''Ten Years in Manitoba'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by James Freer and released in 1898."Manitoba’s moving pictures"
''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'', August 17, 2013. Although now lost, it is generally credited as the first known film by a Canadian filmmaker. Consisting of footage of various scenes from the province of

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, the film was exhibited in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in April 1898 as part of a promotional campaign, sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway, to encourage

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

to the province.Luke McKernan
"James Freer: The first Canadian filmmaker"
''

Who's Who of Victorian Cinema ''Who's Who of Victorian Cinema'' is a reference work on film pioneers by Stephen Herbert and Luke McKernan, British scholars of film history. Originally published by the British Film Institute in 1996 as a reference book, the content has been revi ...

'', December 2012. The film was a compilation of short scenes, with titles including "Six Binders at Work in Hundred Acre Wheatfield", "Harvesting Scene, with Trains Passing By", "Pacific and Atlantic Mail Trains" and "Arrival of CPR Express at Winnipeg"."History of the Canadian Film Industry"
''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

'', January 10, 2012. Other scenes whose titles are not confirmed reportedly depicted Freer's own home and family, as well as footage of

Thomas Greenway Thomas Greenway (March 25, 1838 – October 30, 1908) was a Canadian politician, merchant and farmer. He served as the seventh premier of Manitoba from 1888 to 1900. A Liberal, his ministry formally ended Manitoba's non-partisan government, al ...

, the Premier of Manitoba, stooking grain on his own farm.Ken Goldstein
"How Winnipeg Invented the Media"
''Manitoba History'' Number 70, Fall 2012. The

Manitoba Historical Society The Manitoba Historical Society is a historical society in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It was created in 1879 by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitob ...

has, however, confirmed that at least part of Freer's film appears to have consisted of footage filmed by other people; several months earlier, a Winnipeg bartender named Richard Hardie, an American filmmaker named E. H. Amet and an entertainment producer named Cosgrove were known to have been exhibiting

kinetograph The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...

s in various Manitoba communities that included farm harvesting footage, including Greenway stooking grain, although they engaged in a dispute through letters to the ''

'' as to who had been the creator of the films. Freer appears to have acquired their films, and included them in ''Ten Years in Manitoba'' along with some of his own original footage.

References

External links

* 1898 films Canadian documentary films Films shot in Manitoba Lost Canadian films Compilation films Films set in Manitoba 1890s documentary films Canadian anthology films 1890s lost films {{silent-documentary-film-stub