ABSTRACT
The chapter provides an introduction to Canadian cinema by delineating the simultaneously interconnected yet separate terrains of Anglo-Canadian, Québec, indigenous and transnational diasporic cinemas in Canada through the vectors of political economy, distribution, ideology and critical reception. For many academics and state bureaucrats, 1968, the year the newly minted Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) tried to kick-start fiction feature filmmaking in Canada, marks the beginnings of a Canadian film industry. One of the perpetual obstacles to Canadian fiction-feature production throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first has been the country's small domestic market that has necessitated foreign distribution for economic viability. Increasingly television, both domestic and overseas, was providing an outlet for Canadian feature films, while the 60 per cent Canadian content regulations governing television broadcasting between 6 pm and midnight established a market and demand for Canadian programming.
