Canadian television hits the road

It is safe to say that many Canadians do not experience films produced by Canadians in commercial movie theatres. This has been for reasons too numerous to mention in much detail here here: national policies directed towards producing documentary, animation, and art films, the heavy influence of Hollywood studios on domestic exhibition, and the absence of screen quotas that exist in other countries. As a result, Canadian films were consumed in other cinematic spaces, such as film festivals, repertory theatres, video stores, and on television.

In the 1930s and 40s, Canadians also experienced domestic films via the road show. These were traveling exhibitions organized by film societies and the National Film Board of Canada that brought movies to rural areas and showed them to audiences in community centres, church basements, and town halls. This made watching Canadian cinema a de facto act of citizenship, in which the consumption and appreciation of the film itself came with moderators and the expectation of discussion -- an experience quite distinct from other moviegoing experiences. 1

I was reminded of the traveling film movement a few weeks ago when I read that screenings of the acclaimed CBC-television program, "Little Mosque on the Prairie," were being organized in cities across Canada at venues that are, well, very un-television. These include the Schmiatcher Theatre in the MacKenzie art gallery in Regina:


The Garrick Centre in Winnipeg's Marlborough Hotel:

The Plaza Theatre in Calgary:


And the National Film Board Theatre in Toronto:

from Lone Primate (through cc license)

Each event featured a screening of the show, followed by a Q + A with members of the cast and crew and a discussion about diversity and multiculturalism in Canada. The event was part of a larger initiative organized by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and by the Department of Canadian Heritage. It is yet another impressive achievement for a show that has attracted a lot of attention in Canada and abroad. It is too bad that I haven't had a chance to attend the events (although I sense that a road trip to Ottawa might be a natural next step for the tour), so what I offer here are some speculations.

First, I'm interested by the "touring" aspect here, since like musicians or writers, the "tour" is an essential mechanism in the marketing of the show, helping to build audiences and buzz. Suffice it to say that I'm fascinated by how the reception a television show, one experienced largely in a domestic context, differs when framed as an event or in the context of a classroom. So I'd be interested to see how the show was set-up by the organizers, whether programs were given out, whether any kind of merchandise was available for purchase, and of course, the nature of the discussion after the screening. Since the show's success stems to a large degree by its engagement with elements of sitcoms, were there discussions about the production of the show, the crew's influences, favourite television shows, and so on? Or did it focus mainly on the theme of the show, about the use of gentler comedic form to deal with issues of diversity.

My hunch is that it was the latter rather than the former. And while it might be obvious that the show's content would be the reason for this, I suggest it's only half the issue. This is because in Canada, discussions about the relationship between the cultural text and national affairs typically trump discussions about artistic achievement. It is "Little Mosque's" Canadian-ness that is the starting point for the discussion rather than its virtues as a media text. In other words, the blending of artistic and nationalist discourses, then, represents a vital component of the "talk" around Canadian popular culture. And, as we have seen, the "Little Mosque" roadshow nods -- albeit indirectly -- to a tradition that stretches back, in part, to a time when the country's films traveled from place to place offering local audiences evenings mixed with entertainment and education.

1. On the NFB road shows, see Peter Morris, Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939 (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1978). For more on the Film Society movement in Canada, see Charles Acland's article "Patterns of Cultural Authority: The National Film Society of Canada and the Institutionalization of Film Education, 1938-41" in the Canadian Journal of Film Studies 10 (1) 2001: 2-27.