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The Rise and Fall of English Montreal
William Weintraub 1993 50 min
In the past 20 years, some 300,000 English-speaking people have left Montréal, convinced they had no future in a Québec that had become increasingly French, increasingly nationalistic. In this video we meet some of the people who are moving away and recall the days, in the last century, when there were more English-speaking people than French in Montréal. The video poses a controversial question: Will the city, with its youth leaving in great numbers, become a community of the elderly, unable to renew itself?
Matheson Island
Kevin Settee 2021 14 min
This film tells the story of the Whiteways of Matheson Island, who for generations have depended on commercial fishing as a means of survival and livelihood. The Whiteways share their devotion to their fishing lifestyle and the fulfillment and freedom it provides, as well as various challenges that arise due to factors such as health, government policy and the threatened future of the fishing industry.
Fisher River
Kevin Settee 2021 15 min
This film narrows in on stories of generosity and perseverance in Fisher River Cree Nation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stories include the purchase and distribution of fish on a community and intra-community level, as well as stories of mothers who experienced unique challenges of their own while continuing to provide support and care to their families and communities.
Camp Morningstar
Kevin Settee 2021 16 min
This film shares the story of Camp Morningstar, a sacred camp established on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that was erected in response to the proposal of a silica sand mine. The film explores Camp Morningstar’s historical and spiritual connections to territory, the role of ceremony and spirituality, and the power of collective action.
Poplar River
Kevin Settee 2021 10 min
This film explores the special connection that Poplar River First Nation has to the lands and waters surrounding their community. Poplar River community members Sophia Rabliauskas and Clint Bittern share their perspectives on the importance and intergenerational responsibility of protecting the lands and waters in their territory for generations to come.
Breakdown
Robert Anderson 1951 42 min
The story of a young woman's schizophrenic breakdown, and of her recovery in a modern mental hospital. Inherent in the film is an appeal for greater public understanding of mental illness and for the removal of the stigma that still surrounds it. The film presents the case of a seemingly well-adjusted young woman, showing the disintegration of her personality and the psychiatric treatment that follows.
Henry Larsen's Northwest Passages
1962 27 min
Norwegian-born Superintendent Henry Larsen of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was the first man to navigate the Northwest Passage in both directions. In this film he relates anecdotes of his voyages in the tiny schooner, the St. Roch.
Henry Larsen
1965 16 min
Suitable for schools but of interest to all audiences, this film recounts the epic story of Canada's Arctic explorer, Superintendent Henry Larsen of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was the first man in history to navigate the Northwest Passage from west to east, and the first to complete the hazardous voyage both ways. Seen in the film is the little Royal Canadian Mounted Police patrol ship the St. Roch, in which he made the crossings.
The Land
Rex Tasker & Jean-Claude Labrecque 1969 8 min
This film presents a breath-taking view of Canada from coast to coast. Besides showing the varied terrain, from craggy coast to towering glacier, the film illustrates something of the development of the land from its virgin state to today's intense and complex industrial exploitation. Filmed for the most part from a low-flying aircraft, there is evidence of space everywhere: in the caribou streaming across the snowy tundra, in the serried ranges of the Pacific mountains, in the distant horizons of lakes and seas, and in the spacious grain fields of the prairies. Equal to the grandiose natural scenes are the projects of Canadian industry, such as Quebec's great Manicouagan power dam, and the endless ribbon of the Trans-Canada Highway. This view of the land is surprising in its diversity.
Stiletto
Louise Leroux 1999 46 min
Stiletto. The very word seduces. Pedestal of desire, ultimate symbol of feminine allure, this high-heeled pump is firmly entrenched in the popular imagination and in our lives. Stiletto is the filmmaker's search for new answers. Her itinerary takes us into the worlds of an erudite historian, a sensible podologist, a fashion designer, and an Italian manufacturer. She has scrutinized this aphrodisiacal pump from all angles. Stiletto strikes off in new directions and replaces traditional feminist thinking with innovative ideas.
Standing on the Line
Paul Émile d'Entremont 2018 1 h 20 min
TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains the following subject matter: Suicide and self harm.

In both amateur and professional sports, being gay remains taboo. For some athletes, the pressure to perform is compounded by the further strain of deciding whether or not to come out of the closet. They set out to overcome prejudice in the hopes of changing things for the athletes of tomorrow.
The Brokers
Peter Raymont 1987 29 min
This film demystifies the complex but fascinating world of the investment business. We are given a privileged view of one of Canada's largest brokerage houses, McLeod, Young, Weir and Co. Ltd., and we also hear from some people who understand the complexities of the Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver stock exchanges. We are given a glimpse of a business that forms the basis for capitalism in North America, an instant barometer of the health of the economy.
The Sea Got in Your Blood
David Millar 1965 27 min
A taste of the sea and people who sail it from the ports of the Atlantic Bluenose coast. Some of the sailors seen and heard in this black and white film are famous: Bill Roue who designed the first Bluenose schooner (still on the Canadian dime) and Captain Angus Walter who brought her to victory.
Demon and Marvels
Bertrand Langlois 1977 7 min
This film depicts a world where space is geometric, noise is absent, and nothing happens until a small white cube comes bumping along, stirring up movement where before there was none. Chased by a wicked demon, the cube symbolizes the inner struggle that goes on inside each one of us: the confrontation, or evasion, of one's private demons. Film without words.
Harry in Wonderland
Barbara Willis-Sweete 1990 28 min
This portrait of Canadian composer Harry Freedman shows his creative imagination at work and how he puts it into practical application in the composition and production of a major new work--Fragments of Alice--a musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Beaver Dam
F.R. Crawley 1960 15 min
The great appeal of this film is watching the beaver at work, busily and cheerfully demonstrating the characteristics for which it is famous. Sometimes, however, the beaver's industry runs counter to the plans of people. When the beaver's dam floods their father's hayfield, two boys devise a plan to save the beaver from their father's displeasure.
Freedom Outraged
2009 1 h 13 min
Four people who were struggling for a separate Quebec in the early '70s offer us an insight into their social and political engagement. Discussions, archival footage and the songs of Plume Latraverse provide a deeper understanding of Pierre Vallières, Charles Gagnon, Francis Simard and Robert Comeau. In French with English subtitles.
A Hospital Crucified
Renée Blanchar 2007 1 h 1 min
On March 2, 2004, Bernard Lord's Conservative government announces that the hospital in Caraquet, New Brunswick, will be converted to a community health centre. Considering the government's decision unfair, the people of the region rally to save the health care services to which they feel entitled. Despite their year-and-a-half-long struggle, the Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus is closed. In recording the chronology of the events, Renée Blanchar plunges into the heart of the action with an urgent need to speak out against injustice. The result is a very human film about solidarity. In French with English subtitles.
Men of the Deeps
John Walker 2003 51 min
Men of the Deeps is a moving portrait of a group of former Cape Breton miners gathered together by their love of song. They are all members of the Men of the Deeps chorus, whose performances of traditional and contemporary songs evoke their working lives as miners.
Trans-Canada Journey
Graham Parker 1962 28 min
A jetliner spans the miles, sheering through clouds to open sky and scenic vistas of the provinces below. Glimpses of town and country, of people of many ethnic origins, of a resourceful and industrious nation--impressions it would take days and weeks to gather at first hand--are brought to you in this vivid 1800-kilometer panorama.
Age of the Buffalo
Austin Campbell 1964 14 min
A vivid recollection of the free west of the North American Indigenous Peoples and the vast herds of buffalo that once thundered across the plains. From paintings of the mid-1800s, the animation camera creates a most convincing picture of the buffalo hunt, both as the Indigenous People and, disastrously, the white hunters practised it.
Our Last Days ... In Moscow
Martin Duckworth 1987 55 min
Pianists Kuo-Yen of Taiwan and Pierre Jasmin of Québec met and fell in love while studying music in Vienna. The film is a "letter" from Pierre to Kuo-Yen, who has made the difficult decision to return to her native land. Jasmin is sending her the images, words, and music of their last days as a couple ... in Moscow. They had come there for Kuo-Yen to compete in the 8th Tchaikovsky Piano Competition; how she fared determined her future. While pivoting on the drama of an international music competition and the sorrow inherent in parting, the film is also full of laughter, light, and love.
Each Day That Comes
Graham Parker 1966 27 min
A glimpse into the nature of loneliness. Frances Hyland plays the part of a small-town girl who enjoys position and respect in her community as the owner of a successful dress shop, but who wonders if marriage might not have been a better choice. Disturbed by thoughts of what might have been, she resolves to live each day as it comes.
The Whale and the Raven
Mirjam Leuze 2019 1 h 41 min
Director Mirjam Leuze’s The Whale and the Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.
John Wyre - Drawing on Sound
Niv Fichman 1991 26 min
A half-hour documentary portrait of Canadian composer, John Wyre.
Guilty Men
Tom Daly 1945 11 min
The chief war criminals, and the varied ways in which their careers came to an end.
Eye Witness No. 81
Alvin Goldman & Hector Lemieux 1955 11 min
New Life for Ghost Town Miners: Aided by the provincial government, jobless mine workers of Alberta move from Nordegg and other abandoned coal-mining areas to obtain new work elsewhere in Canada. School for Frogmen: Officers and men of the Royal Canadian Navy's Operational Diving Unit at Halifax undergo rigorous training courses to equip them for sub-surface duties.
Aircrew
Thomas Farley 1954 45 min
This film takes us to a number of Royal Canadian Air Force training centres to show how recruits from all parts of Canada become the key men at the controls of their country's aerial defence.
Freelancer on the Front Lines
Santiago Bertolino 2016 1 h 38 min
This fast-paced documentary follows Canadian freelance reporter Jesse Rosenfeld’s journey across the Middle East. Having made the region the focus of his work, he shows us the thorny geopolitical realities on the ground and explores how journalism practices have changed in the age of the Internet. From Egypt to Turkey and Iraq by way of Israel and Palestine, filmmaker Santiago Bertolino captures the ups and downs of a new kind of journalism in action.
Silence & Storm
Jeremiah Hayes 1995 52 min
Every summer, Camp Weredale, located in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal, is home to "system kids," offering them a safe haven and a chance to heal lives scarred by abuse and neglect. Silence & Storm documents two months in the lives of ten kids at this unique summer camp. For some, it was an opportunity to re-learn their capacity to be kids and just play; for others, it was a chance to come to grips with the painful memories that haunt them. Despite backgrounds steeped in pain and disappointment, these young people were able to reveal themselves and express their hopes, fears, anger and loneliness. The result is a sensitive, revealing portrait of an unusual program for youth in care.
River (Planet Earth)
Peter Raymont 1977 27 min
River (Planet Earth) is a student's audio-visual presentation of a river system and the importance of water to humans, to his professor who hates to be bored. Both serious and humorous, the film shows how water sustains life, feeds industry, provides power and irrigates the land. It shows how water is inverted, dammed, used and expelled. It talks of pollution. The film demonstrates how water affects the economy, sociology and ecology of a country.
K.C.I.: Beyond the Three R's
Scott Barrie 1982 27 min
Kitchener Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School embodies some of the best features of public secondary education today. The school encourages students to learn beyond the classroom through innovative programs like Cooperative Education or Community Involvement, and welcomes adults into the school to complete their education or upgrade their skills. Through candid views of school activities, classroom discussions, and interviews with staff and students, the film takes its audience through a busy day at a large urban high school. It approaches many of the questions in the current debate on education.
Flying Skis
Harry Foster 1951 9 min
In this sports short, Bill Stern, an American sportscaster, describes Laurentian sporting events. First to perform is Pete Curran, a professional figure skater and one-time partner of Barbara Ann Scott. For those who can hang on to the traces, the Scandinavian sport of skijoring, in which a person on skis is pulled along by a horse or vehicle, provides fun and excitement. A slow-motion camera follows Alex Foster as he demonstrates his skill. The film ends with an exhibition of skiing.
The Paradox of Norval Morrisseau
Duke Redbird & Henning Jacobsen 1974 28 min
In this revealing study of Norval Morrisseau, filmed as he works among the lakes and woodlands of his ancestors, we see a remarkable Indigenous artist who emerged from a life of obscurity in the North American bush to become one of Canada's most renowned painters. Morrisseau the man is much like his paintings: vital and passionate, torn between his Ojibway heritage and the influences of the white man's world. Jack Pollock, the Toronto art gallery owner who discovered Morrisseau's paintings in the early 1960s, comments on what makes them so unique.
Fur Country
Eduard Buckman 1942 22 min
The historic post of Moose Factory on James Bay is still a centre of Canada's fur trade. The camera follows Cree trapper George McLoed as he goes out from the post to visit his trap lines. Bivouacing in the open, in bitter cold, he traps mink and beaver, skillfully skinning the animals and drying the rich pelts. Back at the post, he sells his furs to the Hudson's Bay trader.
Eternal Earth
Larry Weinstein 1987 28 min
One of the Canadian Composers series, this documentary introduces viewers to the intricacies of contemporary classical music by following Chinese-Canadian composer Alexina Louie as she writes a symphony, The Eternal Earth, commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's musical director, Andrew Davis. Proclaimed Composer of the Year in 1986, Louie is known for her eclectic approach and blended musical heritage from both Chinese and Western influences. The film follows Louie between rehearsal spaces and the streets of Chinatown, including the world première performance of the piece at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in May, 1986. It illustrates the process whereby musical notation is transformed into the rich, harmonious textures and sounds that audiences hear.
Aqua Rondo
Jacques Bensimon 1969 10 min
Synchronized swimming, one of the most graceful sports, is a natural for the colour screen. This film, using multi-image photography, shows some of Canada's best water ballet in team and solo free-style competition.
Sea Sprites
Roger Blais 1961 5 min
A group of young women at Québec City display the synchronized swimming that made them Canadian champions. All amateurs, swimming for exercise, fun and relaxation, these balletic mermaids have an impressive collection of trophies.
Gun Runners
Anjali Nayar 2016 1 h 29 min
For years, Julius Arile and Robert Matanda thrive among the bands of warriors that terrorize the North Kenyan countryside. Stealing cattle, raiding and running from the police is the only life they know. So when both warriors suddenly disappear from the bush, many assume they are dead or have been arrested. Instead, they trade in their rifles for sneakers—in the hopes of making it big as professional marathon runners.
People and Science: Deadlines
Jefferson Lewis 1987 11 min
While preparing a program on a proposed water-diversion project, a television journalist must come to terms with the fact that she must present an unbiased look at the positive and negative effects of damming a river.
Meditation in Motion
Irene Angelico 1978 10 min
A short lyrical document about an ancient Eastern discipline, this film moves from the streets of China, where people practice Tai-Chi daily, to North America, where the same movements are executed by a solitary figure in a park.
Hope
Thomas Buchan & Stuart Reaugh 2008 58 min
Hope, from first time documentary filmmakers Stuart Reaugh and Thomas Buchan, follows artist Ken Paquette, his partner Winnie Peters and their five boys (ages four through fifteen) as they struggle to cope during a year of wrenching change.

The family lives on the Schkam Native Reserve, across the river from the town of Hope. The town is a transitory place at the junction of three highways. After 18 years together, Ken and Winnie's troubled relationship dissolves when Rick, a tattooed ex-con, moves in and assumes the role of stepfather. Winnie's eldest son Kenny leaves the home. Ken settles in town, where he sells his paintings outside the local pub, earning enough for rent and the occasional trip to McDonalds with his kids. Over the course of four seasons, the family cycles through poverty, addiction, violence and love, but when winter bleeds into spring, a final confrontation sparks irrevocable change.

With painterly attention to the ordinary details of life in an interior town - dark mountains shrouded in mist, rotting abandoned cars amidst the vaulted green spaces of the forest - the film captures two very different senses of time. The permanence of the land set against an explosive human drama that exists for fragile moments, before life and circumstances move on.

The directors lived alongside the family over the course of a year, becoming an intimate part of events. This style of on-the-ground filmmaking provides a startling level of immediacy. The film imposes no external narrative; each family member offers a unique voice, describing their frustration and anger with each other, as well as their love and dreams for a better life. Raw honesty and a deep humanism explode stereotypes, capturing the joy and laughter, as well as the pain of this complex family, in a fully realized portrait of people and place.
The Newcomers
David Bennett 1953 27 min
All across Canada, at every level, national life is being enriched and strengthened by the talents and skills, as diverse as the countries from which they come, which are being poured into their adopted land by immigrants from the British Isles and Europe. This film travels to many places from coast to coast to present a visual inventory of the many ways in which Canada's expansion is being helped by the newcomers, who see fresh opportunities to develop existing resources--both economically and culturally--and who also arrive as the purveyors of specialized knowledge from abroad.
The Apollo of Gaza
Nicolas Wadimoff 2018 1 h 18 min
In 2013, an ancient statue of Apollo was found in the waters off Gaza—before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Is it the work of forgers, or a gift from the gods to a Palestinian people desperately in need of hope? Soon the rumours start to swirl, while behind the scenes local and international players start jostling—some driven by historical preservation and others by purely commercial interests. Filmed in Gaza and Jerusalem, The Apollo of Gaza plays out like a mystery built around a national treasure that is the stuff of dreams. The Apollo of Gaza is an engaging reflection on the passage of time and the fragility of civilizations, as well as a poetic and philosophical meditation that immerses us in the often-misunderstood realities of life in a place that continues to pay a heavy price for the seemingly endless Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a place where life doggedly carries on, resisting. Like a meteor streaking across the sky, the statue of Apollo brings a moment of light and beauty to Gaza. Can it help restore dignity to a people, revealing a glorious history and fostering pride in a nation often misrepresented and demeaned?
The Buildings Already Begun
William Pettigrew 1967 17 min
Not everyone agreed that the buildings already begun were worth finishing, but, in spite of opposition, Canada built its imposing Houses of Parliament in Ottawa on the hill above the river. From a rich archive of pictures of the federal Parliament buildings as they developed over the past hundred years, this film creates a vivid sense of being there.
Snow Warrior
Kurt Spenrath & Frederick Kroetsch 2018 8 min
Snow Warrior is a love letter to the splendour of winter. It captures the beauty of a northern city through the eyes of a bicycle courier named Mariah. We see her ready herself and her bike for a gruelling day’s work of racing through the snow and traffic to get her deliveries into the hands of her customers.
Station Master
William Davidson 1954 15 min
Finch, Ontario, is where the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the New York Central, a tiny but important link in Canada's railway network. This film looks at the daily duties of station master Dalton Henry and his staff.
The Sky Is Blue
Rick Raxlen 1969 4 min
A fanciful story, done in paper cut-outs, of a boy's journey through the skies on the tail of a kite. He soars high above the earth, encountering birds, aeroplanes, the stars, a spaceship and other heavenly bodies before floating back to his starting point. An animated film for children. Film without words.
The Gaels of Cape Breton
1946 12 min
Shows Scottish settlers in the Highlands of Cape Breton, much like the Highlands of Scotland. Small flocks of sheep like the crofters of the old country wander on the hills and provide wool for spinning and weaving, while the plain-spired churches and the only Gaelic College in the world keep alive the faith brought from other highlands across the sea. Gaelic language is heard in the church, singing in community and casual exchanges between passers-by.
Canada in World War One
1962 16 min
Canada’s role in the Allied Forces during the conflict is explored in this film, showing the brutal realities of trench warfare experienced by Canadian troops. These years of enemy bombings and shooting, left some 60, 000 soldiers dead.
Triangle Island
Tom Radford & Ray Harper 1979 13 min
Forty miles northwest of Vancouver Island lies Triangle Island, an ecological reserve and home of close to one million birds. Bristol Foster, head of the British Columbia Ecological Reserves Program, guides us across the island through colonies of birds and sea lions. He stresses the need of preserving the ecological balance for the survival of future generations.
The Forests and Vladimir Krajina
Tom Radford 1978 29 min
Visually seductive, this film uncovers a few hard truths under the packaging. Dr. Vladimir Krajina, botanist and teacher, is waging a successful battle in British Columbia for the creation of ecological reserves. He explains the importance of such sanctuaries and why people must know and respect nature's laws if the future needs of industry and the desire for a high quality of life are to be reconciled.
Some People Have to Suffer
Christopher Pinney 1976 42 min
This film documents a community's struggle to survive in the face of government indifference and the political and financial clout of industrial developers. In 1953 the residents of Bridgeview, British Columbia, were promised sewers; following years of debate, frustration, meetings and verbiage, construction started in 1977. The film interviews some of the residents, who state their opinions frankly both to the camera and at meetings. When the film was shown at the Habitat conference in Vancouver, 1976, press coverage noted: "The Third World is merely twenty miles from the site of Habitat."
Haida Carver
Richard Gilbert 1964 12 min
On Canada's Pacific coast this film finds a young Haida artist, Robert Davidson, shaping miniature totems from argillite, a jet-like stone. The film follows the artist to the island where he finds the stone, and then shows how he carves it in the manner of his grandfather, who taught him the craft.
John Ware Reclaimed
Cheryl Foggo 2020 1 h 12 min
Please note: This film contains explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.

John Ware Reclaimed follows filmmaker Cheryl Foggo on her quest to re-examine the mythology surrounding John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta, Canada, before the turn of the 20th century. Foggo’s research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present.
Kenbe la, Until We Win
Will Prosper 2019 1 h 23 min
Set in the lush Haitian countryside as well as the icy landscapes of Quebec, Will Prosper’s documentary Kenbe la, Until We Win chronicles the inspiring journey of Alain Philoctète, an artist and activist who dreams of developing a permaculture project in his native country even as he fights an ongoing battle with cancer.
Canada Communique No. 16
1945 11 min
White Treasure: Salt used in the industrial front of World War II is mined at Malagash, Nova Scotia. Soviet Medal Awarded to R.A.F. Flier: British Flight Lieutenant Douglas Barber, training in Canada, receives the Soviet Medal for valor at the Soviet embassy in Ottawa. Boys From Under Prepare to Fight Japs: Australians and New Zealanders complete their training under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Also included is the Private Snafu film The Chow Hound, from the American Army-Navy Screen Magazine series.
Rumors
Groupe Kiwistiti & Francis Desharnais 2003 6 min
This short animation begins with a mysterious man lying unconscious on the ground in the middle of a bustling metropolis. A crowd of passers-by forms around him, each person attempting to guess what is going on. While the crowd's babbling feeds the rumour mill, it never occurs to any of the onlookers—not the scientist, or the cop, or the businessman, or the punk, or the old lady—to just go and help the poor guy. Rumors is a wickedly funny and biting social satire from the Groupe Kiwistiti, a Quebec-based auteur animation group.
Bird of Passage
Martin Defalco 1966 10 min
A young Japanese-Canadian businessman, now established in Montréal, recalls the time during World War II when the Japanese-Canadian community of Canada's west coast was uprooted and moved inland. There are some flashbacks to the events he describes, but the film is mainly about his home and family life in Montréal and his successful career as a chemical engineer.
Under the Pole
Joan Henson 1980 1 min
A vignette showing Dr. Joe MacInnis and his diving team placing a Canadian flag at the North Pole.
Arctic Seascape
Joan Henson 1980 1 min
A vignette exploring the depths of the Arctic Ocean.
Arctic Mission
Joan Henson 1980 1 min
A vignette with Dr. Joe MacInnis and his diving team assembling a "Bubble" in the Arctic Ocean.
Prince Edward Island
Margaret Perry 1943 10 min
This film offers a look at Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island. Known worldwide for its potatoes, the islanders are expert lobster fishermen as well as world leaders in raising foxes. The film also offers a look at the famous Green Gables house as well as the legislature where Confederation was born.
Martha
Daniel Schubert 2020 21 min
Even at a frail 90, Martha Katz has an impish energy that remains undiminished. She chides grandson-filmmaker Daniel Schubert over his choice of shirt during a visit to her Los Angeles home, but there’s trauma beneath the humour. At 14, Martha and her family were torn from their village in Czechoslovakia and shipped to Auschwitz. A visit to a Holocaust museum ignites painful memories, including a haunting personal encounter with one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious figures. For Martha, however, the emphasis is on a tough but rewarding postwar life in Winnipeg, which she fondly recalls in this warm, intimate portrait of an unrelenting survivor.
The Biosphere
William Pettigrew 1979 56 min
The Mackenzie and Amazon valleys are 10 000 km apart and are ecologically distinct. Yet, in a subtle sense they are collaborating elements within the biosphere, the Earth's thin layer of living matter. In this film are seen two of the world's myriad river ecosystems and how they are linked within the biosphere.
Manouane River Lumberjacks
Arthur Lamothe 1962 27 min
The forests of Québec supply much of the newsprint for North America's newspapers. From fall until spring, the woods echo with the whine of power saws and the shouts of men. It is a tough, cold, and lonely job--the temperature may register -50o but the work continues. A rugged film about a rugged life, it takes you to the very heart of a major Canadian industry.
The Joy of Winter
Jean Dansereau & Bernard Gosselin 1962 14 min
How Canadians adjust to their long, snowbound season. Filmed with humour, The Joy of Winter shows people making the best of what they cannot change. From tiny tots to human polar bears the film leaves no doubt that, in the eyes of many Canadians, winter may offer more attractions than summer. Film without words.
Under the Rainbow
Sidney Goldsmith 1972 10 min
A little good will goes a long way--between persons, and between nations. That is the lesson to be learned from this animated film. It begins with a confrontation between a man who grows flowers and a technologist who operates computers. A flower pops up in the computer room; a computer tape appears in the garden. Each man destroys the "foreign object." When they come face to face they discover that understanding is better than distrust, respect better than hostility.
No More Hibakusha!
Martin Duckworth 1983 55 min
Hibakusha is the Japanese word for the survivors of the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This powerful and moving documentary focuses on a few of the eighty hibakusha who journeyed from Japan to New York in June, 1982, to take part in peace demonstrations held to coincide with the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. They came to urge the nations of the world to prevent nuclear war. Instead of concentrating on the physical suffering of the victims, the film reveals the mental anguish of the hibakusha, who are still haunted by nightmares.
Eye Witness No. 23
1950 11 min
The Magic Isle in Toronto Bay: A short ferryboat ride brings steaming Torontonians to Centre Island where sandy beaches and cool parks help them forget the heat as they swim and canoe. Nature Conscripted in War on Worms: The spruce budworm, which yearly destroys much valuable timber, is itself destroyed by the parasitic dipterous fly, bred for the purpose in a Belleville laboratory. Students Learn Lessons in the Sky: High school students at Buckingham, Québec, put their study of aerodynamics into practice as they pilot gliders at the local airfield.
A Sun Like Nowhere Else
Léonard Forest 1972 47 min
Acadians are French-speaking Maritimers. In this film the people speak for themselves--about their feelings toward governments wanting to relocate and urbanize them, about present-day "tragedies" in their communities, and about their hopes for a productive future.
Accident
Martin Duckworth & Patrick A. Crawley 1973 16 min
The subject is the actual crash of a small plane, which one man survived. Pat Crawley describes his view of the world now, after being on the edge of death. It is, he says, like being continually stoned--neutral but more fully aware, accepting life without bias, a condition he feels we are all coming to.
June
Munro Ferguson 2003 6 min
Made in memory of Canadian artist and filmmaker Joyce June Wieland, June is a hand-drawn stereoscopic animation by NFB animator, Munro Ferguson. It is like a three-dimensional abstract painting that moves. June is Munro's attempt to capture what it was like for him to know Joyce. Part 1, "Alzheimer's", is about the end of her life. Part 2, "Memory", is about what she was like during the height of her creative powers.
Snow Fiesta
Harry Foster 1950 10 min
With the opening of its winter carnival, Ste-Agathe-des-Monts in Québec's Laurentian mountains becomes the centre for a variety of competitive winter sports. Parades and floats take over the streets of Ste-Agathe and the mayor gives the signal for the carnival to commence. It begins with ice skating for the children, followed by horse-drawn sled and sulky races, a three day International Dog Sled Race and downhill ski races.
Halloween According to Old Weird Harold
Eva Szasz 1985 7 min
A children's story that presents Halloween as it used to be in rural Ontario - through the reminiscences of an intriguing character. Old Weird Harold has some pretty strange stories to tell, including the ritual of tipping over outhouses on Halloween night - now lost forever.
Listening for Something... Adrienne Rich and Dionne Brand in Conversation
Dionne Brand 1996 55 min
The nation, the country, where do we belong in it? In this film through conversation and poetry two poets meet for the telling and the listening. Adrienne Rich is a distinguished American feminist poet, and author of numerous books of prose, poetry, essays and speeches. Dionne Brand is a Trinidadian-Canadian femininst poet, writer and filmmaker. Incisive and inquisitive, the two women meet to discuss the world as they each see it. Claiming any subject, they talk about events as they see them, analytic, contemplative, honest and open ended. Topics include political issues, feminism, racism and lesbianism, among others. The viewer is invited into the exchange by the familiar images of two women talking intimately around a kitchen table, in corridors, or casually outdoors in the United States, Tobago and Canada. Shot in black and white and in colour, the conversation takes us over the territories of their poetry.
The Boy Next Door
Ernest Reid 1962 18 min
When French-speaking Jacques moves next door to English-speaking Jimmy, each is amazed to find that the other doesn't speak his language. But when it comes to exploring and playing together, language just doesn't seem to matter. Each soon finds himself venturing into the other's language.
Borealis
Kevin McMahon 2020 1 h 33 min
In his new feature documentary Borealis, acclaimed director Kevin McMahon (Waterlife) travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment? Borealis offers an immersive portrait of the lifecycles of the forest from the perspective of the plants and animals that live there.
COVID 19: The Future of Food
Jérémie Battaglia 2020 12 min
How are you adapting to the pandemic? That’s the question Jérémie Battaglia and Vali Fugulin asked Canadian small and medium-sized business owners in April 2020 as part of the Pivot project led in partnership with the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative. Out of these discussions, one major theme emerged — how COVID-19 has affected the eating habits of Canadians. Interest in local products and cooking exploded during the lockdown, but was it just a fad? Six months later, as the second wave was sweeping over the country, Jérémie wanted to continue the conversation with two of the business owners he met, restaurant owner Lil MacPherson and farmer Dave Kranenburg. Both have long advocated for the importance of making the agri-food industry more responsive and local. On a video-conference call, they reflect on the changes in behaviour we’re seeing and wonder if we might be witnessing a long-term paradigm shift in our relationship with food.
The End of Certainties
Jean-Daniel Lafond 2020 45 min
More than a decade after the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–08, what does globalization mean today? Filmmaker-philosopher Jean-Daniel Lafond takes us behind the scenes of the International Economic Forum of the Americas, a massive annual gathering at which economists, financiers and politicians hold forth on the key issues of the day. Featuring first-hand testimonials by nearly two dozen influential men and women, The End of Certainties unfolds as a multi-voice meditation on the state of the world. This observational documentary offers a cogent assessment of globalization—and its ideals, disillusionment, fears and hopes—and the quest for a new humanism, characterized by greater inclusiveness and fairness.
Sòl
Valérie Bah & Tatiana Zinga Botao 2020 8 min
Many Black, racialized and immigrant women work with elderly patients as healthcare providers. Their jobs, already arduous and underpaid as it is, have become even more exhausting during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some public commentators have described them as overrepresented in this sector because of their culture, and hailed them as “guardian angels,” what do they themselves have to say? This cross-sectional portrait of some of these women takes the form of a meditative essay.
"CONTACT" Requiem for a Word
Olivier D. Asselin 2020 7 min
An investigation into how language is changing in the age of COVID-19. The complete upheaval of social relationships today is leading to the reinterpretation of certain terms, which have suddenly taken on a fatal connotation. This film is a funeral mass in memory of the word “contact.”
As Night Descends
Nadine Gomez 2020 10 min
In conversations with passionate sociologist and political thinker Jean Pichette, the filmmaker views the forced downtime stemming from the current crisis as an opportunity to rethink our modes of existence and our relationship to others, nature, science, the economy, art, politics—in short, everything that makes us human.
The Vigil
Christine Chevarie-Lessard 2020 8 min
Marguerite Paquin lives in a seniors’ home where 14 nuns from her religious congregation have succumbed to COVID-19. The film takes us from the grandeur of the landscapes of Côte-Nord, Quebec, where Marguerite has worked for 47 years, into the room where she sits confined today, finding a sort of liberation through prayer and unshakeable solidarity with her sisters who are suffering.
Jules' Impossible Summer
Marie-Julie Dallaire 2020 13 min
Shot in Montreal over a four-month period, from May to September 2020, Jules’ Impossible Summer charts the evolving relationship between the filmmaker and her 19-year-old son through 15 redundant conversations about the importance—or the impossibility, depending on the point of view—of following the health restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
Road's End Chronicle
Nicolas Paquet 2020 11 min
The shore of a lake. A dam. Myriad testimonials that go right over our heads, just like everything else. Camped out in his car, a filmmaker stares out at the landscape through the raindrops coating the windows. Encounters emerge one by one. Voices multiply, at times validating each other, later contradictory. The filmmaker moves from worry to optimism. Only one question remains: Is there a right answer?
Sometimes I Wish I Was On a Desert Island
Eli Jean Tahchi 2020 10 min
As the world learns to live again in the midst of the pandemic, for many Arabic-speaking LGBTQ+ people living in Montreal, this is just a period of time like any other. When you’ve fled homophobic violence in your home country and endured a painful migratory journey, or you still face social prejudices stemming from intercultural and intergenerational conflicts, surviving social isolation is nothing new.
"There Are Others Worse Off than Us ...."
Yves Dion 1972 57 min
This is a look at the daily life of a young couple. Both wife and husband suffer from cerebral palsy. Although every movement is made with effort, and every day is a struggle, they choose, instead of dependence on others, to marry, to have a child and to derive strength and courage from each other. By showing their problems, their needs and their hopes, this film reaches out for greater public understanding and acceptance of the physically disabled in our midst.