic and cultural diversity are complex (see //Asivaqtin/The Hunters// (1977), //The Learning Path// (1991), Kanehsake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993 Alanis Obornsawin), and //Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner// (2002), for example. ===



[|Kanehsake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993 Dir. Alanis Obomsawin)]

= = = =



[|Fire Trailer] = = = = = = =Other Influences on Canadian Cinema =

A. The importance of documentary (National film Board of Canada founded in 1939 by John Grierson and moved to Montreal, Quebec
===B. All three have been the site of attempts to sustain the production of low-budget but still semi-commercial fiction film (//The Decline of the American Empire, I've Heard the Mermaid Singing, The Fast Runner//) ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">C. The history of public subsidy is also an important part of an understanding of the tensions that have been long at work in Canadian cinema. (see Quebec's Service de cne-photographie from 1941, Office du film du Quebec from 1961, and the Institut quebecois du cinema, as well as the Canadian government's Canadian Film Development Corporation established in 1967) ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">D. The Capital Cost Allowance programme provided tax shelters for film production in Canada in the late 1970s, providing opportunities for Hollywood productions to save cash (see //Meatballs// (1979) and //Porky's// (1982), for example). ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">E. The Real problem for Canadian film policy is that it has not been able to address lack of screen space for Canadian films, so Canadian films become foreign films in their own country (only played in big cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver). ===

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) resists any attempts to impose quotas for Canadian films on Canadian screens.
===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Even though Quebec has regulated distribution to mandate first Canadian ownership, the MPAA has managed to negotiate exemptions to the law for its members. ===

===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Although English Canadian films account for less than 5 percent of domestic box office, Quebec films account for around 25 percent of the province's box office (Quebec as the real cinema?) ===