A few years back, I saw the opening night film at the Windsor International Film Festival. The World Before Her was identified as a Canadian film. What we saw was a documentary about the contrast between the Miss India pageant and a training camp for Indian women to fight against Christianity, Islam, and Western culture.
Rebelle (War Witch), Old Stone, Ava. Let's not forget the works of Deepa Mehta. All Canadian films that don't feel Canadian.
The process that goes into picking which Canadian films to review
We focus on Canadian films that are shot in Canada with Canadian actors because they deserve recognition, especially in their home country.
I recently did see Ava thanks to Amazon Prime. Outside of the credits, there is not a shred in Canada on screen. Ava is a Canadian film because Sadaf Foroughi is Iranian-Canadian. This is an observation without judgment.
We see young women speaking in ways that we might not think they would speak with such frankness on boys and sex. Ava (Mahour Jabbari) fights an uphill battle against her mother. Her father is more lenient but that doesn't carry too much weight.
Ava's mother (Bahar Noohian) tries to control every aspect of Ava's life and is rather successful.
Ava is a very good film, though the story suffers from rooting for Ava even if nothing seems to be going her own way. That may be a reflection of the reality especially since the story is supposed to somewhat based on Foroughi's personal experience.
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Other countries produce films with little visual element from that country such as Mustang set in Turkey in Turkish but is a French film. However, Canada is in a unique spot in the world in terms of bringing films to the screen that would have trouble otherwise.
Mehta's work, particularly Fire, Earth, and Water, belongs in many ways to the world, even if the films look Indian and are Canadian films.
Ava might not exist if thought about as an Iranian film. Wadjda from Saudi Arabia has proven to be a grand exception, but doesn't deal with teenage girls and thoughts about sex.
Canada is a very inclusive multicultural country. While the United States can claim that on some level, Canada has an advantage in being a more ideal destination for people that have trouble telling their stories outside their country. Their films would be more difficult to make in the United States and more likely to get lost in that film community.
Albert Shin, born in Canada of South Korean descent, made his debut feature film, In Her Place, in Korean in South Korea. "(Shin) feels a film can be 'uniquely Canadian' due to the artistic sensibility of its writer and director, even when it is set outside of Canada and filmed in a language other than English, French or an Indigenous language."
Telefilm Canada shouldn't limit funding by language but reward films shot in Canada with Canadians
We still support the idea of rewarding Canadian films shot in Canada with Canadians. There also needs to be support for films tied to countries that would make them difficult to release.
Since films are often co-produced by several countries, we could create a UN type concept to help fund and promote films that fall in these categories. They can still belong to the countries of origin but get a chance to tell stories that otherwise might be lost.
The actresses who played Ava (Mahour Jabbari) and her best friend Melody (Shayesteh Sajadi) were denied travel visas by Canada to attend the film's premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Among the many issues involved were a lack of "family ties in Canada."
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Ava made the TIFF Canada's Top Ten list of the best Canadian films of 2017. The film received 8 Canadian Screen Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Foroughi), Best Actress (Jabbari), and Best Supporting Actress (Noohian). Ava won for Noohian and Best First Feature.
If you are a fan of Canadian films made in Canada with Canadians and upset about films such as Ava competing for awards, then let's work to make those films more competitive. Film has a world stage and that is the real competition. Streaming services give consumers lots of choices. Work hard to make all Canadian films a part of that world.
video credit: YouTube/TIFF Trailers
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