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.

Manon Briand  Screenwriter, Producer, Director

Judith Rosemary (Sparks) Crawley   Filmmaker

Jennifer Hodge de Silva  Documentary Filmmaker

Bonnie Sherr Klein  Filmmaker, Author, Disability Rights Activist

Evelyn Lambart  First Female Animator, National Film Board of Canada

Micheline Lanctôt  Director, Writer, Producer, Actor

Marilú Mallet  Filmmaker and Writer

Deepa Mehta  Filmmaker

Alanis Obomsawin  Documentary Filmmaker, Singer, Artist, Educator and Activist

Mary Pickford  Actor, Producer and Businesswoman

Anne-Claire Poirier  Film Editor, Producer, Director

Léa Pool  Filmmaker, Documentary Filmmaker, Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Patricia Rozema  Director, Writer and Producer

Kathleen Shannon  Founder and Executive Producer of Studio D, National Film Board

Nell Shipman  Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Actor

Mina Shum  Director and Writer

Loretta Sarah Todd  Director, Producer, Researcher and Writer

Lindalee Tracey  Filmmaker and Writer

Anne Wheeler  Feature Film Director

Nettie Wild  Documentary Filmmaker

See also: Joyce Wieland, Filmmaker, Mixed Media Artist

Further Research

These biographies were researched and written by the following staff of the Reference and Genealogy Division, Library and Archives Canada:

Maria Belanger, Sandra Bell, Don Carter, Andrée Côté, Raymonde Cyrenne, Francine Falardeau, Amy Fisher, Brigitte Fontille, Sara Chatfield, Giovanna Gossage, Sophie Grenier,Veronica Healy, Deborah Lee, Nina Milner, Martin Ruddy, Risë Segall, Tom Tytor, Joan Waiser and Nicole Watier.

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