Critical Writing Index

The Illusion of Paradise: A History of Film in Vancouver

by Colin Browne

Reverse Shot, 1995, v. 2, no. 4, pp. 26-35

Author Colin Browne recaps the history of filmmaking in Vancouver from the creation of the first movie theatre in 1898 until 1995 when the relationship between filmmaker and city is complex and problematic. Browne covers how Vancouver based-filmmakers were heavily influenced by European aesthetic, while rejecting their own hometown dubbing it "a cultural ghost". By the 1980s interest in the city's history is revived and filmmakers seek out found footage to appropriate for their own works.

ITEM 1995.150 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

City of GoldNational Film Board

Skid RowCBC

"And-"Dorothy Fowler

"And-"Margaret Roberts

The Bitter AshLarry Kent

Madeleine Is...Sylvia Spring

Queen of the Coast

In the DaytimeVancouver Film Unit

Skid RowAlan King

WarrendaleAlan King

A Married CoupleAlan King

Waiting for CarolineGeorge Robertson

Waiting for CarolineRon Kelly

Un homme et une femmeClaude Lelouch

Skip TracerZale Dalen

Goin' Down the Road

Me, Mom and MonaMina Shum

Double HappinessMina Shum

Marshall McLuhan