# James Freer

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**James Simmons Freer** (4 January 1855 – 22 December 1933)[1] was a Canadian filmmaking pioneer.

Born in [Woodstock, Oxfordshire](/source/Woodstock,_Oxfordshire) Freer was a newspaper reporter who emigrated to [Manitoba](/source/Manitoba), Canada in 1888 from [Bristol](/source/Bristol) and became a farmer, settling south of [Winnipeg](/source/Winnipeg), in the Brandon Hills district. Less than two years after the [Lumière Brothers](/source/Lumi%C3%A8re_Brothers) exhibited the first film in [France](/source/France), Freer became the first Canadian filmmaker. He made films about the Canadian prairies, especially themes of farming and railways, which were shown as early as 1897. The [Canadian Pacific Railway Company](/source/Canadian_Pacific_Railway_Company) noticed Freer's films and began to tour them throughout the [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom) in an effort to promote immigration to Canada. *[Ten Years in Manitoba](/source/Ten_Years_in_Manitoba)* was shown through the British Isles in 1898.[2][3]

The tour was so successful that a second tour of Freer's films took place in 1902. The second tour was sponsored by [Sir Clifford Sifton](/source/Sir_Clifford_Sifton), Canadian Minister of the Interior, who was eager to promote immigration to the Canadian west, especially those from English speaking countries. The second trip was not as successful a recruiting device because people had heard that Freer had downplayed Manitoba's mosquito problem and cold winters.

This ended his film career and he later worked for the *[Winnipeg Free Press](/source/Winnipeg_Free_Press)* and died in [Winnipeg](/source/Winnipeg) in 1933.

## References

1. Walz, Gene. ["FREER, JAMES SIMMONS"](https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/freer_james_simmons_16E.html). *Dictionary of Canadian Biography*. Retrieved 2021-10-26.

1. Morris, Peter (1978). [*Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema 1895-1939*](https://books.google.com/books?id=c08BBAAAQBAJ&q=embattled+shadows&pg=PA40). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-7735-0323-4.

1. Handling, Piers, Peter Morris, Wyndham Wise, Ted Magder. ["History of the Canadian Film Industry"](http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-history-of-film-in-canada/). *The Canadian Encyclopedia*. Historica. Retrieved March 22, 2017.

## External links

- [James Freer](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3987901/) at IMDb
- [Who's Who of Victorian Cinema](https://www.victorian-cinema.net/freer.htm)
- [Obituary](https://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~sfreer/jfreer.html)

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