ABOUT OUR Distribution
Every filmmaker who deposits work with CFMDC becomes a member of our organization.
CFMDC is a not-for-profit, artist-run distribution centre that offers many different services to support the diverse needs of our membership. Filmmakers can use this page as reference for information about CFMDC distribution.
LINKS & RESOURCES
TORONTO METROPOLITAN RESIDENCY THESES
Han, Ningjiao. “A catalogue and inventory for Roberto Ariganello’s personal collection at Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre.” Toronto Metropolitan University, Thesis. (2018)
https://doi.org/10.32920/ryerson.14653971.v1
“This is an applied project wherein 86 films by independent filmmaker Roberto Ariganello were catalogued at Canadian Filmmaker Distribution Center (CFMDC) from January-June 2018. Ariganello is acknowledged as one of the most vital cultural workers when it comes to his devotion to the independent film and art industries, and as a grouping of orphan films, this collection of Ariganello’s has been ignored for a long period of time. The outcome is an inventory for a box containing Roberto Ariganello’s collection, which is stored at CFMDC.”
Khoeini, Amin. “Identifying and cataloguing the Film Farm collection at CFMDC.” Toronto Metropolitan University, Thesis. (2019)
https://doi.org/10.32920/ryerson.14663649.v2
“This thesis is an applied project aimed to identify all the film that produced in Film Farm workshop that is currently held by CFMDC. The identification process including research into external sources such as the filmmaker’s website, festival journals and distribution documents. A spreadsheet was created that catalogues all the Film Farm collection at CFMDC. The CFMDC database was also updated to reflect the accurate information of the collection for the use of future researchers. Finally, a complete condition report is provided for all the films identified in the collection.”
Simmons, Deidre. “The access(ibility) of films in artist-run centres.” Toronto Metropolitan University, Thesis. (2019)
https://doi.org/10.32920/ryerson.14647242.v1
“This thesis considers how artist-run centres are creating access to their film collections by using the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC) as its case study. It looks at current literature on accessibility, including controlled vocabularies, keywords, folksonomies, and social tagging, and how two other institutions- Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), located in Paris, France and IsumaTV, located in Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada- are currently creating access to their film collections to discover how different forms of accessibility are being used in real time. It looks at how the CFMDC is currently creating access to its film collection and finally, recommends the ways accessibility at an artist-run centre could be improved to help the artist-run centre reach a wider audience, help the researcher in the search and retrieval process, and to keep the film object itself accessible.”
Loker, Willow. “Archiving Miscellany: Processing the CFMDC’s Storage Collection of Ukrainian Films.” Toronto Metropolitan University, Thesis. (2024). Link to text upcoming.
“This thesis project identifies a set of guidelines for the processing of archival acquisitions which do not fit their host institution’s collections mandate. Focus is given to orphan film collections, with the specific logistical complexities that arise from working with these collections being addressed. Using the example of a collection of Ukrainian educational films held in storage at the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC), different stages of collections processing are outlined and detailed, including preliminary research, identification, inspection, and digitization. Finally, options for the future of the collection are discussed, including reorganization and relocation to a new host institution. Provided alongside this thesis are condition reports for the films in the Ukrainian collection, an itemization of these films, and a general document outlining the process steps followed for future reference.”
MORE ON CFMDC & OTHER ARTIST-RUN ORGANIZATIONS & MEDIA ARTS
- Balson, Erika. After Uniqueness A History of Film and Video Art in Circulation (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017)
- Fothergill, Robert. “Canadian Film-Maker’s Distribution Centre: A Founding Memoir,” Canadian Journal of Film vol. 3, no. 2 (1994): 81-85
- Knowles, Kim. Experimental Film and Photochemical Practices (Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)
- Lampert, Andrew. Results You Can’t Refuse: Celebrating 30 Years of BB Optics (New York City: Anthology Film Archives, 2006)
- Lucky, Shannon J. “ARChives: Exploring the Community Archives of Canadian Artist-run Centres.” Master’s Thesis, University of Alberta, 2016.
- Lucky, Shannon J. “Digital ARChiving in Canadian Artist-Run Centres.” In Participatory Heritage, edited by H. Roued-Cunliffe and A. Copeland (London: Facet Publishing, 2017), 163-172.
- Mihailescu, Ilinka “No Judgement: A History of the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre”, Local Film Cultures: Toronto.
- Noordegraaf, Julia, Cosetta G. Saba, Barbara Le Maître, and Vinzenz Hediger (eds.), Preserving and Exhibiting Media Art Challenges and Perspectives (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013)
- Plant, Johanna. “Constituting the Archives of Artist-Run Culture: A Self-Conscious Apparatus of History.” Master’s Thesis, Queen’s University, 2015.
- Roberston, Clive. “Movement + apparatus: a cultural policy study of artist-run culture in Canada (1976-1994).” PhD thesis, Concordia University, 2004.
- Takahashi, Tess, “Queer Film At The Canadian Filmmakers’ Distribution Centre (1965-1985)” Other Places.
- “Toronto Tributes + Tributaries, 1971-1989”, Art Gallery of Ontario. (Sept. 2016-May 2017)