Canadiana

Canadian Screen Awards 2024 - CANADIANA was nominated for editing this year! The ceremony took place this past week and 2/3 of the creator (and editing) team, Kyle and Ashley, were there to represent. We missed Adam and our Season 3 editing partner David Schmidt who was included in the nomination, but couldn't make it at the last minute due to, well, being stuck in an edit (such is the life!).

It's been a rough year for many in the industry with strikes, layoffs, and significant cuts to financial support systems for filmmakers big and small. Though we didn't take home the win this time, it was a much needed moment of celebration for all of us. And as a little documentary web series team, it was an honour to be nominated for a craft award amongst the talented and hardworking individuals behind the making of some of the best tv and film in Canada.

The Rideau Canal, some time ago, filming our most-watched episode of Canadiana so far!

"The Engineering Marvel Built to Defend Against Americans - The Grisly History of the Rideau Canal" is our most popular episode yet! Over 600,000 plays in its first week! Learn the incredible story behind this popular Ontario landmark and tourist attraction - link on our story.

Our host, Adam Bunch, organizes a weird little history festival every year — and it starts this Monday! A lot of it happens online, so you'll be able to tune in even if you live outside Toronto... Learn more here: www.bizarretoronto.com

The engineering marvel built to defend against Americans.

It's the latest Canadiana episode about the grisly history of the Rideau Canal!

Now playing: YouTube.com/Canadiana
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The Festival of Bizarre Toronto History begins a week from tonight! We'll spend seven days diving into some of the strangest stories our city has to offer.

You can check out the full schedule here: http://www.bizarretoronto.com/schedule.html

We woke up this morning to news that CANADIANA is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture Editing in a Web Program or Series (the CSAs are Canada's Oscars, for our American friends)! Editors this season were David Schmidt, Kyle Cucco, and Ashley Brook. This is CANADIANA'S second Canadian Screen Award nomination since we launched the very first episode on our small YouTube channel back in 2017. Happy news indeed!

We hope everyone enjoyed Canadiana's new episode, The Great Whale Robbery of Labrador, which we released last week at YouTube.com/Canadiana. We used a combination of animations and miniatures to tell the story of Basque whaling in the Strait of Belle Isle during the 1500s, and an accusation of theft that made its way all the way to Spanish court! Thank you so much to everyone who watched and for your lovely comments!

Thank you all for your continued support!

- The Canadiana Team

Some frames from the new episode. Loved using miniatures to recreate scenes in the documentary!



▶️ YouTube.com/Canadiana

New episode! Basque whalers in the 1500s travelled to the very edge of their known universe in search of their gargantuan prey, and landed on the shores of a fog-shrouded bay in Labrador. In this unlikely setting, Canadiana revels in one of Canada's most absurd true crime stories: the tale of a Basque who stole from their rival, sparking a Spanish Supreme Court case that wouldn't be settled for nearly 20 years.

Streaming at YouTube.com/Canadiana

New Canadiana episode arriving soon! 💌

Credit: Post Office Dept. / Library and Archives Canada / PA-059964

Norman McLaren, a Scottish-Canadian animator, director and producer, remembered for his groundbreaking animation work for the National Film Board of Canada. Pictured here in 1951.

His work earned him an Oscar and a Palme d'Or. Canadian film — and animation in general — owes much to Norman, including his experiments with synching animations with music.

Norman met his life partner Guy Glover by chance at the ballet in London in 1937. Guy was also a producer at the NFB for many years, and the two remained together until Norman's death in 1987.

Image source: Library and Archives Canada 56130.
Photographer credit: Gar Lunney.