An old film pal friend of mine alerted me today to an upcoming special live streaming chat on YouTube. "Canadian Cinema That You Need to Know" is a series presented by the group Movie vs. Film, and in this segment the special guest will be film critic and journalist Geoff Pevere, who will discuss five outstanding Canadian films: Goin' Down The Road, Mon Oncle Antoine, My Winnipeg, Hard Core Logo, and Videodrome. I've seen them all and would agree with the esteemed Mr Pevere on their inclusion here.
The question of why this country has not had its own distinct film industry will be addressed. The first-crack answer is that Canada suffers a terrible brain drain in this area. With no real industrial platform to make movies, created in part by the incessant bleeding of talent, the business is, at best, scattershot. A low production output doesn't encourage any serious financial investment. Industrial output requires industry. It's a vicious circle. Not to be forgotten is the hard cold fact that Canadian banks, very wealthy Canadian banks, play a safe game: investing in real estate, often offshore. Film production and distribution is high risk.
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