The Young, the Restless, and the Dead captures the spirit of Canadian filmmakers through interviews with the most accomplished and dynamic of yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s film greats. Funny, provocative, and enlightening, the filmmakers reflect on their careers and explore with the interviewers the issues that challenge them.
This book features an interview with a late director (Jean-Claude Lauzon) whose work is recognized in the canon as outstanding; interviews with filmmakers who are accomplished in their fields and have to their credit a sizeable body of work (Blake Corbet, Andrew Currie, Brent Carlson, Guy Maddin, Lynne Stopkewich, Anne Wheeler, Gary Burns, and Mina Shum); and an interview with a young director new to the field (Michael Dowse). Together these players in the Canadian film scene capture the energy, success, and tribulations of a fascinating cultural industry.
The Young, the Restless, and the Dead is the first volume in a series of interviews with key cultural creators in the field of cinema. It seeks to bring to a wide audience the insights and emotions, the trials and achievements of significant figures in Canadian film.
George Melnyk talks about The Young, the Restless, and the Dead with Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald. Read the interview online.

George Melnyk is an associate professor of Canadian studies and film studies in the Faculty of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary. He is a cultural historian who specializes in Canadian cinema. Among his film publications are One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema (2004) and Great Canadian Film Directors (2007). Most recently he has published The Young, the Restless, and the Dead: Interviews with Canadian Filmmakers (2008) in the Film and Media Studies series at WLU Press.

George Melnyk's profile page

Interview books can have the advantage of enhancing the accessibility and plasticity of a topic, and Melnyk, who tagged this collection in an interview as a ‘fun little book’ that is to ‘capture the fun of filmmaking–certainly zeros in on this effect by including storyboards, film stills, photos and a very clearly arranged layout. Moreover his selection of directors is far from being well-worn, Guy Madden being the only realy big name among Michael Dowse, the Anagram Picture boys Blake Corbet, Andrew Currie and Trent Carlson, Mina Shum, Lynn Stopkewich, Gary Burns, Anne Wheeler and Jean-Claude Lauzon, thus presenting a panorama.

Johannes Springer, University of Bremen, British Journal of Canadian Studies, 23.2, 2010 December

The Young, the Restless, and the Dead will contribute to putting Canadian filmmakers, upcoming and established, on the national and international map.

Claudia Kotte, H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences, April 2009, 2009 April