North of Everything: English-Canadian Cinema Since 1980

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

The editors of this thought-provoking compendium of scholarly essays and
articles on English-Canadian film studies are professors of film/media
studies at the University of Alberta. The book is divided into four
sections (“Institutions, Politics, Histories and Forms,” “Feature
Filmmakers and a Few Others,” “Aboriginal Voices,” and “The
Avant-Garde”), with the latter two definitely breaking new ground. The
contributors, who include Kay Armitage, Seth Feldman, Andre Loiselle,
Blain Allan, and Robin Wood, address topics as varied as their
respective backgrounds. They include the economic, commercial, and
political dimensions of filmmaking; institutions such as the National
Film Board; feature filmmakers such as Philip Borsos, David Cronenberg,
Deepa Mehta, and Anne Wheeler; Aboriginal filmmakers Gil Cardinal,
Marjorie Beaucage, Alanis Obomsawin, and Loretta Todd; and
avant-gardists Mike Hoolboom, Lisa Steele, and others. Detailed
filmographies are not included, although there is an extensive
bibliography, a comprehensive index, and copious chapter notes. Seth
Feldman contributes a typically provocative and challenging foreword.