Gerald Pratley Award – Le Prix Gerald Pratley
The Gerald Pratley Award was established in 1991 in tribute to Gerald Pratley‘s (1923-2011) contribution to the advancement of Canadian film studies. The Association invites applications from Honours and Graduate students (MA or PhD) undertaking innovative research in cinema and media studies that will contribute to the understanding of cinema and media produced in Canada/Québec.
Le Prix Gerald Pratley fut créé en 1991 pour honorer la contribution de M. Pratley à l’avancement des études cinématographiques canadiennes. L’Association sollicite des candidatures soumises par des étudiants des cycles supérieurs (maîtrise ou doctorat) ayant un excellent dossier académique et dont les recherches permettront d’améliorer les connaissances sur le cinéma et les médias produits au Canada/Québec.
Value of Award / Valeur du prix: $1500.00
Eligibility – Conditions d’admissibilité:
Students entering or completing a graduate program in Film Studies (or any related discipline) in any recognized post-secondary institution in or outside Canada.
Applicants need not be Canadian citizens.
Sont admissibles les étudiants inscrits à un programme d’études supérieures en
études cinématographiques (ou toute autre discipline connexe) dans un
établissement d’enseignement postsecondaire reconnu situé au Canada ou à l’extérieur du pays. Les candidats n’ont pas besoin d’être citoyens canadiens.
Criteria – Critères de sélection:
The Award will assist with the cost of the student’s continuing studies in any area of cinema or media produced in Canada/Québec and is based on the student’s previous academic performance and his or her intentions for a specific paper or body of research on cinema or media in Canada/Québec. The project should be one that is capable of being completed within one year and the successful candidate is expected to present a paper reporting on the results of his or her project at the FMSAC/ACÉCM annual conference during the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.
Le prix aidera à couvrir le coût des études en cours de l’étudiant dans n’importe quel domaine du cinéma ou des médias produits au Canada/Québec et est basé sur les résultats scolaires antérieurs de l’étudiant et ses intentions d’écrire un article ou d’étudier un corpus de recherche spécifique sur le cinéma ou les médias au Canada/Québec. L’étudiant aura un an pour compléter son projet de recherche. Il devra également présenter les résultats de ses recherches à la conférence annuelle de la FMSAC/ACÉCM au cours du Congrès des sciences humaines.
Application Deadline – Date limite pour la présentation des demandes:
August 31/ 31 août
Applications should include – Les dossiers de candidature doivent inclure:
By email to: president@filmstudies.ca
- a brief research proposal (500 words) including bibliography
- two letters of recommendation
- one sample of previous work (3000 to 5000 words)
- official university transcripts or unofficial grade reports (may be scanned to send by e-mail)
Par courriel: president@filmstudies.ca
- une courte présentation du projet de recherche (500 mots) incluant la bibliographie
- deux lettres de recommandation
- un exemple de travail antérieur (3000 à 5000 mots)
- relevés de notes officiels ou des rapports non officiels (peuvent être numérisés pour soumettre par courriel)
Reference Letters should be sent directly by e-mail from the referee.
Les lettres de recommendation doivent être envoyées directement de la référence par courriel.
The winning applicant may be asked to supply sealed, official transcripts at a later date.
Le candidat gagnant pourrait être prié de fournir des relevés de notes officiels scellés à une date ultérieure.
The award is normally adjudged in October and payable in December upon proof of registration and programme of study. The association reserves the right not to grant the award if insufficient numbers of applications are received or if none of the applications is deemed worthy of the award.
Le prix est normalement remis en octobre et payable en décembre moyennant une preuve d’inscription. L’association se réserve le droit de ne pas accorder de prix si un nombre insuffisant de candidatures sont reçues ou si aucune des candidatures n’est jugée digne de recevoir le prix.
Gerald Pratley Award Recipients
2024 Kathryn Armstrong (Concordia University)
“Co-produced Canada: Media partnerships in cultural policy”
Presented at the FMSAC/ACÉCM Annual Conference, Concordia University, 2024.
2023 Caroline Klimek (York University)
“Artist-Run Centres + XR Media: How Canadian Artists are Making Tech Accessible”
Presented at the FMSAC Annual Conference/ Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 2023.
2022 Ylenia Olibet (Concordia University)
“Minor Transnationalism in Quebec’s Women Cinema: Diasporic Filmmaking Practices”
Presented at the virtual FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, May 2022
2021 Meghan McDonald (University of Toronto)
“Where Old Meets New: Visions of Newfoundland Modernity in Lee Wulff’s Travel Films”
Presented at the virtual FSAC annual Conference, June 2021
2020 Oriane Morriet (Université de Montréal)
“L’empathie: Le choix des auteurs québécois et canadiens des œuvres en réalité virtuelle?”
Presented at the virtual FSAC annual Conference, June 2021
2019 Nikola Stepić (Concordia University)
“French Connections: Gay Male Pornography as Virtual Tourism”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of British Columbia, June 2019
2018 Mary Arnatt (University of Calgary)
“’The Set is (Still) Closed!’ Exploring Canadian Production Culture at Cinepix”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Regina, May 2018
2017 Rachel Webb Jekanowski (Concordia University)
“Entanglements of Resource Extraction in Hudson’s Bay Company Films”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ryerson University, May 2017
2016 Julie Ravary (Université de Montréal)
“Terre-mère: une figure mythique enracinée dans l’imaginaire national du cinéma québécois”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Calgary, May 2016
2015 Joel Hughes (Concordia University)
“A tool that makes, persuades, instructs: The National Film Board of Canada as Part of the Indian Residential School System”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, June 2015
2014 Kester Dyer (Concordia University)
“A Transportable/Transnational Cinema: The Wapikoni Mobile”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Brock University, May 2014.
2013 Zoë Constantinides (Concordia University)
“Broadcasting Taste: The Emergence of Popular Film Criticism on English-Canadian Radio”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Victoria, June 2013.
2012 Philippe Gauthier (Université de Montréal / Université de Lausanne)
« Pas de deux entre l’enseignement et la recherche: L’histoire du cinéma dans les universités canadiennes durant les années 1960 et 1970» / [Pas de deux between Teaching and Research: Film History in Canadian Universities in the 1960s and 70s]
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, May 2012.
2011 Shana MacDonald (York University)
“Inhabiting the Thresholds: Formal Dissonance in Canadian Women’s Experimental Film 1977 1987″
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New Brunswick, June 2011.
2010 Bruno Cornellier, Concordia University
“The Burden of Education: Pedagogies of Difference and the Indian Thing at the National Film Board of Canada”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Concordia University, June 2010.
2009 Katherine Quanz, Wilfrid Laurier University
“Reclaiming Voices: Canadian Aboriginal Experimental Film and Video” Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Carleton University, May 2009.
2008 Peter Lester, Concordia University
“Sweet Sixteen” Goes to War: Hollywood, the NAAF and 16mm Film Exhibition in Canada During World War II” Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of British Columbia, June 2008.
Published: “Sweet Sixteen Goes to War: Hollywood, the NAAF and 16mm Film Exhibition in Canada during WWII.”” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 19:1 (Spring 2010).
2007 Brenda McDermott, York University
“Selection and Adaptation: Viewing newsreels and topical films in Toronto during the First World War”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, May 2007.
2006 Michael Baker, McGill University
“Actors Performing, People Speaking, Panels Discussing: The Emergence of the Talking Head in the Documentary Films of the NFB”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference / Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, York University, May 2006.
Published: “Dresden Story and the Emergence of the Talking Head in the NFB Documentary Film.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 17:2 (Fall 2008): 2-17.
2005 Kristy Holmes, Queen’s University
“The Gendered Nation: The Work of Joyce Wieland 1964-1976”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Ontario, May 2005.
Published: “Negotiating the Nation: “Expanding” the Work of Joyce Wieland.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 15:2 (Fall 2006): 20-43.
2004 JoAnne Stober, Concordia University
“A Vaudeveille Re-Turn?: Vaudeville in the Era of Synchronized Sound”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Manitoba, June 2004.
2003 Deidre Martin, Concordia University
“Twilight Cinema: A Cultural History of Drive-In Theatre Exhibition and Cinemagoing in Canada”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Dalhousie University, May, 2003.
2002 Paul Moore, York University
“Opening Canadian Odeon: Creating National Competition in Exhibition, 1935-1950”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Toronto, May, 2002.
Published: “Nathan L. Nathanson Introduces Canadian Odeon: Producing National Competition in Exhibition.”Canadian Journal of Film Studies 12:2 (Fall 2003); “The Ontario Odeons of Jay I. English” Marquee. 34:3 (Fall 2002): 4-13.
2001 Sarah Matheson, University of Southern California
“Televising Toronto from Hogtown to Megacity: The Representation of Urban Space in English Canadian Television”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Laval University, May 2001.
2000 Charles Tepperman, Carleton University
“Improvement the Order of the Age”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities University of Alberta, May 2000.
1999 Alison Whitney, McGill University
” ‘Labyrinth’: Cinema, Myth and Nation in Expo ’67”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference University of Sherbrooke, May 1999.
1998 Michael Sternberg, Carleton University
“In Between Pragmatism, Lament and Terror: Wartime National Identity in Crisis”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference Carleton University, May 1998.
1997 No Award
1996 Barbara Rockburn, Carleton University
“Bonne Entente: Elliptical Elisions and Canadian Narrative Structure”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference Brock University, May 1996.
1995 Jean Bruce, University of Western Ontario (Co-winner)
“Querying or Queering the Nation: The Lesbian Postmodern and Canadian Women’s Cinema”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference Université de Québec á Montréal, June 1995.
Published: “Querying or Queering the Nation: The Lesbian Postmodern and Canadian Women’s Cinema.”Canadian Journal of Film Studies 5:2 (Fall 1996): 35-50.
1995 Lee Parpart, York University (Co-winner)
“Canadian (Wet) Dreams: Eroticism and the Uses of Pleasure in Films of the Not-so- frigid North, 1984-1994”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference Université de Québec á Montréal, June 1995.
1994 Peter Geller, Carleton University
“Viewing the North: The Perception of the Canadian Arctic, 1920-1945”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference University of Calgary, June 1994.
1993 Janice Kaye, University of Southern California
“Perfectly Normal, Eh? Gender Transformation and National Identity in Canada.”
Presented:FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference Carleton University, June 1993 (by video); National Cinemas Revisited Conference, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1993; UCLA/USC Graduate Student Conference, UCLA, Los Angeles, 1994.
Published: “Perfectly Normal, Eh? A Story of Gender Transformation and National Identity in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 3:1 (Fall 1994): 63-80.
1992 Christine Ramsay, Carleton University
“Canadian Narrative Cinema From the Margins: The Nation and Masculinity in Don Shebib’s Goin’ Down the Road.”
Presented at the FSAC Annual Conference/Learneds Conference University of Prince Edward Island, June 1992.
Published: “Canadian Narrative Cinema From the Margins: The Nation and Masculinity in Don Shebib’s Goin’ Down the Road.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 2:2-3 (1993): 27-49.
Reprinted: “Canadian Narrative Cinema From the Margins: the Nation and Masculinity in Don Shebib’s Goin’ Down the Road.” In Canada’s Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films. Cross Cultures 56. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2002. 1-24.
The Gerald Pratley Award funds leading edge graduate scholarship in Canadian cinema, and was established in 1991 to recognize the unparalleled contributions of Gerald Pratley to Canadian film culture. Pratley was born and educated in London, England, and came to Canada in 1946. He started working in Toronto for the CBC as a scriptwriter, and later established himself as a film critic and commentator on “Pratley at the Movies.” During his illustrious career he chaired the Toronto Film Society, taught film history at several Ontario universities and colleges, served as an organizer and juror on many international film festivals, worked the Cannes film festival as CBC correspondent, was a member of the programming committee of TVOntario, and became the founding director of the Ontario Film Institute. He wrote six books, including Torn Sprockets: The Uncertain Projection of the Canadian Film(1987), and held Honorary Degrees in Letters and Fine Arts from York and Waterloo Universities, and from Bowling Green State University (Ohio). In 1984 Gerald Pratley was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his service to Canada through film appreciation; he passed away in 2011 at the age of 87.
Over the years, the Pratley Award has received funding from the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Canadian Film Centre, Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Film Development Corporation, and it is supported annually by donations from members of FMSAC-ACÉCM. The award is presented yearly at the annual meeting of the Film and Media Studies Association of Canada, and the research results often published in the Canadian Journal of Film Studies.
Le prix Gerald Pratley soutient financièrement l’avancement des connaissances de pointe au niveau des cycles supérieurs dans le domaine du cinéma canadien. Le prix fut créé en 1991 pour souligner les contributions exceptionnelles de Gerald Pratley à la culture cinématographique canadienne.
Pratley est né à Londres, en Angleterre. Il y fait ses études puis vient s’installer au Canada en 1946. Il travaille à Toronto pour la CBC en tant que scénariste. Il s’impose plus tard comme critique de film et commentateur sur l’émission « Pratley at the Movies ». Au cours de son illustre carrière, il a présidé la Toronto Film Society, a enseigné l’histoire du cinéma dans plusieurs collèges et universités de l’Ontario, fut organisateur et membre du jury de nombreux festivals internationaux de cinéma, fut correspondant de la CBC au Festival de Cannes, a été membre du comité de programmation de la TVOntario, et est devenu le directeur fondateur de l’Ontario Film Institute. Pratley est l’auteur de six livres, incluant Torn Sprockets: The Uncertain Projection of the Canadian Film (1987), et détient un doctorat honorifique en Lettres et Beaux-Arts de l’University of Waterloo, de York University et de la Bowling Green State University (Ohio). En 1984, Gerald Pratley devient membre de l’Ordre du Canada en reconnaissance de sa contribution au Canada dans le domaine de la critique du cinéma.
Le prix Pratley a reçu des fonds du Toronto International Film Festival Group, du Canadian Film Centre, Téléfilm Canada et du Centre canadien du film, Canada et de la Société de développement de l’industrie des médias de l’Ontario, et il est soutenu chaque année par des dons de membres de la FMSAC-ACÉCM. Le prix est remis annuellement à l’assemblée annuelle de l’Association canadienne d’études cinématographiques et médiatiques. Les résultats de la recherche sont souvent publiés dans la Revue canadienne d’études cinématographiques.
Thanks to the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for the photo of Mr. Pratley. / Merci à l’Académie canadienne du cinéma et de la télévision pour la photo de M. Pratley.
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