The Silent Partner

Director Daryl Duke
Year 1978
Run Time 106min
Genre Drama, Thriller
A mild-mannered bank clerk (Eliott Gould) stows away some cash during a holdup by a man dressed as Santa Claus (Christopher Plummer), but the thief discovers the deception and comes after him. Also featuring John Candy.

Director

Daryl Duke

Duke was a prolific filmmaker who directed episodes of numerous shows, including Night Gallery, Banacek, and The Bold Ones, for which he won a Primetime Emmy. He also directed TV movies such as I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Columbo Cries Wolf, and the miniseries The Thornbirds. His feature directing credits include Payday, Hard Feelings, and The Silent Partner, for which he won a Canadian Film Award for best direction. He passed away in 2006.

 

Writer

Curtis Hanson

Cast

Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York

Producers

Garth H. Drabinsky, Stephen Young, Joel B. Michaels

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Interests

Classics, Literary Adaptation

Original Language

English

Anne of Green Gables

Director Kevin Sullivan
Year 1985
Run Time 199min
Genre Drama, Family
On turn-of-the-20th-century Prince Edward Island, siblings Matthew (Farnsworth) and Marilla Cuthbert (Dewhurst) decide to take in an orphaned boy to help them on their farm. Instead, they get freckle-faced, red-haired Anne Shirley (Follows). The stubborn and outspoken 11-year-old girl’s fiery spirit and imagination are sure to turn life upside down on the peaceful island, and add a lot of love into the Cuthberts’ lives.

So begins Anne of Green Gables, one of the most beloved stories in Canadian literature for readers of all ages. This mini-series adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s series of novels — one of the highest-rated broadcasts in Canadian television history — features Megan Follows in the title role, who has since gone on to become one of Canada’s most critically acclaimed actors.

This trophy-sweeping Genie Award-winner is a charming, family-friendly affair that is sure to delight.

Director

Kevin Sullivan

Writers

Joe Wiesenfeld, Kevin Sullivan

Cast

Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Richard Farnsworth, Jonathan Crombie

Producers

Ian McDougall, Kevin Sullivan, Trudy Grant

Genres

Drama, Family

Interests

Classics, Family Relationships, Literary Adaptation, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

Les bons débarras (Good Riddance)

Director Francis Mankiewicz
Year 1980
Run Time 120min
Genre Drama
2026 spotlight contributor Martin Bilodeau
Manon (Laurier) is a lonely and precocious 13-year-old living in an isolated region of Quebec with her mother Michelle (Tifo) and uncle Guy (Houde). Her mother is preoccupied with her own responsibilities toward her developmentally delayed brother and her relationships with two unlikely suitors. Desperate for her mother’s love, Manon runs away and concocts increasingly dramatic ways to regain her attention.

Soon, the insurmountable pressures of poverty, family strife, and her mother’s tumultuous love triangle force Manon to make serious decisions about her future and her relationship with Michelle.

Considered one of the greatest French-Canadian films ever, this evocative tale of passion, jealousy, and love won eight Genie Awards, including Best Film.

Director

Francis Mankiewicz

Writer

Réjean Ducharme

Cast

Charlotte Laurier, Marie Tifo, Germain Houde

Producers

Marcia Couëlle, Claude Godbout

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Classics, Family Relationships

Original Language

French

Exotica

Director Atom Egoyan
Year 1994
Run Time 103min
Genre Drama, Thriller
At the Exotica strip club in downtown Toronto, a grieving father (Greenwood) becomes obsessed with a young stripper (Kirshner). As the intertwined stories of the dancers and patrons unfold, it becomes clear that they share many mysterious and unspoken connections.

Dark, engaging and with a brilliant ensemble performance from its many players, Exotica is one of Egoyan’s most engaging and alluring films. A hypnotic thriller about desire, obsession and loneliness, it won eight Genie Awards.

Director

Atom Egoyan

Egoyan is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He has produced a significant body of work in film, television, and theatre. He has won over 60 awards, and was nominated for 80 others, including two Academy Award nominations for The Sweet Hereafter. His films have screened at festivals and in major retrospectives around the world, and a number of books have been written about his work. His films include Exotica, Ararat, The Captive, and Seven Veils, among many others.

Writer

Atom Egoyan

Cast

Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Don McKellar, Arsinée Khanjian, Mia Kirshner

Producers

Atom Egoyan, Camelia Frieberg

Genres

Drama, Thriller

Interests

Classics, Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

Le chat dans le sac (The Cat in the Bag)

Director Gilles Groulx
Year 1964
Run Time 74min
Genre Drama
​Through the confrontation of a couple in their twenties, this film symbolizes the political coming of age of the people of Québec.

Director

Gilles Groulx

Writer

Gilles Groulx

Cast

Jean-Paul Bernier, Manon Blain

Producer

Jacques Bobet

Genre

Drama

Interests

Classics, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

French

Les Boys (The “Boys”)

Director Louis Saïa
Year 1998
Run Time 110min
Genre Comedy, Drama
This hockey comedy is a true phenomenon. Les Boys has captured the hearts of Canadian audiences with its rowdy humour, down-to-earth characterizations and appealing plots.

Stan (Girard), the very likeable tavern owner and hockey coach, allows himself to run up a huge gambling debt to Meo (Lebeau), the local Mob boss. 

Meo offers Stan a deal: If his pub's team, Les Boys, can defeat Meo's band of thugs at a game of hockey, the tavern remains his. If not, the Mob will take over Chez Stan. Naturally, Les Boys, an out-of-shape group of hockey enthusiasts, are highly motivated to win the game. How they go about doing so, however, is a slapshot of laughs.

Director

Louis Saïa

Montreal director/actor/writer Saïa is known for his trilogy Les Boys I, II and III, each of which won the Golden Reel Award for biggest box-office gross in Canada. Saïa’s TV directing credits include the French-language Vice caché, Max Inc. and the Les Boys television adaptation, as well as the feature Dangerous People.

Writers

Louis Saïa, Christian Fournier

Cast

Marc Messier, Rémy Girard, Patrick Huard

Producers

Richard Goudreau, Jeffrey Tinnell

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Interests

Classics, Sports

Original Language

French

La femme de l’hôtel (A Woman in Transit)

Director Léa Pool
Year 1984
Run Time 89min
Genre Drama
Andrea Richler (Baillargeon) is a well-known director who returns to her hometown of Montreal to film a big-budget musical. At her hotel, she has an unsettling encounter with an elderly woman (Marleau). This encounter is forgotten until later, when we begin to realize that the events in this mysterious stranger’s life are somehow mirroring the fictional events of Andrea’s film.

Truth may indeed be stranger than fiction in this intriguing drama by one of Canada’s best female filmmakers. Winner of two Genies and the Toronto International Film Festival’s Best Canadian Feature Film award, this intimate and emotional film is sure to captivate.

Director

Léa Pool

A Member of the Order of Canada, Pool has earned three Genie Award nominations for Best Direction. Her films include Emporte Moi, Mouvements du désir, Lost and Delirious, La dernière fugue, Et au pire, on se mariera and Hôtel Silence, as well as the documentaries Pink Ribbons, Inc and Double peine. La passion d'Augustine won 15 awards, among them six Prix Iris, including Best Film and Best Director.

Writers

Michel Langlois, Léa Pool, Robert Gurik

Cast

Paule Baillargeon, Serge Dupire, Louise Marleau, Marthe Turgeon, Gilles Renaud

Producer

Bernadette Payeur

Genre

Drama

Interests

Arts and Culture, Classics, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

French

The Boys of St. Vincent

Director John N. Smith
Year 1992
Run Time 186min
Genre Drama
This hard-hitting miniseries was based on real events that took place at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in Canada’s largest sexual abuse scandal.

At the heart of this powerful film is a remarkable performance by Henry Czerny as Brother Peter Lavin, who transformed his own difficult childhood into a cycle of abuse and pain for others in his charge. Director John N. Smith grapples with this difficult subject with remarkable sensitivity and honesty, turning a dark chapter in Canada’s history into a thoughtful and affecting docudrama.

Director

John N. Smith

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Smith’s credits include award-winning TV docudramas such as Dieppe, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, and the Gemini Award-winning The Boys of St. Vincent. He also directed numerous feature films, including Sitting in Limbo, which won Best Canadian feature at TIFF in 1986, Dangerous Minds, A Cool Dry Place, Geraldine’s Fortune and Love & Savagery among others. In 2013, he won the Directors Guild of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Writers

Sam Grana, John N. Smith, Des Walsh

Cast

Henry Czerny, Johnny Morina, Brian Dooley

Producers

Claudio Luca, Sam Grana

Genre

Drama

Interests

Classics, History, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Hockey Night

Director Paul Shapiro
Year 1984
Run Time 74min
Genre Drama, Family
Cathy (Follows), an avid youth hockey player, moves with her mother to Parry Sound and finds no leagues for girls her age. After securing a spot in the lineup of an all-boys team, she finds that regardless of how well she plays on the ice, she continues to face opposition from a major sponsor who insists he doesn’t want her on the team. As the team nears a major final, she has to rely on the support of her teammates, and particularly its star player (Bisson) to let her achieve her hockey dreams.

A Canadian sports classic, Hockey Night features the on-screen debut of Yannick Bisson (Murdoch Mysteries) and memorable performances from Rick Moranis and Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables).

Director

Paul Shapiro

Writers

Jack Blum, Paul Shapiro

Cast

Megan Follows, Rick Moranis, Gail Youngs

Producer

Martin Harbury

Genres

Drama, Family

Interests

Classics, Discrimination, Sports, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

La guerre des tuques (The Dog Who Stopped the War)

Director André Melançon
Year 1984
Run Time 92min
Genre Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family
A group of kids on Christmas break decide to stage a mock war — the “war of the toques” — in the form of an epic, all-consuming snowball fight. The rules are simple: one team defends a snow fort, the other storms it. As the battle escalates and bad-blood between friends develops, a sudden tragedy teaches the children — and those watching — an invaluable lesson about the vanity of war.

This poignant and touching children's classic still resonates today as an affecting allegory about peace, as well as a celebration of snowy Canadian winters!

Director

André Melançon

Writers

Roger Cantin, Danyèle Patenaude, André Melançon

Cast

Cédric Jourde, Marie-Pierre D'Amour, Julien Elie

Producers

Rock Demers, Nicole Robert

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family

Interests

Arts and Culture, Classics

Original Language

French