7 films to watch on National Canadian Film Day
CBC staffers share some of our favourite home grown titles
Put down the Timmies and step away from your hockey skates. Canadian filmmakers, broadcasters and theatres want you to express your Canadian pride in another way today: by watching a movie.
REEL CANADA, a non-profit Canadian cinema-supporting organization, has declared April 29 National Canadian Film Day.
To celebrate, more than 150 movie screenings are being held around the country, including a free showing of Jean-François Pouliot's Dr. Cabbie at the Barbara Frum Atrium at the CBC Broadcasting Centre in Toronto.
From libraries and schools to Cineplex Entertainment and Landmark Cinemas, screens from coast-to-coast-to coast will be flickering with a wide range of Canadian movies, including:
- Michael Dowse will present The F-Word to high school students in Chambly, Que.
- Gary Burns's Waydowntown will screen at the Calgary Underground Film Festival.
- The Atlantic Film Festival will screen The Grand Seduction at Halifax's new Central Library.
- Old Crow Community Library will screen Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner in Old Crow, Yukon.
Free films will be available online at CBC.ca, NFB.ca, Canadascreens.ca, Cfccreates.com and Cfmdc.org.
- VIDEO | Stream Michael McGowan's One Week, starring Joshua Jackson here
- Get more information about screenings in your community here
In honour of the occasion, CBC staffers have compiled a short list of home grown titles we think are worth watching today, or any day.
Share yours in the comments below.
Café de Flore
Goon
"I don't even like hockey but this is a funny film with a cast of great Canadian actors including Jay Baruchel, Eugene Levy, Kim Coates and Alison Pill to name a few." — Ed MacDonald, editor
Lélolo
"I watched this Quebec coming-of-age story when I was coming-of-age. Directed by Jean-Claude Lauzon, and set in a dilapidated Montreal tenement, Lélolo is simultaneously depraved, hilarious and absolutely beautiful. I'll never forget that infamous liver scene and the pitch-perfect soundtrack featuring Tom Waits." — Cheryl Brown, writer
Incendies
"There are some films that just stay with you long after the credits roll—this is one of them. Denis Villeneuve's Incendies is a powerful and haunting tale of a family discovering their truth against the backdrop of the brutalities of war. I can't remember another movie that has made me feel so many different emotions. Plus, it may have one of the best endings of all time." — Tashauna Reid, arts reporter
Meatballs
"Meatballs has the distinction of having the best motivational speech in Canadian film history. Who wouldn't want Bill Murray as their camp counsellor? And I still chant 'It just doesn't matter' when things aren't going my way." — Ilana Banks, producer
C.R.A.Z.Y.
"Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, C.R.A.Z.Y. is a smart, engrossing, stylish film with one of the most effective soundtracks ever. A memorable, sometimes funny/sometimes serious, slice-of-life drama set and made in Canada." — Laura Thompson, producer
Possible Worlds
"The indie film Possible Worlds, about a man living parallel lives, invites viewers to live out every every single, possible, conceivable option. It's a trippy, dream-like movie staring a young Tilda Swinton and a spellbinding Tom McCamus. You can't go wrong with any Canadian film helmed by Robert Lepage, but the style of this one in particular rocked my world and didn't lose a flint with the passage of time." — Jelena Adzic, arts reporter
With files from The Canadian Press