Documentary on Newfoundland :: essays research papers

Canada is internationally recognized for its excellence in documentary film film, and in recent years several of Canadas finest documentary devoters have come from this province. Some of them work primarily in Newfoundland and Labrador small-arm others take their cameras around the world. Their films often tell highly personal stories that consider universal themes, and many are characterized by an unmistakable passion for grass-roots politics, companionable change and human rights.For most of this century Newfoundland and Labrador stories and events were interpreted through the eye of visiting filmmakers. Producers from Great Britain and the United States arrived as early as 1907 to do brief pieces virtually hunting, fishing and wildlife. The National Film Board of Canada (N.F.B.) do several short films here in the 1940s and came regularly by and by Confederation, eventually building a library of over 100 films about the province. Local directors and producers did not cont ribute to that library until the 1980s.A few Newfoundlanders were guess footage in these early years, but usually out of personal beguile and with no intention of creating narrative films. Finished projects by local cameramen and editors began to turn up after the second World War. They included The Golden Jubilee of Archbishop Roach (1947) by W.J. Ryan and The Land We Love (1955), a travelogue of the Avalon Peninsula by Len Earle.By the new-made 1960s the CBC and CJON television stations were filming news, entertainment and instruction programs. Memorial Universitys Extension Service established a "media unit" to make educational films and documentaries and record significant public events. The unit also worked with the NFB on several projects, including a series of short films on Fogo Island that incorporated commentary and feedback from local residents.CJON at Buckmasters Circle, 1952.Jack Squires loads CJONs mobile transmitter wagon train in preparation for an imp ortant outside broadcast.Photo by C.F. Ruggles. From Newfoundland radio receiver in Pictures, 1952 (St. Johns, Nfld Guardian Press, 1952) 43.(51 kb)In the early 1970s the first generation of independent filmmakers was beginning to emerge. Fourteen of them formed the Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Cooperative (NIFCO) in 1975. although dedicated to the making of dramatic and artistic films, NIFCO has also been vital to the education of a home-grown documentary industry.The early NIFCO documentaries focus on the provinces history and heritage and are only a few minutes long. Stones Cove (1980) profiles a resettle community through contemporary footage and old photographs. Dig At moo-cow Head (1982) is a brief portrait of an archaeological dig.