Bruce Elder

“I have been especially concerned with identifying those features of the Canadian sensibility that has given rise to a realist style.” (1989)

Bruce Elder is a filmmaker, critic and teacher of film studies at Ryerson University.

Described by New York filmmaker and critic Jonas Meklas as “the most important North American avant-garde filmmaker to emerge during the 1980s,” Elder combines images, music and text to create works that reflect his interest in philosophy, technology, science, spirituality and the human body.

His first major film cycle of twenty films, The Book of All the Dead, inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Commedia and Ezra Pound’s Cantos, grew out of his preoccupation with the horrors of modernity, its faith in progress and the loss of a sense of what is good and evil. His current film cycle, The Book of Praise, makes extensive use of computer-image generation, highlighting his fascination with mathematics and digital technology.

Elder has been a guest lecturer at institutions across North America and around the world and has written books and articles on film, music, poetry and the visual arts. He is the winner of the 2007 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.