Canadian Film and Video, Vol. 1 and 2: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

The main objective of this work is to provide access to English and
French literature on film and video in Canada from the beginning of the
20th century to 1989 and by so doing to assist in the advancement of
Canadian film history.

The author has succeeded admirably in achieving this ambitious goal.
The volumes contain more than 24,000 entries, over 10,000 of which are
accompanied by descriptive annotations, in either English or French,
following the language of the original. The layout is clean and
uncluttered. The coverage of sources cited is international, and
includes periodical and newspaper articles, books, catalogues, and
government publications.

There is a good introduction describing the scope and history of the
project. Volume 1 is organized by subject (e.g., genres, festivals),
while Volume 2 covers people. There are author and film title indexes, a
good subject index with multiple listings (e.g., Donald Brittain is
listed under both his own name and “National Film Board”), and lists
of festivals that include directors’ names and film titles.

As the first comprehensive retrospective bibliography on the subject of
film and video in Canada, this is an essential reference work for any
film studies or Canadiana collection.