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ARCHIVED - Celebrating Women's Achievements
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Themes
Film
Intro
The first public showing of a motion picture in Canada took place in 1896 and the first Canadian films were produced the following year. Many of these early films were quite short and showed life and scenery in Canada with the intention of encouraging immigration. Later silent films included newsreels, travelogues and fictional stories.
From May Irwin's appearance in the 1896 short, The Kiss, to director Lynne Stopkewich's 1996 production, Kissed, Canadian women have been involved in making films, both behind and in front of the cameras. Canadian Women in Film profiles the work of influential Canadian women filmmakers from the early 20th century to the present, whose work ranges from the silent films of Nell Shipman to the industrials of Judith Crawley, and from animation work by Evelyn Lambart to documentaries by Anne-Claire Poirier and feature films by Patricia Rozema. We hope you will enjoy learning more about the careers and lives of these and other creative individuals and perhaps be encouraged to seek out their films.
