Canada Goes Cymru

Canada Goes Cymru, an initiative from The High Commission of Canada and Wales Arts International is delighted to present a season of critically acclaimed contemporary Canadian cinema. From whimsical children’s animations to suspenseful French Canadian drama and Indigenous dystopian Sci-Fi, this season, curated by Telefilm Canada will have something for everyone.

Film Hub Wales members can access financial support to get involved in the Canada Goes Cymru season from September to December 2022.

If you would like to screen any of the films from the curated / subsidised list, or you have an idea for a ‘Canada Goes Cymru’ themed event, activity or discussion that you would like to programme alongside, we can offer:

  • Bursaries of up to £500,
  • In addition, the cost of minimum guarantees will be covered – This is only applicable to films selected from the curated/subsidised list. As part of the rights agreement, entry to these films must be free.

Mae enghreifftiau o’r costau y gallwn eu talu yn cynnwys: 

  • Ticket subsidy (towards loss of income on free screenings),
  • Marchnata, 
  • Allgyrraedd cymunedol, 
  • Gwerth ychwanegol (costau Holi ac Ateb, gweithdai), 
  • Audience evaluation, 
  • Staffing.

All you need to do is get in touch by email to lisa@filmhubwales.org and tell us:

  • Your proposed screening/event date (ideally between Sept – Dec 22 but up to March 23 latest),
  • Film titles,
  • Rhifau cynulleidfa, 
  • Unrhyw gynlluniau ar gyfer digwyddiad arbennig, 
  • Eich syniadau marchnata, 
  • Costau rydych chi angen help gyda nhw, 
  • What match you can offer (in-kind time etc).

Please submit your proposal any time up to the 31st August. We will review proposals as they come in.

The following films have been curated by Telefilm Canada. Entrance to these films must be free, in return, the cost of minimum guarantees will be covered. Screeners are available on request.

All bookings will be handled by denyseostiguy@gmail.com (from July 4th onwards). You will be sent a booking form, outlining the information required to book.

Beans
2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer. It explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake, which Deer lived through as a child, through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed “Beans”), a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events.
Length:  92  min
Language: English
Accessibility: English Subtitles & close caption
Format: ProRes or H264 preferably and DCP.

Drunken Birds / Les Oiseaux ivres
2021 French-Canadian drama film directed by Ivan Grbovic. The Canadian entry for Best International Feature @ Oscars 2022. The film stars Willy, a Mexican drug runner in a crime cartel who travels to Canada in search of his girlfriend Marlena after she disappears, and takes a job as a migrant worker on a farm in the Montérégie region. Destinies intersect, moments of magic realism arise, worlds collide, and tensions swell amidst the long days of physical labour.
Length:104 min
Language: French and Spanish
Accessibility: English & French subtitles
Format: ProRes or H264 preferably and DCP.

Goddess of the Fireflies / La déesse des mouches à feu
2020 French Canadian drama film, directed by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette.The film centres on the coming of age of Catherine, a teenage girl living in a small town in Quebec in the early 1990s. On her 16th birthday, Catherine faces the separation of her parents and enters adolescence with loss and turmoil. It’s the year of the first times and in the grunge atmosphere of the 90’s, the young girl pushes her own limits every day. Rebellious, freed and radiant, she never takes off her favorite cowboy boots… but will that be enough to protect her?
Length: 106 min
Language: French
Accessibility: English sub-titles
Format: ProRes or H264 preferably, and DCP.

Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa / Félix et le trésor de Morgäa
2021 French-Canadian computer-animated adventure family film, directed by Nicola Lemay. The film centres on Felix, a 12-year-old boy who has been living with his mother on the Magdalen Islands since his father’s failure to return from a voyage to find treasure on the Island of Eternal Night; when his mother goes off on vacation and leaves him and his infant sister, Mia, in the care of their aunt, he enlists the help of lighthouse keeper Tom to travel to the island in search of his father.
Length: 90 min
Language: English and French
Accessibility: TBC
Format: DCP, Pro Res & MP4

Night Raiders
2021 Canadian-New Zealand science fiction dystopian film written and directed by Cree-Métis filmmaker Danis Goulet. Set in a dystopian version of North America in the year 2044, the film centres on Niska, a Cree woman who joins a resistance movement to the military government in order to save her daughter.
Length: 101 min
Language: English
Accessibility: TBC
Format: DCP, Pro Res & MP4

Peace by Chocolate
2021 Canadian drama film, directed by Jonathan Keijser. The film is based on the true story of the Hadhads, a family from Syria who moved to Canada as refugees from the Syrian civil war, settling in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and establishing the Peace by Chocolate artisanal chocolate shop. The film encompasses the themes of immigration, refugees from a war-torn country, the power of food to bring people together, the “Canadian Dream” of growing a small business and prospering, and choosing between your passion and your family.
Length: 96 min
Language: English & Arabic
Accessibility: TBC
Format: Encrypted DCP (theatre SHA256 certificate required to generate a KDM key.)

Underground / Souterrain
Souterrain (Underground) is a 2020 French Canadian drama film written and directed by Sophie Dupuis. Maxime, a young miner from Val-d’Or, faces events that challenge his definition of masculinity. Thanks to the brotherhood he can count on in his working environment, Maxime sets out on his long journey on the road to redemption. But when an explosion erupts underground, the young man, newly graduated in mine rescue, plunges into the mine lair with the firm intention of bringing each of his colleagues back alive.
Length: 97  min
Language: French
Accessibility: English subtitles, no closed-captions.
Format: DCP

Affairs of the Art
2021 2D hand drawn on paper animated short film directed by the British Animation Director Joanna Quinn and written by Les Mills. It was the NFB’s 76th Oscar®-nomination for Animated Short Film).

The short film follows the character of Beryl, the working-class heroine who not only reveals her own obsession with drawing but exposes the addictions of her eccentric family, which include pickling, screw threads and pet taxidermy and her determination to become an artiste of note.
Length: 16  min
Language: English
Accessibility: TBC
Format: DCP, MP4 H.264

The Magnitude of All Things
2020 NFB Canadian documentary film, directed by Jennifer Abbott. The film draws intimate parallels between the experiences of grief—both personal and planetary. Stories from the frontlines of climate change merge with recollections from the filmmaker’s childhood on Ontario’s Georgian Bay. What do these stories have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is everything. For the people featured, climate change is not happening in the distant future: it is kicking down the front door. Battles waged, lamentations of loss, and raw testimony coalesce into an extraordinary tapestry, woven together with raw emotion and staggering beauty that transform darkness into light, grief into action.
Length: 86  min
Language: English
Accessibility: TBC
Format: DCP, MP4 H.264

Looking for extra programming inspiration? With the support of Chapter programme and our wider partners, we’ve put together a list of extra titles you might like to explore. They take you on a journey through the eyes of Canadian filmmakers, with some of the highlights of its intimate dramas and often very blackly funny surrealist lens.

Please note, we have not cleared the rights to these titles. We have included links to booking info where available and will be adding to this list over the coming weeks:

New Releases:

Crimes of the Future
Canada | 2022 | 1 hr 47 | CTBC | David Cronenberg
Stars: Viggo Mortensen Léa Seydoux Kristen Stewart
Humans adapt to a synthetic environment, with new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice, Saul Tenser, celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Science-fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg (2022).
Bookings: Vertigo Releasing

Fireheart
Canada | 2022 | 1 hr 32 | CTBC |Theodore TyLaurent Zeitoun
Stars: Viggo Mortensen Léa Seydoux Kristen Stewart
When New York City’s firemen disappear in mysterious fires, sixteen-year-old Georgia disguises herself as a man and joins a team of misfit firefighters to stop the arsonist. Computer animated aventure comedy.
Bookings: Entertainment One 


A journey through Canadian cinema:

Last Night
Canada | 1998 | 95 minutes | Don McKellar
Stars: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh
Faced with your last night on Earth, what would you do? The film follows a group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century. With an exceptional cast, the directorial debut from McKellar is a darkly funny look at millennial angst.
Bookings: Park Circus

Crime Wave
Canada | 1985 | 80 minutes | John Paizs
Stars: John Paizs, Eva Kovacs
Steven Penny works hard to write and star in the best “colour crime picture”, but he’s only able to write beginnings and endings so he sets out to meet Dr Jolly the script doctor. A stylish surrealist comedy, dubbed “prairie postmodernism” and the herald of the illustrious Winnipeg School of filmmaking which injected a new style into global cinema. 
Bookings: Matchbox (Three short films from John Paiz and a full print zine are also available)

Cowards Bend the Knee (with Ela Orleans live score)
Canada | 2003| 60 minutes | Guy Maddin
Stars: Darcy Fehr, Melissa Dionisio, Amy Stewart
It’s time for hockey! There’s no telling what will happen when the Winnipeg Maroons’ own star player Guy becomes embroiled in the twisted lives of Meta, a vengeful Chinoise, and her hairdresser/abortionist mother Liliom. Innocent Veronica, caught in the middle, is treated to both services! Meanwhile poor, dithering, cowardly Guy can only stand by and watch.
Bookings: Matchbox (interviews with Ela Orleans and Guy Maddin are also available)

Tales from The Winnipeg Film Group
Canada | 2017 | 1 hour 25 minutes | Dave Barber and Kevin Nikkel
Stars: Ed Ackerman,Jaimz Asmundson, David Cherniack
Tales from The Winnipeg Film Group is the explosive story of how a stubborn band of independent filmmakers started a film co-operative that became the most highly respected film centre in Canada. Packed with rare archival footage, dynamic film excerpts, and hilarious interviews this documentary traces the history of the legendary Winnipeg Film Group.
Bookings: Matchbox. The following shorts are also available:

  • Zwei Indianer Aus Winnipeg (Darryl Nepinak, 3min)
  • Cattle Call (Mike Maryniuk, Matthew Rankin, 4m)
  • Black Forest Sanatorium (Diana Thorneycroft, 7m)
  • Caribou in the Archive (Jennifer Dysart, 8m)
  • The Animated Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Leslie Supnet, 1m 40s)
  • Hot Anger (Gwen Trutnau, 5min30s)

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
Canada | 2001 | 168 minutes | CTBC | Zacharias Kunuk | Inuktitut with English subtitles
Stars: Natar Ungalaaq
In a Inuit tribe an evil spirit causes chaos in the community so a warrior is called into battle on a quest of endurance. This first feature film made in the Inuit language of Inuktitut, the film places the Inuit legend alongside American Western storytelling to create a stunning epic tale of desire and living with the consequences.
Bookings: Dustin Lawrence, Distribution V Tape distribution@vtape.org 

My Winnipeg
Canada | 2007 | 80 minutes | 12 | Guy Maddin
Stars: Darcy Fehr, Louis Nagin
The geographical dead centre of North America, fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this portrait of film-maker Guy Maddin’s home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba. A “docu-fantasia” conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome in this surreal reimagining of the filmmaker’s hometown and the birth of the Winnipeg School of film.
Bookings: Thunderbird

Incendies
Canada | 2010 | 131 minutes | 15 | Denis Villeneuve | French and Arabic with English subtitles
Stars: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin
A mother’s last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to the Middle East in search of their tangled roots. This early film from future Dune director Villeneuve, this is adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play. A powerful and moving tale of two young adults’ voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.
Bookings: Trinity

I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing
Canada | 1987 | 81 minutes | 15 | Patricia Rozema
Stars: Sheila McCarthy
This beloved classic of Canadian cinema is a charming story about Polly, a waifish daydreamer with artistic aspirations who develops a fascination for her new boss Gabrielle through their shared love of art. A playful comedy that is an enchanting and poetic epiphany for anyone who has ever yearned to break out of the mold! Winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.
Bookings: Film Associates International

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Canada | 2010 | 112 minutes | 12a | Edgar Wright
Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart. Edgar Wright unbridled imagination was the perfect fit to adapt Bryan Lee O’Malley’s eye-popping graphic novel and the film is stacked with a cast of young actors who went on to be some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, but the film retains the cosy-chill feel of its Canadian setting.
Bookings: Universal

Stories We Tell
Canada | 2012 | 108 minutes | 12 | Sarah Polley
Every family has secrets. Sarah Polley’s very personal documentary weaves these truths together as she follows a trail of rumours surrounding her late mother, the actor Diane Polley. Each family member and friend is asked for their version of Diane’s past. As they do, a new story emerges, one that is unexpected, revelatory and will change Polley’s self-identity forever.
Bookings: Curzon

Tom at the Farm
Canada | 2013 | 104 minutes| 15 | Xavier Dolan | French with English subtitles
Stars: Xavier Dolan, Pierre-Yves Cardinal
When his boyfriend Guillaume dies, Tom, a youthful advertising editor from Montreal, travels to his late partner’s rural community. However, his family did not know that Guillaume was gay. An intruiging psychological drama, part of Dolan’s trilogy of films about impossible love and regarded as his most accomplished.
Bookings: Network

Angry Inuk
Canada | 2016 | 85 minutes | CTBC | Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
An Inuk filmmaker takes a close look at the central role of seal hunting in the lives of the Inuit, the importance of the revenue they earn from sales of seal skins, and the negative impact that international campaigns against the seal hunt have had on their lives.
Bookings: Éric Séguin, National Film Board of Canada or Patrick Viegas

Mon oncle Antoine
Canada | 1971 | 104 minutes | CTBC | Claude Jutra | French with English subtitles
Stars: Jacques Gagnon, Jean Duceppe
Set in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town’s general store and undertaking business. A snapshot of Quebecois life, little understood outside of Canada, this is an early example of the best of French-Canadian cinema.
Bookings: Éric Séguin, National Film Board of Canada or Patrick Viegas

Fire
Canada | 1996| 85 minutes | 15 | Deepa Mehta
Stars: Shabana AzmiNandita DasKarishma Jhalani

Sita and Radha are two young women abandoned by their husbands, who find intimacy and passion in each other in this erotic romantic drama from director Deepa Mehta.
Booking: Hamilton-Mehta Productions

The Sweet Hereafter
Canada | 1997 | 112’ | 15 | Atom Egoyan
Stars: Sarah Polley, Ian Holm
Atom Egoyan’s most critically acclaimed film, graced by a pair of Oscar nominations and over 40 international festival prizes, ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ is an emotionally gripping, powerfully affecting portrait of grief, loss and human interconnectivity. Arriving in a small town after a tragic accident, a lawyer visits each member of the community to offer hope and promise financial compensation. But as he delves deeper into their grief he discovers layer upon layer of mystery and tragedy and soon finds himself face to face with his own inner demons. Starring Oscar nominees Ian Holm and Sarah Polley, this beautifully shot adaptation of Russell Banks’ classic novel is a poignant, powerful and truly memorable work of cinema by a master filmmaker at the top of his game.
Booking: Marcy Gerstein, Ego Film Arts: questions@egofilmarts.com 

Jésus de Montréal
Canada | 1989 | 118’ | 18 | Denys Arcand | French with English subtitles
Stars: Lothaire Bluteau
A group of actors put on an unorthodox Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors’ lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself. Nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar, this is a satirical look at Christianity in 1980s Canada.
Booking:  Max Films

Canada Goes Cymru sees Canadian culture shine on screens, stages, and other platforms across Wales throughout 2022. Presented by the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom in partnership with Wales Arts International, with additional support from Telefilm Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Welsh Government, this year-long cultural program celebrate the close ties and shared values between Canada and Wales.

#CanadaGoesCmyru provides an essential gateway for more collaborations between Canada and the UK and will stimulate demand for Canadian content abroad.

For all the latest information on the program and Canadian performers, follow #CanadaGoesCymru on TwitterFacebook FAN BFI a Instagram. Click to learn more about the High Commission of Canada in the UK FAN BFI a Wales Arts International.

Supported by:

       


What's on:

Confirmed screenings:

The Magic Lantern, Tywyn
8th + 9th October 2022

A weekend of Canadian films and frills – including free screenings of Peace By Chocolate, Beans and more, plus special events.

Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff
13th + 16th October 2022

A screening of Canadian director Trevor Anderson’s first feature, Before I Change My Mind with Trevor also in attendance at the festival.

Canolfan y Celfyddydau Taliesin, Abertawe
November – December 2022
Dangosiadau o Drunken Birds FAN BFI a Crimes of the Future November and December 2022, as part of a Canadian themed event.

Chapter: Canada Cymru
5th May – 24th September 2023
A look at modern Canadian cinema through the darkly comic eye of Don McKellar; the probing vision of David Cronenberg; and the perceptive layers of Sarah Polley’s work; pairing these established figures with two recent works from indigenous filmmakers, representing a new and confident voice that was previously suppressed.


Image Credits: The National Film Board of Canada, Underground © micro_scope, Peace by Chocolate © Magnetic North Pictures, Goddess of the Fireflies © micro_scope, Beans © micro_scope, Sphere Media, Affairs of the Art © Beryl Productions International Ltd, Night Raiders © Signature Entertainment, Felix and the Treasure of Morgäa © Signature Entertainment, Angry Inuk © Unikkaat Studios Inc. and Eyesteel Film, The Magnitude of All Things © Magnitude Productions Inc.

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