View source for Christopher's Movie Matinée

{{Infobox film
| name           = Christopher's Movie Matinée
| image          =
| caption        = Film poster
| director       = [[Mort Ransen]]
| producer       = [[Joe Koenig]]
| writer         =
| narrator       =
| music          = [[3's a Crowd (band)|3's a Crowd]]<br>[[Darius Brubeck]]<br>Sandy Crawley<br>[[Amos Garrett]]<br>[[William Hawkins (songwriter and poet)|William Hawkins]]
| cinematography = [[Martin Duckworth]]
| editing        = Mort Ransen
| studio         = [[National Film Board of Canada]]
| distributor    =
| released       = {{Film date|1968}}
| runtime        = 88 minutes
| country        = Canada
| language       = English
| budget         = $81,342{{sfn|Evans|1991|p=153}}
}}
'''''Christopher's Movie Matinée''''' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by [[Mort Ransen]] and released in 1968.<ref>Bob Harvey, "Film takes eloquent look at teenagers' alienation". ''[[Edmonton Journal]]'', April 19, 1969. p. 8.</ref> Depicting the youth counterculture [[hippie]] movement in the [[Toronto]] district of [[Yorkville, Toronto|Yorkville]], the film was unusual in that it directly engaged the teenagers as active participants rather than subjects, depicting their own debates about what kind of film Ransen should make about them and incorporating footage directly filmed by the youth with personal video cameras.<ref>James Spears, "A return to gappism". ''[[The Province]]'', May 16, 1969.</ref> The film includes the group organizing a protest against [[Toronto Board of Control]] member [[Allan Lamport]]'s efforts to crack down on the hippie movement in the city;<ref name=hidden>"Movie Matinee hidden from movie houses". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', February 22, 1969.</ref> it ends when the filmmakers are recalled to [[Montreal]] by the [[National Film Board of Canada]] after being accused in the Toronto press of instigating the protest rather than merely depicting it.<ref name=hidden/><ref>https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/audio/1.3626925</ref>
The film was named for, and includes music from, the contemporaneous album ''Christopher's Movie Matinée'' by influential Canadian [[folk music]] band [[3's a Crowd (band)|3's a Crowd]].<ref>"Records in review". ''[[Calgary Herald]]'', November 23, 1973.</ref>
The film did not receive widespread theatrical distribution, instead being shown primarily in private screenings for schools and organizations<ref>Martin Knelman, "A movie about kids only kids are seeing". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', February 1, 1969.</ref> until it was broadcast on [[CBC Television]] in 1969.<ref>"Film is happening". ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', April 26, 1969. p. 63.</ref> Ransen appeared in an episode of the network's documentary series ''[[New Film Makers]]'' on April 23, showing excerpts of the film,<ref>"Canadian Film Makers Studied". ''[[Calgary Herald]]'', April 18, 1969. p. 81.</ref> before the full feature film was broadcast in its entirety by the network's ''Canadian Feature Films'' series on April 27.<ref>"The Missippi [sic] Delta girl moves closer to the Don". ''[[The Province]]'', April 24, 1969.</ref> It was also screened in the [[Director's Fortnight]] stream at the [[1969 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>Charles-Henri Ramond, [https://www.filmsquebec.com/films-quebecois-a-cannes/2/ "Les films québécois à Cannes à travers l’histoire"]. ''Films du Québec'', April 28, 2019.</ref> It earned a Certificate of Merit at the 1970 [[Adelaide Film Festival]] and received a citation as the Recommendation of the Adult Education Centres Jury at the [[International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg]].<ref>{{cite web |title=IFFMH Chronicle 1969 |url=https://www.iffmh.de/festival/history/1969/index_eng.html |website=iffmh.de |publisher=International Filmfestival of Mannheim-Heidelberg |access-date=8 March 2023}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Works cited==
* {{cite book|last=Evans |first=Gary |title=In the National Interest: A Chronicle of the National Film Board of Canada from 1949 to 1989 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |date=1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/innationalintere0000evan |isbn=0802027849}}
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0225395}}
[[Category:1968 films]]
[[Category:Canadian documentary films]]
[[Category:National Film Board of Canada documentaries]]
[[Category:1968 documentary films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Toronto]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mort Ransen]]
[[Category:Hippie films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s Canadian films]]
[[Category:English-language documentary films]]
[[Category:English-language Canadian films]]
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