Often overlooked and overshadowed by its North American cousin, Canadian cinema has nevertheless produced some mesmerising films and directors, including Atom Egoyan, Robert Lepage and Denys Arcand. "The Cinema of Canada" contains 24 essays, each on a different film and divides itself into three distinct categories: English-Canadian cinema; Qu?bec cinema; Aboriginal cinema. In so doing, it provides a fascinating historical account of the development of film and documentary traditions across the diverse national and regional communities in Canada. Among the many important films discussed are "Le D?clin de l'empire am?ricain" (1988), "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing" (1988), "Exotica" (1994), "Le Confessionale" (1995) and "Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner" (2001).

Erotic psychodrama directed by Atom Egoyan, based on Anne Fontaine's 2003 film 'Nathalie'. Amanda Seyfried stars as Chloe, a young prostitute who is hired by gynaecologist Catherine (Julianne Moore) to test the loyalty of her husband David (Liam Neeson), whom she suspects of infidelity. Desire and jealousy intermingle as Chloe becomes increasingly involved in Catherine's life, setting her sights beyond David and onto the couple's wayward teenage son, Michael (Max Thierot).

Collection of seven films from Canadian writer/director Atom Egoyan. In 'Exotica' (1994), pet shop owner Thomas (Don McKellar) arrives in town with a secret cache of rare bird eggs. Sharing a cab from the airport he ends up in Exotica, a local strip club. Fascinated by star stripper Christina (Mia Kirshner), he becomes drawn into her sordid lifestyle, along with the club DJ (Elias Koteas) and a disturbed tax auditor (Bruce Greenwood). As the multiple narratives and chronological twists unfold, the characters find their lives becoming inexorably intertwined as they head towards a shocking conclusion. In 'The Adjuster' (1991), Koteas plays Noah Render, an insurance adjuster whose attempts to help others mask a deeper malaise in his own life. His wife Hera (Arsinée Khanjian) is a disillusioned film censor who obsessively copies the most explicit scenes in the films she is supposed to review. After Noah helps a rich young woman whose house has burned down, Hera invites a young film-maker into their home to shoot a movie, and as their elaborate sexual fantasies are acted out on video, they begin to explore a world where voyeurism and exhibitionism are all-consuming. In 'Family Viewing' (1987), Van (Aidan Tierney) finds himself in a difficult situation when he realises that his father Stan (David Hemblen) is recording over the family's home movies with home-made pornography. Not only is Stan's lover Sandra (Gabrielle Rose) completely at the mercy of his dark fantasies, but she also expresses a sexual interest in Van. Dividing his time between the family home and a nearby nursing residence caring for his aging grandmother Armen (Selma Keklikian), Van meets Aline (Khanjian), who works as a phone-sex operator, and the two concoct a plan to escape his emotionally cold father. In 'The Sweet Hereafter' (1997), powerful lawyer Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm) arrives in a small town in British Columbia after 14 children die in a school bus crash. Announcing that he will win compensation for the townsfolk, Stephens investigates the mysterious circumstances surrounding the accident, discovering various dark secrets lurking beneath the surface. In 'Calendar' (1993), a photographer (Egoyan) and his wife (Khanjian) travel to Armenia to photograph churches for use in a calendar, employing a native speaking driver (Ashot Adamyan) to escort them around the country. On their travels a relationship develops between the photographer's wife and the Armenian guide. Looking back on this time from his apartment in Toronto, the newly separated photographer contacts women through an escort agency and invites them to dinner, all while his estranged wife tries reconcile with him. In 'Next of Kin' (1984), Peter (Patrick Tierney) is a young man from an Anglo-Saxon family who is constantly under pressure to do something meaningful with his life. The family visit a therapist in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the tension between themselves and Peter's apparent laziness. When Peter visits the clinic before the next session hoping to view the video recording of their last meeting he is given the wrong tape and instead is shown the recording of an immigrant family who had given up their first son for adoption upon entering the country. What Peter then suggests to his family and therapist is that he take a break in order to find himself, but what he actually does is assume the identity of this other family's long lost son. Finally, in 'Speaking Parts' (1989), struggling actor Lance (Michael McManus) works in housekeeping at a local hotel while waiting for his first speaking role. Meanwhile, his co-worker Lisa (Khanjian) is obsessed with him and seeks out all the movies he appears in as a means of satisfying her voyeuristic tendencies. When Lance learns a scriptwriter, Clara (Rose), is staying at the hotel he chooses to leave his résumé in her room in the hope that she'll give him a part in her next film about her late brother. Before long the two become romantically involved and Lance finds himself with his first lead role but Clara becomes increasingly distressed when a series of changes are made to her story by the movie's producer.

True crime thriller directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon. The film follows the 1993 murder and mutilation of three young boys in West Memphis, Arkansas, and the resulting trial of the three teenage boys found guilty of the killings. Firth plays visiting private investigator Ron Lax who leads the defence of the suspected killers. Through his work on the case and conversations with Pam Hobbs (Witherspoon), the mother of one of the dead children, Ron finds there may be more to the deaths than the authorities think, but will it be enough to contend with the beliefs of the small Bible Belt community?

""Ravished Armenia"" and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian is the real-life tale of a teenage Armenian girl who was caught up in the 1915 Armenian genocide, the first genocide in modern history. Mardiganian (1901-1994) witnessed the murder of her family and the suffering of her people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Forced to march over fourteen hundred miles, she was sold into slavery. When she escaped to the United States, Mardiganian was then exploited by the very individuals whom she believed might help. Her story was published in book form and then used as the basis for a 1918 feature film, in which she herself starred. The film Ravished Armenia, also known as Auction of Souls, is a graphic retelling of Aurora Mardiganian's story, with the teenager in the central role, supported by Anna Q. Nilsson and Irving Cummings and directed by Oscar Apfel. Only twenty minutes of the film--the first to deal with the Armenian genocide--is known to survive, but it proves to be a stunning production, presenting its story in newsreel style. This revised edition of Anthony Slide's ""Ravished Armenia"" and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian also contains an annotated reprint of Mardiganian's original narrative and, for the first time, the full screenplay. In his introduction, Slide recounts the making of the film and Mardiganian's life in the United States, involving a cast of characters including Henry Morgenthau, Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Oliver Harriman, and film pioneer William Selig. The introduction also includes original comments by Aurora Mardiganian, whom Slide interviewed before her death. Acclaimed Armenian Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who created a video art installation about Mardiganian in 2007, provides a foreword.