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Canadian Film Encyclopedia

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Bibliography

We've pulled together a list of essential resources on Canadian film that are recommended by FRL staff and the CFE advisory committee. It's not a complete list, but whether you study or teach film, or enjoy it for the sheer pleasure of the moving image, these books, websites and CD-ROMs offer a rich supply of Canadian film reference material. Use these links to go directly to the resources listed on this page:

Online resources
Print resources
CD-ROM resources

Online resources


Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television: www.academy.ca/national.htm
Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA): www.actra.ca
Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada: www.avtrust.ca
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: www.cbc.ca
Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre: www.cfmdc.org
CBC Directory of Television Series, 1952–1982 (searchable): www.film.queensu.ca/cbc/default.html
Film- and media-related websites in Canada (from Queen’s University film studies department): www.film.queensu.ca/links.html
The Great Canadian Guide to the Movies (and TV): www.pulpanddagger.com/movies/filmtv.html
The Internet Movie Database: www.imdb.com
Library and Archives Canada:  www.collectionscanada.ca
National Film Board of Canada: www.nfb.ca
Telefilm Canada: www.telefilm.gc.ca

Print resources

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Who's Who in Canadian Film and Television 2002. Toronto: Global Press, 2002.

Alemany-Galway, Mary. A Postmodern Cinema: The Voice of the Other in Canadian Film. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002.

Armatage, Kay & Kass Banning, Brenda Longfellow, Janine Marchessault. (eds.). Gendering the Nation: Canadian Women's Cinema. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.

Beard, William & Jerry White. (eds.). North of Everything: English Canadian Cinema Since 1980. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2002.

Beattie, Eleanor Gale. The Handbook of Canadian Film. Toronto: P. Martin Associates, c1977.

Bidd, Donald. (ed.). The NFB Film Guide: The Productions of the National Film Board of Canada from 1939-1989, English-Language Productions. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1991. For French productions: Le répertoire des films de L'ONF: La production de l'Office national du film du Canada de 1939 à 1989, productions en français.

Canada Communications Group. Film, Video and Photography on Canada. Ottawa: Canada Communications Group, 1993.

Canadian Federation of Film Societies. Canadian Federation of Film Societies Index of 16mm & 35mm Feature Length Films Available in Canada. Toronto: Go Graphic, 1981. 

Includes both Canadian and non-Canadian productions. Precursor to Film/vidéo Canadiana. Useful for verifying credits, dates, name spellings.

Canadian Film and Television Production Association. The Guide 2002: The Practical Guide to Canada's Film, Television and Multimedia Industry. Toronto: CFTPA, 2002.

Canadian Library Association. Canadian Index to Periodicals and Documentary Films: An Author and Subject Index, January 1948–December 1959. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1962.

Relevant for early film production. Particularly useful for references to film reviews and for shorts entries. Includes an index.

Clandfield, David. Canadian Film. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Coulombe, Michel & Marcel Jean. (eds.). Le dictionnaire du cinéma Québécois. Montreal: Boréal, 1999.

Over 700 signed entries on Quebec film professionals (directors, producers, screenwriters) and film topics. Includes birth and death dates when known. Searchable by names of individuals and production companies.

Desjardins, Claude. (ed.). MultimediaCanada. Montreal: Revue Qui fait Quoi, 1999.

Dorland, Michael. (ed.). The Cultural Industries in Canada: Problems, Policies and Prospects. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 1996.

Dorland, Michael. So Close to the State/s: The Emergence of Canadian Feature Film Policy. Toronto; Buffalo; London : University of Toronto Press, 1998.

Easterbrook, Ian. Canada and Canadians in Feature Films: A Filmography, 1928–1990. Guelph, ON: University of Guelph, 1996.

Evans, Gary. In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949–1989. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

Evans, Gary. John Grierson and the National Film Board: The Politics of Wartime Propaganda. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.

Feldman, Seth (ed.). Take Two. Toronto: Irwin, 1984.

Feldman, Seth & Joyce Nelson. (eds.). Canadian Film Reader. Toronto: P. Martin Associates, c1977.

Fournier-Renaud, Madeleine & Pierre Véronneau. Écrits sur le cinéma: Bibliographie québécoise, 1911–1981. Montreal: Cinémathèque québécoise/Musée du cinéma, c1982. 

Annotated bibliography of 1,685 works on Quebec film.

Garel, Sylvain & André Pâquet. Les cinémas du Canada: Québec, Ontario, Prairies, Côte Ouest, Atlantique. Paris: Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1992.

Includes approximately 120 biographical entries on directors in 2 sections (Quebec and rest of Canada). Includes birth and death dates when known. Primarily after 1960. Includes timeline of Canadian film milestones and section of title entries with credits and synopsis. Contains title and name index.

Gittings, Christopher E. Canadian National Cinema: Ideology, Difference, and Representation. London: Routledge, 2002.

Jacques, Michel. Chronologie du cinéma québécois: Les années ’80. Quebec: Botakap, c1993.

Chronology of events in the Quebec film industry, 1980–1989. Name index. 

Jones, D.B. Movies and Memoranda: An Interpretative History of the National Film Board of Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Film Institute, c1981.

Jutras, Pierre. (ed.). Annuaire du cinéma québécois 1993: Bibliographie, films, vidéos. Montreal: Cinémathèque québécoise, 1994.

Published annually from 1988–1994.

Leach, Jim & Jeannette Sloniowski. (eds.). Candid Eyes: Essays on Canadian Documentaries. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.

Lerner, Loren R. Canadian Film and Video: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Over 10,500 annotated bibliographical references. Title index and person index. Extensive chronology of the Canadian film industry. Excellent basic source, with references leading to relevant publications.

Lever, Yves. Histoire générale du cinéma au Québéc. Montreal: Boréal, 1995.

Quebec film production. Chapters cover 1896 to 1987. Name index and title index. Extensive bibliography.

Lumley, Elizabeth. (ed.). Canadian Who's Who 2002. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002.

Magder, Ted. Canada's Hollywood: The Canadian State and Feature Films. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

Marshall, William. Quebec National Cinema. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.

Minister of Supply and Services Canada. Film, Video and Audio Productions Supported by the Multicultural Programs 1973–1992 = Productions cinématiques, vidéos et sonores subventionées par les programmes du multiculturalisme 1973–1992. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1992.

Monk, Katherine. Weird Sex & Snowshoes and Other Canadian Film Phenomena. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2001.

Morris, Peter. Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, c1992.

Morris, Peter. The Film Companion. Toronto: Irwin, 1984.

Over 300 biographies of directors and some producers and other film professionals. Birth and death dates, and references to other publications. Essential source for Canadian film history.

National Film Board of Canada. National Film Board of Canada Video and Film Catalogue. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1993.

National Film Board of Canada. Our Home and Native Land: A Film and Video Resource Guide for Aboriginal Canadians. Winnipeg: National Film Board of Canada, 1991.

Nelson, Joyce. The Colonized Eye: Rethinking the Grierson Legend. Toronto: Between the Lines, c1988.

Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey. (ed.). The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Page, James E. Seeing Ourselves: Films for Canadian Studies. [Montreal]: National Film Board of Canada, 1979.

Pendakur, Manjunath. Canadian Dreams and American Control: The Political Economy of the Canadian Film Industry. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990.

Posner, Michael. Canadian Dreams: The Making and Marketing of Independent Film. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1993.

Pratley, Gerald. Torn Sprockets: The Uncertain Projection of the Canadian Film. Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1987.

Covers the period 1900 to 1984. Includes film title entries with credits and synopses for productions from 1945 to 1983. Name index and title index. Bibliography.

Rist, Peter. (ed.). Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001.

Turner, D. John. Canadian Feature Film Index, 1913–1985. [Ottawa]: Public Archives Canada: National Film, Television, and Sound Archives, c1987. Also published in French: Index des films canadiens de long métrage, 1913–1985.

1,222 feature films produced or co-produced in Canada. Includes credits. Title and name indexes. Comprehensive, definitive source for credit information on Canadian features.

Véronneau, Pierre & Piers Handling. (eds.). Self Portrait: Essays on the Canadian and Quebec Cinemas. Ottawa: Canadian Film Institute, 1980.

Wise, Wyndham. (ed.). Take One's Essential Guide to Films & Filmmakers in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001.

Wise, Wyndham. (ed.). Take One's Guide to 100 Great and Glorious Years of Canadian Cinema. Toronto: Canadian Independent Film & Television Publishing Association, 1998.

Worsnop, Brenda M. & Chris M. Worsnop. (eds.). The Film Users' Guide to Canadian Short Films, Vol. 1. Mississauga, ON: Wright Communications, c1979.

CD-ROM resources


FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) FilmArchive Database. CD-ROM. SilverPlatter, 2002.

General film index. Contains cumulative international data and serves as an excellent basic resource. Includes Canadian references. Contains information compiled by FIAF; includes almost 300,000 entries from over 300 periodical titles from all volumes (1972 to present) of International Index to Film Periodicals and records from its television-related companion; also includes bibliographies.

Film/Vidéo Canadiana. CD-ROM. [Montreal]: NFB; [Ottawa]: National Library of Canada; National Archives of Canada; [Montreal]: Cinémathèque québécoise; Musée du cinéma, 1993.

Film titles and credits. 26,000 films and videos produced or co-produced in Canada, including credits. Covers 1980s to 1993.