Always dignified under pressure... Dear God. I had one job. Look classy. I did this instead.
— @realSarahPolley (she/her) (@realsarahpolley) March 14, 2023
(Let me take this opportunity to tell you that you need to see the incredible "I Like Movies" by Chandler Levack. And the transformative "Brother" by Clement Virgo.) pic.twitter.com/WHlsHzsyuM
The significance of Sarah Polley's Oscars win is also crucial because she is a great champion of Canadian film.
This is the part of the season where prominent Canadian films get a brief theatrical release in Canada. For those who missed the Toronto International Film Festival or even the Windsor International Film Festival, this is a chance to see the films mentioned in various articles.
Riceboy Sleeps and Brother were the runaway significant films. Love that Polley is championing Chander Levack's I Like Movies. Was also impressed with North of Normal, intrigued with Falcon Lake, and surprised by The Swearing Jar. These other films have later debuts.
Jesse Brown of Canadaland ran through the nominees for Best Motion Picture to start off a podcast on Bill C-11, designed to redraw definitions on Canadian content (among other issues).
Babysitter; Brother; Falcon Lake; Riceboy Sleeps; Summer with Hope; and Viking
Brown pointed out that he had heard of none of them. Your humble narrator has seen the first 4 on the list, had heard of Viking, and only learned about Summer with Hope when the nominations came out. That film is another Canadian film in name only from Sadaf Foroughi, writer/director of Ava.
I hadn't heard of Babysitter before the Windsor International Film Festival. I knew Monia Chokri's work as an actor and director so I was genuinely excited about the film (marvelous, by the way). I knew and liked Tu Dors Nicole, a previous film of Stéphane Lafleur, who also did Viking.
I was not familiar with the filmmakers of the other 3 films. Their films were outstanding.
We poke fun at Jesse Brown's attitude toward Canadian films but on some level, he has a point. How are Canadians supposed to know about these films?
Jesse Brown could have heard the Tom Power interviews on Q on CBC Radio One about Anthony Shim on Riceboy Sleeps, Clement Virgo on Brother, and Chander Levack on I Like Movies.
If Canadians are getting their movie information via Entertainment Tonight on American television or even Breakfast Television on Citytv, few little of that info is on Canadian films. I sought out those Tom Power interviews because I knew about the movies, was interesting in those films, and listened to the interviews after I saw the films.
"I'll admit. I've overstated things in the past where I have such negative associations with Canadian TV and film growing up. That's the low budget stuff that was always forced. It's anti-marketing. You're actually making me less engaged and interested in watching it when you put it into that kind of framework. A genre I don't want to mess with."
Jesse Brown from a different recent podcast, also devoted to Bill C-11. There is a mindset in English Canadian society that fits this. I've seen some of the films and TV Brown speaks of. What he is saying applies to some of that content.
Riceboy Sleeps and Brother do not fit that profile. Beans and Scarborough do not fit that profile.
We've seen 9 of the 10 titles from the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film nominees. The only film from that list that we saw and didn't love was Something You Said Last Night from Luis De Filippis. An interesting concept but a really boring film. A lot of people liked it. Brown might like this more than me. He might like Riceboy Sleeps, Brother, Beans, and Scarborough.
Brown and Canadian Senator Paula Simons mentioned that Canadian films are noted in streaming services. As someone who has to do a Netflix search for Canadian films and TV, knowing there are films outside the search, having Canadian content marked in Canada seems like an advantage. Unfortunately, movies such as The Nest, My Salinger Year. and French Exit are marked as Canadian film, which will confuse Brown and many other English Canadians further about Canadian film.
This CBC News report talks about these exciting Canadian films and the limitations for Canadians to know and find these films.
"Canadian culture is incredibly diverse. We’re a small population spread over a vast geography. We live next to a pop culture behemoth."
"Canadian films tell us about ourselves and our neighbours. They tell us about the world we live in and the world we want to live in. National Canadian Film Day gives us an opportunity to share these stories. Canadian cinema has the power to bring us together. Come with us."
That backstory and question comes from the folks at National Canadian Film Day, which is coming up on April 19 this year, a mere 16 days away.
As an outsider, I get that I might appreciate Canadian film through a different lens. I also appreciate that Jesse Brown, a Canadian living in Canada, specifically in the Toronto area, has a lot easier time finding good Canadian films, plenty of mediocre Canadian films, and yes, some bad Canadian films.
Finding good Canadian films not just because they're Canadian
2023 Canadian Screen Awards nominations: Film
Riceboy Sleeps is the 2022 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award winner
Riceboy Sleeps wins the 2022 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Willing to bet Jesse Brown of Canadaland has seen a few Canadian documentaries, given that Brown is a journalist. Canadaland's look into Bill C-11 has been thorough. If Brown finds some down time, he should check out a Canadian feature film not because it's Canadian but he should be aware of great Canadian films he otherwise might have missed.
Twitter capture: @realsarahpolley
photo credits: Riceboy Sleeps; Brother; National Canadian Film Day
video credit: CBC News
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