“Canadian cinema.” The term may appear self-evident but is problematic. First, one may question the value of national approaches to culture, especially here, in Quebec and Canada, where the debates over the Nation seem interminable, and especially now, in an era of globalization. Next, one may question the value of media-centered approaches to culture, especially when the successive waves of the “digital revolution” have blurred the boundaries between technologies and among artistic practices. Rather than try to survey “important” fiction films for theatres in Quebec or Canada, this essay adopts another point of view to examine the presence of cinema in Montreal museums over the past few years by focusing on three singular exhibitions. It may well be symptomatic of the current state of film in Quebec and Canada—but also, paradoxically, everywhere else—and says much about the relationship between medium and nation, the expansion of cinema beyond the movie theatre, and the internationalization of culture.
