The beginnings
Toronto's first movie event was held on August 31, 1896. The screening took place at Robinson's Musee on Yonge Street. Starting in 1912, several Canadian cities began to produce fictional works. In Toronto, the Conness Till Film Company made several comedy and adventure films in 1914 and 1915. However, Canadian film production was almost non-existent until the mid-1960s. However, six English-language feature films were produced during the 1950s. One of these was Tyrone Guthrie's version ofSophocles' OedipusRex (1956), one of the founders of the Shakespearean theater in Stratford, Ontario. Another young Canadian, Sidney Furie, made two excellent films, A Dangerous Age (1957) and A Cool Sound from Hell (1959), which attracted British attention. Faced with Canadian indifference to his films, Furie emigrated permanently to Britain. Furie's case is typical of the 1960s exodus of Canadian talent to Europe. In 1970, Toronto's Don Shebib directedGoin' Down the Road and contributed to the rise of English-Canadian cinema by drawing crowds from across the country. This was followed by many films, but without any real commercial success. Among the successes of the 1970s were TheApprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz( Ted Kotcheff, 1974) and LiesMy Father Told Me (Ján Kadár, 1975). However, the vast majority of films released during these years were commercial films with little added value.
From 1970 to the present day
From the end of the 1970s, a movement of young filmmakers defended the idea of auteur cinema. A new generation of talented filmmakers and producers emerged, including the famous Phillip Borsos and his film The Grey Fox (1982). It was also during this period that new government policies were introduced to encourage film production and distribution. Toronto was home to some of the best-known English-Canadian filmmakers, including Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg. Cronenberg, a Toronto native, won over audiences with his first films: Rabid(1977), TheBrood (1979) and Scanners (1980). During the 1990s, directors who reflected the province's ethnic diversity emerged, including Srinivas Krishna with his films Masala (1991) and Lulu (1996), and Deepa Mehta with Sam and me (1990) and Fire (1996). John Greyson, particularly known in the world of queer cinema, directed The Making of Monsters (1991), Zero Patience (1993) and Lilies (1996).
In 2010, the Bell Lightbox, the new home of the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), opened. Also new is Pinewood Toronto Studios, located near downtown, which is positioned as the largest film set in North America. In a different vein, LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto), founded in the 1980s, continues to support an auteur cinema that can be enjoyed in several of Toronto's historic independent theatres, including the Royal Cinema. There is also the prestigious Hot Docs documentary film festival which screens in its own theatre, the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
Recently, Toronto's independent film scene has become more dynamic than ever. David Cronenberg continues to surprise us with such diverse works as A Dangerous Method (2011), Cosmopolis (2012), Maps to the Stars (2014) and Crimes of the Future (2022). In 2013, French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve set his film Enemy in Toronto, which he describes as a "city of many facets". This thriller, loosely adapted from the novel The Other Like Me (by José Saramago), transforms Toronto into a dark and disturbing ghost town. More recently, we note Matt Johnson's Operation Avalanche (2016) and Joyce Wong's Wexford Plaza (2017), both shot in Toronto and nominated as Best Canadian Film at TIFF. On the small screen, three successful Canadian series are also set in the city: Degrassi: New Generation (2001-2015), Blood Ties (2007) and Murdoch's Inquest (2008, still in production).
