Film Canadiana 1980-1982: A Catalogue of Films Produced in Canada in 1980, 1981 and 1982

Dean Tudor is a journalism professor at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute and founding editor of the CBRA.

The recording of Canadian films (including documentaries and shorts) goes back to about 1913 in some form or other. It has been the responsibility at various times of the Canadian Library Association, the National Library of Canada, and the Canadian Film Institute. There is now active involvement by the Public Archives of Canada/National Film, Television and Sound Archives, as well as by the National Film Board. This current issue which brings the record up through 1982, has been computer-generated from the data base of the NFB’s information system for audiovisual materials (FORMAT). The 10,000 records have been catalogued according to MARC and AACR 2, with PRECIS subject chain indexing, and the entire data base filed at UTLAS. Still, it all works. These are Canadian films produced by Canadians or co-produced with other countries. They are shorts, television films (if distributed commercially), and video (if also on film). The primary arrangement is alphabetical by the film’s title, followed by the year of production, running time, format, director or producer or both, the company responsible, and a synopsis. There are 225 pages of this, followed by diverse appendices: the PRECIS subject index, the series index, the producer index, the director index, a feature film listing of 1970-1982 for movies at least 60 minutes long, and a directory of producers and distributors with their addresses. This is a major contribution to our film history, and it is a bargain at the price.