National Canadian Film Day: Coming up on April 15

Georgina Reilly in Pontypool. Photograph: c.IFC Films/Everett /Rex Features

I love that the Wikipedia page for Canadian horror novelist Tony Burgess includes a disambiguation note: “Not to be confused with Anthony Burgess,” of Clockwork Orange fame.

When I was in undergrad, I took two or three courses with a brilliant older student who would occasionally invite me to join him on his smoke breaks, or for coffee after class. From Tony Burgess I learned about Keats’s letters and how to tell a mordant story.

And when Tony became a well-known novelist, I was thrilled to see that Canadian director Bruce McDonald, of Hard Core Logo fame (adapted from a novel by Canadian writer Michael Turner) took on the challenge of adapting Pontypool Changes Everything to the screen.

The film title, Pontypool, is shorter, although I prefer the original. And it’s terrifically fun and scary and gross. But the whole Bewdley trilogy is worth reading.

My point–and I do have one–is that Canadian film is ideal for telling weird and wacky stories. Funding is tricky and is conventionally divided between government grants, periodic tax-rebate schemes, and family generosity. Several friends financed their student films and early independent films largely on credit cards. No one gets rich in Canadian film unless they leave.

Lots of Canadian films are adaptations of short stories and novels; some are even adaptations of poems, or poem sequences.

The National Film Board’s prominence in our cultural life is shrinking.

But it was a key starting point for everything from Canada’s outstanding animation productions to our excellence in documentary filmmaking, with a particular emphasis on works by women directors (thank you, Studio D) and, more recently, Indigenous and multicultural filmmakers.

So on April 15, take advantage of the free screenings across Canada. It’s a change to push back against the Hollywood juggernaut.

McDonald’s Hard Core Logo turns 30 this year, so there are special screenings. The late Graham Greene will be remembered for his extraordinary performances. (It’s worth watching the Marvel limited series Echo for several reasons, including the opportunity to see him acting, and yet once more, with Tantoo Cardinal.)

The list of spotlight screenings could help you to find some new films to stream, if you can’t see them in person.

And if you’re in Vancouver, VIFF provides two weeks of screenings of Canadian films. I’m looking forward to a Sunday showing of a doc about Toronto’s Kensington Market.

A handful of Canadian feature films on my not-to-be-missed list (with some latitude here, because I’ve included adaptations of Canadian novels made by Canadian filmmakers that in some instances don’t have enough production “points” to count as Canadian):

Crackie, dir. Sherry White

I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, dir. Patricia Rozema

Jesus of Montreal, dir. Denys Arcand

My American Cousin, dir. Sandy Wilson

The Sweet Hereafter, dir. Atom Egoyan

Women Talking, dir. Sarah Polley