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Fiction
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Nobody Waved Good-byeDon Owen 1964 1 h 20 minThis 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. -
Wolfe and MontcalmAllan Wargon 1957 29 minThis 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.
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Fires of EnvyDon Haldane 1957 29 minThis 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.
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The RideGerald Potterton 1963 6 minFrom 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.
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90 DaysGiles Walker 1985 1 h 39 minThis 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.
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YUL 871Jacques Godbout 1966 1 h 10 minIn 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.
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Mon oncle Antoine (English Subtitled)Claude Jutra 1971 1 h 44 minClaude 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.
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The Cat in the BagGilles Groulx 1964 1 h 13 minThrough 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. -
A Strange HatMélanie Léger 2007 13 minThis short fiction film takes place one afternoon in a public park. An urban fairytale unfolds in front of our eyes, featuring a girl selling lollipops, a writer, colourful passersby and a hat with extraordinary powers. The girl has difficulty making conversation, but this headgear lends her a completely new aura: now things turn weird and wonderful. In French with English subtitles.
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The RailrodderGerald Potterton 1965 24 minThis 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.
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Places Not Our OwnDerek Mazur 1986 57 minPart 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.
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Paris 1919Paul Cowan 2008 1 h 33 minThis feature-length film, based on Margaret MacMillan's acclaimed book of the same name, takes us inside the most ambitious peace talks in history. Revisiting the event with a vivid sense of narrative, the film evokes a pivotal moment when peace seemed possible, and reflects on the hard-learned lessons of history.
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Paddle to the SeaBill Mason 1966 27 minBased on Holling C. Holling's book of the same name, Paddle to the Sea is Bill Mason's film adaptation of the classic tale of an Indigenous boy who sets out to carve a man and a canoe. Calling the man "Paddle to the Sea," he sets his carving down on a frozen stream to await spring’s arrival. The film follows the adventures that befall the canoe on its long odyssey from Lake Superior to the sea.
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The Last Voyage of Henry HudsonRichard Gilbert 1964 28 minThis short film realistically portrays the conflict Henry Hudson experienced when he went in search of an open water route to the Orient, and no one would follow him. What he discovered instead was an inland sea, a discovery that ended in tragedy.
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IkweNorma Bailey 1986 57 minPart 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.
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Le grand serpent du MondeYves Dion 1998 1 h 38 minThis 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.
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Double VerdictFergus McDonell 1957 30 minThis short drama tells the story of Andy Potter, a successful lawyer torn between 2 worlds - the world of reality and that of his own dreams and ambitions. With a loving wife, many supportive friends and a great career, there was no apparent reason for him to wish to end his life. Yet and still, one by one, the symptoms of schizophrenia took their toll.
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DrylandersDon Haldane 1963 1 h 9 minThis 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.
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The Company of StrangersCynthia Scott 1990 1 h 40 minIn 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.
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The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to KaladarPeter Pearson 1968 49 minThe 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.
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After the AxeSturla Gunnarsson 1981 56 minThis full-length drama depicts the reality of managers getting fired and the emergence of a new industry specialized in handling executive terminations. The film was made with the cooperation of the business community, which helped script some of the scenes and provided authentic locations. The central figure, D.R. "Biff" Wilson, 44, is a composite figure based on extensive conversations with fired executives.
