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While I鈥檓 not surprised our industry is being targeted, as a Canadian filmmaker and technician, I can鈥檛 help but laugh at how illogical this is. We鈥檝e survived a pandemic and strikes that crippled the entertainment industries in both the United States and Canada, and now, after decades of mutual benefit, the President of the United States is taking a page out of a propaganda playbook and sabotaging filmmakers under the guise of national security.聽

Canada is home to a thriving film industry: about 244,000 people depend on productions for work each year, which added $11.04 billion into our GDP in 2024. Popular filming locations include the GTA, Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, and northern Ontario. Industries are expanding in , , and Nunavut, too.

When I was a little girl ignoring my homework to watch movies, I dreamt I鈥檇 grow up to make them. For the past 13 years, I鈥檝e followed this dream and made a career working in this industry聽鈥� I鈥檝e met lifelong friends and worked shoulder to shoulder with people of various backgrounds, often for clients who are American or of international origin.

Film workers live an erratic lifestyle with long hours and night shoots and travelling away from our families. We are always chasing our next show because, more often than not, we鈥檙e freelancers. Regardless of our union affiliation, the lives we鈥檝e built in entertainment can turn on a dime due to world events.

The truth is, no industry is safe from the whims of this billionaire seeking to bulldoze any fleeting thing he deems unfit, especially art. Artists are historically oppressed in times of authoritarianism; telling stories through film has the power to connect people and reflect something about their humanity.聽

Media is a mighty tool: it can unite us or become a propaganda machine. Art has the power to change lives because it is free expression at its core. Propaganda is the antithesis of art: its content is a cyclical prison of misinformation and reproduces itself ad nauseum.

Trump deciding all foreign movies are “propaganda” or “national security threats” is ludicrous. This lie is frustrating for those of us who are trying to support ourselves in this wonderful industry. Most of us who work as crew don鈥檛 know who the higher ups are, let alone their citizenship or the currency of the funding; for example, a camera operator鈥檚 job is not to evaluate what corporate umbrella started a production company and greenlit a movie that shoots in Canada and will pay her mortgage. Nor has it been a concern because of the positive outcomes of working together.

Canadian film workers are in for an economic rollercoaster from this trade war. We are concerned for our future and question if this 鈥渕ovie tariff鈥� will destroy the decades-long status quo of happily working with our neighbour.

While Trump鈥檚 announcement is devastating and will surely cost us jobs, I don鈥檛 believe all is lost.

Canada’s newly elected government can make the best of a terrible situation and pump more funding into Canadian films for both emerging and established artists. Grants, loans, training programs, new tax credits, distribution, and work-training possibilities for productions shooting in rural locations will help keep Canadian crews working, local economies thriving, and creators, both local and international, sharing stories in Canada.

Our cinematic arts industry can still flourish despite threats to our sovereignty. But we must find ways to fund it.