OTTAWA: Lights, Camera, Action!

The McMaster Film Board was established in 1966 and within a couple of years the student society was screening films in underground venues in New York, LA and Chicago. One film - Hofsess' The Columbus of Sex - led to obscenity charges.

The roots of the Canadian film industry can be traced to this time and place on McMaster's campus. It was an incubator of creativity and freedom of expression, and it launched the careers of future frat-comedy innovator Ivan Reitman, avant-garde filmmaker John Hofsess and comic actor Eugene Levy, among many others.

Stephen Broomer is a Canadian filmmaker, Ryerson University film professor, and film preservationist. He has an avid interest in the McMaster Film Board and its work and authored  Hamilton Babylon: A History of the McMaster Film Board.

We hope you will join Join McMaster Alumni and Stephen Broomer at the National Arts Centre for this rare opportunity to hear from Stephen and view several of the short films he has restored from this time, including work by Eugene Levy, John Hofsess, and Ivan Reitman.

If you are interested in reading more about Stephen and the McMaster Film Board, read this TIFF interview with Stephen: The McMaster Film Board's Indelible influence on Hollywood North and this article from the Hamilton Spectator.