Ever since Dad purchased a Minolta Zoom 8, film camera to record home movies with, I was destined to somehow find myself working with this expressive medium. Living in Mount Kisco, NY at the time as a teenager, I remember attending a class where we would divide into groups, and go out and using the school supplied S8mm movie camera; make a movie . I vaguely recall us coming across an old, worn-out rubber tire somewhere on the school grounds. We shot footage of the tire as it rolled around the campus, attracting a crowd that chased and followed the tire as it finally came to its end. Years later, I brought back this idea when, as a student at York University, in the Film Program, I did a film entitled ‘Roundabout’.
Before finishing my four years at York, I was lucky enough to land a spot as a summer student at the National Archives of Canada (NAC) in Ottawa. One of the first people I met there when I arrived for my interview was Bill O’Farrell, former head of the Moving Image and Audio Conservation section at NAC as it was known at the time.
Over the years, I have had the pleasure of working on some of Canada’s earliest motion picture film collections, as well as working alongside an incredible team of professionals, trained in the art of film treatment and preservation copying.
I recall my first job, setting up on a workbench with a set of rewinds, and a 16mm film splicer, repairing old and dried out splices within the Minter and Jubenvill collection. (I remember it took me a whole week to go through one of the reels, needless to say, I became really good at making clean cement splices!).
Other noteworthy film collections that come to my mind are the Canadian Army Newsreels, Crawley’s, Bellevue PathĂ©, Associated Screen News, Graphic Consultants, National Film Board, and the enduring and fascinating nitrate collection.
It is within these collections and more that I hope to share stories and resources, so that visitors to the Canadianfilm.ca website may learn more about our rich film heritage, to celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of the men and women that recorded our nation’s cinematic past.
© Dale Gervais – Ottawa, CANADA – 2021
Hi Dale,
Thanks for your website. I am fascinated by the digital paratextual trace of Canadian audiovisual heritage that your site is keeping alive.
I am cultural studies professor at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna and just finished teaching a 4th year course looking at Canada’s fading digital audiovisual heritage. We’ve been exploring how official archives like LAC and CBC have tended to restrict access to a/v heritage. One of my students produced this work about looking for traces of CBC’s Mr. Dressup https://skalfonzo.wixsite.com/my-site that tends to explore how rogue or pirate archivists are doing work. I would love to learn more about how you built the site and its scope and mission. Would you be available to do a short interview via Zoom?
Dan Keyes
Hi Dan,
Thanks for contacting me.
Sure, I would be open to a Zoom interview.
I will check out the video by your student – sounds interesting
During my time at LAC I had the fortunate pleasure of meeting a lot of students interested in learning more about early Canadian cinema, as well as various researchers, and film-makers.
You can also reach me at webmaster@canadianfilm.com anytime that we can schedule a day and time to chat.
Dale : )