I love Broken Social Scene as well and believe Don McKellar is a genuine Canadian talent, but what are you talking about? There is hardly anything good coming out of the canadian film market currently. There are only a handful to decent anglophone films which have come out in the last 10-15 years (the sweet hereafter, new waterford girl, last night, hard core logo, monkey warfare; staying within the macdonald wheelhouse: haven't seen pontypool so I cannot comment on that one, but tracy fragments was horrible). The real unique and original films are coming from Quebecois filmmakers. I feel this is because they have a population that is connected to, and supported by the french speaking market. Most anglo Canunk filmmaking is purely paint-by-number knockoffs of already mediocre american formulas and conventions (also too many canadian films about heroine junkies living and dying on skid row in Vancouver).

Most criminal, theaters are choking out Canadian content from their screens. But this will never cease due to our proximity to the US, and the popularity and hunger for American content in Canada. We need to try to develop a system that is akin to that of the UK or AUS., as far as content development and distribution is concerned. Another factor is, unlike the latter countries mentioned, it is far too expensive to produce a Canadian film in Canada. The crews cost too much, and the pictures make no money. And, while being fairly liberal, I do not like the idea of the government subsidizing everything out there. In truth, I would like it to go the opposite direction and financing to stop. Get the market to stand on it’s own or not at all. Also, I once heard that Winnipeg (my city of residence) was actually classed as a US film market, and that any earnings would be lumped in with the US box office. Would a theatre want a Canuck film not earning a cent in an american market? The answer: they wouldn’t.

The sad fact is Canadian filmmaking will, in general, rarely hold up against the American giant (save for the French markets I’ve mentioned previously). It will always be eclipsed. The current system is designed with little emphasis on functionality.

Before rambling on anymore, I guess what I’m trying to get at is: Without support, Canadian films of a higher calibre will be few and far between. As they are, as we type.

I definitely agree with you on many points, but I don't think that you can compare all of our stuff directly to American productions. I live in Vancouver and have worked in the industry here for over half a decade, and it's easy to see the differences in funding, but that is our societies' fault for not caring about films unless they have thousands of posters up around the city.

Our cultures are so intertwined that everyone expects high production value, and we simply can't keep on par with the Americans. Look at Canada's largest budgeted film Passchendaele, it took Paul Gross years to raise 20 million to make it. An American film that costs 20 million is considered "low budget". I've worked on movies like X-men 3 where the budget was in the range of 300 Million, now how can we compete with that on a mass marketing scale, and speaking of marketing, look at films like the Blair Witch project which was made for next to nothing (700,000 in total) had a 25 million dollar marketing budget.

It's just not fair to compare Canadian films to American films, they have more money and tax credits to toss around on any opportunity they want, while it's an epic struggle to get anything made up here, so it's easy to rag on ourselves when we don't have nearly as much to chose from.

I am very proud of what we do and am probably quite biased in the fact that I immerse myself in Canadian content every day. Stuff like Monkey Warfare, Everything's Gone Green, Pontypool, and One Week may be "lesser" in almost every technical aspect, but they have more heart and feel genuine, not just something knocked together by a studio looking to make a quick buck.

In closing, Canadian films will never reach the level of American films until Canadians learn to support our own artists, and until then government funding is the only thing keeping our country's creativity and voice alive through outlets like CBC (bitch about them all you want, but you can't deny the work that they do).

Screed

I cannot deny that they work (seemingly in a literal sense alone), but what I can deny is that the work is worthwhile and honorable solely because it is Canadian. Most material produced seems purposefully designed to be fruitless. I loathe the argument that Canadian film work can only be viewed exclusively as 'art' and that it is therefore exempt from even minimal contemplation of potential profit. The idea of profit in our film industry appears as a dirty word. Also, we're not making movies that Canadians want to see. And the filmmakers are hiding behind this shield of “art”, hoping that their argument distances themselves from the reproach of critics. It’s spare the rod spoil the child here.

And I am not completely naive about the differences between canadian and american productions in Canada. I know about the tax rebates they receive, and the massive marketing campaigns they have at their command. These are some of things that we have to work around and get past before the market will become more efficient. And I don’t think the upbringing of our young filmmakers is helping the matter either. We’re teaching them how to deal with grandiose budgets before we’re teaching them about the baby steps cost cutting of a lower production. We’re saying they’re worth more than they are before they’ve paid their dues. So they get impatient and go to the states, only to get picked up for an american show that’s going to film in Vancouver/Winnipeg/Toronto (this goes for all the actors, writers, directors). We’re wasting our resources.

Another thing you brought up is Passchendaele, total disaster. I do realize that the 20 million dollar budget for the film was long haul for Paul Gross. The idea of 20 million for a Canuck film is both unheard of, and not nearly enough for the scope of the project. It pains me to have to say this, as I think Paul Gross is a Canadian film and television asset (and I think Slings and Arrows is one of the best things Canada has produced in the last while), but I think Passchendaele put the filmmakers in Canada back a good decade or more. If we can’t make a profit on a Canadian war film by a well known Canadian star, there is no way more modest projects, which still have a budget in the low millions, will get financed. And it’s these modest productions that should receive a more significant amount of focus. Also we can’t be so insular in our english market, greater Canada is not Quebec, we do not have the support for in Canada for our films. We need to work into different markets, so we’re able to make back the budgets. Then we can make a Passchendaele. Gross jumped blindly and failed. He made a generic film which everyone has seen in one form or another.

I also think we have a greed and jealousy in our film mentality that is completely delusional and hasn’t a foundation, nor a foot, in reality. We see the X-3 production with it’s 300 million dollar budget being made in Vancouver by our own crews and wonder ‘why not us?’. But the truth is, we haven’t earned it yet. But we want to make those movies. We need to learn how to cut costs. Does this mean smaller crews, more inventive directors and writers? Yes. Will it be difficult? Of course. We need to make a 50 million feature for 25, a 20 for 10, a 5 for 500 thousand. I hear a main issue with this is that our crews are among some of the highest paid in the the word and that that is why during the recession we were taking a hit and US productions were going to AUS. and South America. Well maybe that’s the dominant issue here. Are we worth what they’re paying us yet? That seems the most relevant. Are we unable to make entertaining films in Canada because our budgets cannot compare, or is it that our crews and writers and actors and directors have priced us out of the game? I’m still wet behind the ears when it comes to film production in Canada, but I have worked and have done the research in these matters. And the conclusion that I’ve come to is that we’re all our own worst enemy.

Hey I am replying here to your posts today over as FSR about Canadian film. They delete any posts that are too long, one of the reasons I stay away a lot of the time.

I wan't trying to say that Juno was a Canadian film. Just that sometimes non-Canadian films have high Canadian content while Canadian ones do not. Defendor and Stone of Destiny are but two examples. It is a shame that very few Canadian directors do Canadian work. It is a real shame that the english Canadian cinemas has so little big name talent. I mean there should be more renown establishment than just Egoyan. Again I agree about the shame that is Paul Gross in general at this point. Another telling point is the fact that the country's largest festival has whored itself out to the international machine. Sure they have Canadian awards but they mean dick all and everyone knows it. The push for making films in Canada has been about drawing the Americans here instead of making our own. And it is pretty clear that has been a miserable failure.

What do Canadians want to see?

From the looks of things at the theatre, we apparently want to see what Americans make, mind numbingly insulting rubbish (for the most part).

What do you expect from Canadian films? I personally find that Americans cover most bases with generic genre films with the occasional little gem tossed in.

What can Canadians do to be recognized? Can we have our own identity as the country that makes ________ films (hopefully not "shit" in this case), because as a country itself, we don't have much of an identity.

I particularly like the fact that we make more "artsy" film per-say, it may not equal big dollars, but it still derives respect. We just need to get better at what we're currently doing. The Americans have too much of a head start in an industry like this for us to try and keep up at their own game.

It's much harder to make a great film in the US due to profit chasing by the studios, it's always the "safe" road that is most traveled there, and that is how come there is so much mediocre garbage.
At least with us, we are publicly funded and profit is not our one over-bearing concern, so we have so much more potential in what we can do, we just have to realize it.

I think now we are starting to learn our place. We're not trying to compete the the big boys anymore, we're clearing our own path, and films like Hard Core Logo, Monkey Warfare, and TV shows like Jpod and Being Erica are just the beginning.

I am really excited to see what we come up with over the next little while, I just hope that the public can raise their heads above the pile of garbage and start to notice what we are able to create.

Sounds like the right project for BSS. Will be interested to see the final results.

It's not surprising that Emily Haines is involved as she has toured with BSS and lent her voice on more than a few songs.

HOLY CRAP! I was wondering what those big camera's were on stage for this past Saturday.

They played an amazing 3 hour show at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre a few days ago and for free!

Not just Emily Haines from Metric was there, but Amy Millan from Stars, and Feist as well too!

...i gotta get a new camera and get to work.

I love it when all the girls get together like that. It's getting more rare and rare these days.

This is quite brilliant, I've loved the Broken Social Scene for ages, and Don McKellar had me absolutely enthralled with his film Monkey Warfare (also based in Toronto). There is so much amazing work coming out of Canada and this sounds like it could be right up there. Let's just hope that it gets some solid exposure, sadly our stuff isn't that well recognized (even in our own country).

Monkey Warfare is a lot of fun. I don't think that's even hit DVD in the States, which is a real shame.