By Publisher & Editor-In-Chief: Kindah Mardam Bey

Canadian films are being sorely missed in the theatres, and with a backlog of bureaucracy and excuses, the only way Canadian audiences get a chance to see a Canadian film in a local theatre is by round the clock surveillance.

Audiences have to be incredibly diligent about seeing a Canadian film to catch it at the one or two weekend runs that they have at any given theatre. Of course you can give me some shining examples of Canadian film box-office successes (and we are only speaking about English-speaking Canada, as Quebec seems to be rocking the love for French-Canadian films that shows with hefty box office numbers) but I could probably give you a longer list of American box-office successes.

We seem almost embarrassed to talk about Canadian films. But why? In the last few years Canadian films have become a force to be reckoned with. International successes and accolades that aren’t being ‘discovered’ by Canadians is not just about our losses at the box office but about a missed opportunity to be passionate about great homegrown films and talent. Let's stop sending our best talent south and start drawing them back home.

I know you will question me on those ‘great’ Canadian films, and after seeing an enormous amount of Canadian films being released over the coming months, I can quite honestly say you will be wowed when you head to the theatre to see some of these great Canadian films. My co-host Trevor Alberts and I handed out several five stars out of five reviews for films, and every time we talked about them we discovered how much more enthusiastic we are by what we've seen.

And when we say 'Canadian' we don't mean  it's a hockey movie, or based in Toronto, or some Director wears a cowboy hat in his follow-up sequel to Hard Core Logo (you know who you are...), but they're Canadian because they tell our stories, which can be international, multicultural and as diverse from coast to coast. Afghan Luke was produced on the East Coast and shot on location in B.C., which substituted for Afghanistan – how cool is that! The Odds could be set in Vancouver or Chicago. Take This Waltz is about love, which is kind of a universal thing.

Audiences don’t scrutinize what makes an American film American, we just call it Hollywood or Indie. So if we give our own films a similar scope, just enjoy the stories, and think it’s particularly cool that I know the diner they used in a film or that I am seeing a distinctly Winnipeg landscape, then it just makes the watching experience that much more awesome.

So we are doing our part in this. I can only complain so much before I consider something an exciting new challenge to overcome. We want audiences who want to find Canadian films to have the easiest access possible to information, and that is why you can find trailers, movie posters, interviews, movie times, and box office numbers on Press+1 in our Canadian Film section, because we don’t think it’s fair you pitch a tent outside a movie theatre just to see a film made from your own country. Our interest will inspire the theatres to play the films more and then who knows what could happen, we may even have a “blockbuster” one day we can call our own.

That is why we have done the Canadian Film Review because an informed audience is an engaged audience. Let’s start watching Canadian films and talking about them – who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised!

Written by :

Kindah