Captivating Fiction films

Enjoy some classic NFB shorts and feature-length fiction films, each of which tells a fascinating Canadian story.

Cold Journey
Martin Defalco 1975 1 h 15 min
Fifteen-year-old Buckley (Buckley Petawabano) attends residential school, where he longs for his home and dreams of fishing and hunting. Yet when he returns to the reserve for the summer he feels like a stranger, unable to speak his Cree language or live off the land like his father and brothers. Johnny (Johnny Yesno), an Indigenous caretaker at the school, takes Buckley under his wing, introducing him to Indigenous history, culture, and knowledge. After finding Buckley’s frozen body in the snow, Johnny pieces together the events of the boy’s short life and tragic death, which left him unable to find a place for himself between the white and Indigenous worlds.
Featuring the soulful music of Willie Dunn, Cold Journey's narrative is similar to the true story of Charlie Wenjack, a young Anishinaabe boy who froze to death running away from residential school in 1966. The film was made with members of the Indian Film Crew and features Chief Dan George.
The Railrodder
Gerald Potterton 1965 24 min
This short film from director Gerald Potterton (Heavy Metal) stars Buster Keaton in one of the last films of his long career. As "the railrodder", Keaton crosses Canada from east to west on a railway track speeder. True to Keaton's genre, the film is full of sight gags as our protagonist putt-putts his way to British Columbia. Not a word is spoken throughout, and Keaton is as spry and ingenious at fetching laughs as he was in the old days of the silent slapsticks.
The Company of Strangers
Cynthia Scott 1990 1 h 40 min
In this feature film, 7 elderly women find themselves stranded when their bus breaks down in the wilderness. With only their wits, memories and some roasted frogs' legs to sustain them, this remarkable group of strangers share their life stories and turn a potential crisis into a magical time of humour, spirit and camaraderie. Featuring non-professional actors and unscripted dialogue, this film dissolves the barrier between fiction and reality, weaving a heart-warming tale of friendship and courage.
The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar
Peter Pearson 1968 49 min
The setting for this drama is a logging community, focusing on a man who chooses the unfettered life and uncertain income of an itinerant bush worker, even though it means that his family lives poorly as a result. The film is a study of the effects on family life of isolation and deprivation. Features a wonderful performance from a young Margot Kidder.
Test Pilot
Fergus McDonell 1957 30 min
A suspenseful story by Arthur Hailey about the excitement and hazards of being an aircraft test pilot.
The Ernie Game
Don Owen 1967 1 h 28 min
This fictional feature follows a twenty-something man who is struggling to define his position in the world in early adulthood. He has left their parents' home but still has not made an home of his own. Our protagonist’s alienation is palpable; for him life is a game, not because he chooses to make it so, but because he is unable to make anything more of it. But for those who befriend him and eventually turn him loose again, his game is not enough. Filmed in Montreal, this classic by Don Owen (Nobody Waved Good-bye) explores the time-worn rite of passage of finding oneself in a world not built for rakish playfulness.
The Red Dress
Michael Scott 1978 27 min
Renowned Métis author and screenwriter Maria Campbell explores themes of cultural identity, sexual assault and the familial impact of colonialism in The Red Dress, echoing the themes of her seminal memoir, Halfbreed.
Kelly is a Métis man without treaty or hunting rights, struggling to sustain his traditional life. His daughter Theresa longs for a red dress from France that she believes will give her power and strength, as the bear claw once did for her great-grandfather Muskwa. When Theresa escapes an assault and Kelly turns his back on his daughter, he realizes that he must reconnect with his culture in order to make things right. Today, the red dress is a powerful symbol recognizing over 1000 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
Twice upon a Time
Giles Walker 1979 10 min
This short satirical film takes us to Stereoville, a city where citizens must literally double up in their efforts to deal with the community’s 2 official languages. In Stereoville, each speaker of one language is tied to a speaker of the other, back-to-back. Into this two-stepping society stumbles a character whose very existence causes considerable consternation among locals: an unattached individual with command of both languages.
Waiting for Caroline
Ron Kelly 1967 1 h 24 min
A feature drama about a girl torn between two cultures, the English-speaking community of Vancouver where she grew up and the French-speaking Québec where the film opens. Her uncertainty extends to her lovers, one from Vancouver who wants to take her home and the other from Québec who would like to continue their pleasant, if inconclusive affair. The settings show a Québec winter and British Columbia spring.
The Pedlar
Allan Kroeker 1982 54 min
The Pedlar is a dramatic film based on the short story by W.D. Valgardson, A Place of One's Own. Tired of the rootless, lonely existence of a travelling merchant, a man searches for a place to settle down, and someone to share his life.
A Matter of Survival
Bernard Devlin 1969 25 min
This short film looks at how the introduction of computers into the workplace in 1969 served as a threat to the white-collar workers whose jobs they might replace. Aiming to offer a balanced view, the film looks at the situation from both the perspective of the employees concerned and that of management.
Gone Curling
John Howe 1963 10 min
This short comedy follows a visitor to the prairies as he slowly discovers the cult of curling. At first, our protagonist doesn’t seem to understand why everyone is so crazy about curling, but once he studies up, buys the right gear, and gets a few lessons, he can’t be stopped. This hilarious short film records the history of a rookie's first game. Even non-curlers will feel the pull of the stones and the flick of the brooms in this choice rink-side view.
90 Days
Giles Walker 1985 1 h 39 min
This tongue-in-cheek feature is about the misadventures of two modern men in search of bliss: macho Alex, who receives the offer of a lifetime, and sincere Blue, who goes to extravagant lengths to find the perfect bride. Alex, thrown out of the house by his wife and abandoned by his girlfriend, falls prey to a mysterious woman and her unsettling, though potentially profitable, proposition. Blue, in his relentless search, has resorted to a catalogue for a mail-order bride. He has 90 days to make up his mind before her visa expires.
Nobody Waved Good-bye
Don Owen 1964 1 h 20 min
This award-winning feature-length drama from the 1960s tells the story of a teenage boy who rebels against his parents' middle-class goals and conventions.
The Curlers
William Davidson 1955 27 min
The local curling club, one of rural Canada's most esteemed social institutions, exerts diverse influences on the affairs of its members. In this film we see how an ingenious small-town lawyer employs the team spirit to settle a rift between two neighbouring farmers, just in time for an all-important turkey bonspiel.
Notes for a Film About Donna & Gail
Don Owen 1966 48 min
Don Owen’s groundbreaking short drama tells the story of two young women who go to the city to work in a dress factory, and who share a room to ease their expenses and their loneliness. The film shows the currents that brought them together and the facets of their natures that first made them seem compatible but eventually drove them apart. Their story reflects, to a degree, the situation of anyone who has ever shared the life of another.
Instant French
David Bairstow 1965 21 min
This short film features the adventures of a group of businessmen who are forced into taking French lessons to stay competitive in their field. At first put out by this news, one by one they begin to realize that gaining fluency in another language has its benefits. Produced in 1965, the film, intended as a good-natured spoof, is definitely a product of its time.
Prologue
Robin Spry 1969 1 h 27 min
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Robin Spry, Prologue was the first Canadian film to screen at the Venice Film Festival. Set and filmed during the sixties, this fiction feature tells the story of a young Montrealer who edits an underground newspaper with help from his female friend and a draft dodger from the United States. Two rival philosophies of dissenting youth become evident in the choices they make: militant protest vs. communal retreat. The film includes some seminal archival footage of a speech by legendary anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman and bloody rioting during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
J.A. Martin Photographer
Jean Beaudin 1977 1 h 41 min
In this feature drama, a wife takes the courageous decision to leave her 5 children at home and accompany her husband on his yearly summer tour as an itinerant photographer. This despite housework, routine and 14 years of marriage having created a mutual indifference. They travel through a turn-of-the-century countryside of narrow lanes and old-time weddings, but most importantly, to an eventual rediscovery of each other.
Wolfe and Montcalm
Allan Wargon 1957 29 min
This short film recreates the tense hours before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and then the battle itself in which both generals, Wolfe and Montcalm, were fatally wounded.
Shipbuilder
Stephen Surjik 1985 6 min
This film recreates the true story of Tom Sukanen, an eccentric Finnish immigrant who homesteaded in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s. Sukanen spent ten years building and moving overland a huge iron ship that was to carry him back to his native Finland. The ship never reached water.
The Quiet Racket
Gerald Potterton 1966 7 min
This short film tells the amusing tale of a man who feels the common urge to escape the city's noise for the weekend. Made without words, but with a wide range of other sounds, this film tracks our hero to a perfect haven of… pandemonium. The countryside, it turns out, is not as unspoiled and quiet as the poets proclaim.
The Happy Fugitive
Fergus McDonell 1957 30 min
This short drama profiles a fugitive who skipped out on parole 28 years ago and now finds that he must finish his prison term. The film is based on a case from the files of the John Howard Society, whose mission is to advocate for humane prison reform and provide practical assistance to prisoners and ex-prisoners.
Le grand serpent du Monde

Yves Dion 1998 1 h 38 min
This feature drama tells the story of Tom Paradise, a young 40-something refusing to grow up. Behind the wheel of his bus, he drives endlessly through the city dreaming of the landscape of the American West that forever impressed him. In love with freedom and Jack Kerouac's On the Road, he resists all the sensible people who try to persuade him to settle down. For Tom has only one idea in his head: to once again head south, riding the waves of love and fate.
First Novel
Donald Wilder 1958 30 min
In this short 1958 fiction film, a young man gives up a steady job to tackle the uncertain task of writing for a living. In telling his experiences, this film conveys a general picture of the literary field in Canada and the incentives it offers, or fails to offer, the creative writer. Opinions, encouraging and otherwise, are expressed by a Canadian publisher, a television producer, and friends of the young writer who want to see him make his mark.
Tourist Go Home
Stanley Jackson & Ronald Weyman 1959 24 min
This short film is a humorous look at the tourist industry in Canada. In tongue-in-cheek fashion, it points out the importance of good public relations in the tourist industry - more specifically, what not to do to tourists.
Fires of Envy
Don Haldane 1957 29 min
This short film is a dramatization of Canadian author W.O. Mitchell's penetrating story about the racial prejudice encountered by a Polish immigrant farmer in a rural Saskatchewan community. Presented with the incisiveness characteristic of Mitchell's Jake and the Kid radio series, this film story employs homespun events of a farming community to lay bare some universal truths about the unthinking discrimination practiced against a man who is different from his English-speaking fellow farmers.
Cornet at Night
Stanley Jackson 1963 14 min
Based on a short story by Sinclair Ross, this short film recalls rural life on the Prairies in the 1930s. In the film a farmer's young son, sent to town to hire a man for the harvest, readily accepts when an itinerant trumpet player, down on his luck, begs a chance. He is hardly the kind of man the boy's father had in mind, but that night his trumpet speaks from the shadows and everyone pauses to listen.
YUL 871
Jacques Godbout 1966 1 h 10 min
In this feature film, an engineer from Paris flies to Montreal (on Air Canada Flight YUL 871), partly on business, partly in search of parents displaced by World War II, and partly because of the prevailing restlessness of the age. He achieves little that is conclusive, but in the short time between his arrival and departure he has a love affair, enjoys a flight over Montreal and the Expo pavillions, and is adopted by a little girl.
You're No Good
George Kaczender 1965 28 min
This short fiction tells the story of Eddie, a young man who "borrows" a motorbike parked in front of a store and takes his girl for a spin—a brash decision with disastrous and alienating consequences. The film, a commentary on a society that often offers youth little purpose or sense of accomplishment, is a play-by-play exploration of the clash between young people's impulsiveness and society's need for law and order.
Teach Me to Dance
Anne Wheeler 1978 28 min
In this drama, Lesia convinces her English-Canadian friend Sarah to perform a Ukrainian dance with her as part of their school's Christmas pageant. Sarah's father, angry at the growing number of Ukrainian settlers, won't allow his daughter to participate. Despite the prejudices of their parents, the girls' friendship remains strong, and they meet in Sarah's barn to celebrate Christmas Day together. Part of the Adventures in History series.
Strangers at the Door
John Howe 1977 28 min
This drama tells the harrowing story of an immigrant family in the New World. On arrival in Canada, their hopes for a better life were dashed when immigration officials refused to grant entry to their daughter. During a routine medical examination it was found that Kasia had contracted an infectious eye disease. She is separated from her family and sent back to Europe alone.
The Ride
Gerald Potterton 1963 6 min
From Gerald Potterton (director of the cult classic Heavy Metal), this short film depicts the daydream of a chauffeur awaiting his employer. On a hot summer day, he begins to imagine that it's winter—the residential street where he's parked transforms into snowy mountains, and a series of comic misadventures begin. As the car is replaced by a toboggan, it carries the tycoon away on a dizzying ride. The chase includes some unforgettable antics in the snow, including a piggyback ride on an incredulous skier.
The Quest
Stanley Jackson 1958 38 min
This short film is a re-enactment of the critical year in Dr. Frederick Banting's life when he discovered insulin for the treatment of diabetes at the University of Toronto. It depicts the odds against which he and his assistant, Charles Best, worked; the scepticism of other doctors and the final victory that gave thousands of diabetics hope for a healthier life.
Places Not Our Own
Derek Mazur 1986 57 min
Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this dramatic film set in 1929 depicts how Canada's West, home to generations of Métis, was taken over by the railroads and new settlers. As a result, the Métis became a forgotten people, forced to eke out a living as best they could. At the forefront is Rose, a woman determined to provide her children with a normal life and an education despite the odds. But due to their harsh circumstances, a devastating and traumatic event transpires instead.
The Cat in the Bag
Gilles Groulx 1964 1 h 13 min
Through the coming of age of a twenty-year-old man, this film symbolizes the political coming of age of the people of Québec. In French with English subtitles.

Soundtrack album, John's Coltrane's Blue World, available from Impulse! / Universal Music Enterprises.
The National Scream
Robert Awad & David Verrall 1980 27 min
This lively satire uses animation and a pseudo-documentary style to depict Canada's search for a national identity. The National Scream explains, amongst other elements of Canadiana, how and why the beaver became the country's symbol.
Mon oncle Antoine (English Subtitled)
Claude Jutra 1971 1 h 44 min
Claude Jutra's sweeping portrait of village life in 1940s Quebec has been called one of the greatest Canadian films of all time. Recalling a time when the local general store was the crossroads of life, the film illustrates the way a young boy sees the world and those closest to him – first through the eyes of a teenager, and later, as events change him, through the eyes of an adult. In French with English subtitles.
Mistress Madeleine
Aaron Kim Johnston 1986 57 min
Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this film, set in the 1850s, unfolds against the backdrop of the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly of the fur trade. In protest, some Métis engage in trade with the Americans. Madeleine, the Métis common-law wife of a Hudson's Bay Company clerk, is torn between loyalty to her husband and loyalty to her brother, a freetrader. Even more shattering, a change in company policy destroys Madeleine's happy and secure life, forcing her to re-evaluate her identity.
The Masculine Mystique
John N. Smith & Giles Walker 1984 1 h 26 min
This feature-length drama explores the changing role of men in today's society by delving into the stories of 4 men and their relationships with women. Blue, in his mid-30s, has spent his adult years searching for the right woman, without any luck. Alex, the same age as Blue, married with two small children, says he needs his freedom. He's having an affair. Mort and Ashley are both in their 40s, divorced with children. Mort has found someone new but she balks at a permanent relationship. Ashley, devastated by his divorce, is unwilling to risk a new commitment.
Ikwe
Norma Bailey 1986 57 min
Part of the Daughters of the Country series, this dramatic film features a young Ojibwa girl from 1770 who marries a Scottish fur trader and leaves home for the shores of Georgian Bay. Although the union is beneficial for her tribe, it results in hardship and isolation for Ikwe. Values and customs clash until, finally, the events of a dream Ikwe once had unfold with tragic clarity.
Drylanders
Don Haldane 1963 1 h 9 min
This epic drama looks at the opening of the Canadian West and the drought that led to the Depression in the Thirties. It is the saga of a family who left Eastern Canada to stake their future in the Prairies. Principle roles are played by Frances Hyland and James Douglas.
Crossroads
Don Haldane 1957 28 min
This sensitive drama tells the story of a couple, Roy and Judy, and the reactions they encounter when they announce their intention to marry, reactions complicated by the fact that Roy is black and Judy is white.
Arrival
Donald Ginsberg 1957 30 min
This drama portrays an immigrant family and the mingled feelings of hope and despair that characterize their life in a strange land. An Italian wife joins her husband in a large Canadian city. After two years in Canada the husband feels his dream of a better life is close to realization, but his wife feels that differences of language and custom are insurmountable. How such feelings are dispelled by simple gestures of friendship from Canadian-born neighbours gives a heartening conclusion to the film.

Captivating Fiction films

Explore