Hye Bossin was central in the 1950s to the creation of the Canadian Film Archive, the Canadian Film Awards, and he wrote some of the first histories of early cinema in Canada, published in the first volumes of the annual Canadian Film Weekly Year Book (1951-1970), an annual directory appendix to Bossin’s editorship at Canadian Film Weekly (1942-1970), owned by Nat Taylor’s Film Publications of Canada, Ltd. Early volumes included several significant historical essays under his byline, remarkably comprehensive and still cited today. Later volumes provided an annual spotlight of the Canadian Picture Pioneers of the Year. In the late 1960s, after Bossin’s death, the magazine was renamed Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, scaling back the pace of publishing but added a purview for television and broadcasting. The annual was renamed similarly, its subtitle amended to “Year Book of the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” When the Film Weekly was relaunched as Canadian Film Digest (1971-76), the publication continued to include an annual, Canadian Film Digest Yearbook (1971-86), which was subsequently renamed Film Canada Yearbook (1986-2007).

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

• Bossin, Hye. “Canada and the Film: The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 21-41. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951.
• ———. “At the Very Beginning, The Holland Brothers of Ottawa Ushered in the World Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 45-49. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1952.
• ———. “The Story of L. Ernest Ouimet, Pioneer.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 23-43. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1952.