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Ethical Values (151)
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As UsualRaymond Brousseau 1974 13 minImagine a world where everything moves backwards. That's what happens in this short experimental film without words. A man wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock and begins his day, only to find that everything is running in reverse--his electric shaver, the morning paper. Out in the street, people and cars are backing away. He alone of all the crowd seems to move forward normally. The effect on him and the viewers verges on the bizarre. -
The AmendmentKevin Papatie 2007 4 minIn the Kitcisakik community, the Algonquin language is dying out, just four generations after the federal government's assimilation policy came into effect.
Since 2004, Wapikoni Mobile has been giving Indigenous youth the opportunity to speak out using video and music. -
Assholes - A TheoryJohn Walker 2019 1 h 20 minSome grapple with the challenge of treating other human beings decently. Others are just… assholes, claims Professor Aaron James in his New York Times bestselling book, Assholes: A Theory. This intellectually provocative film takes a playful approach to uncovering why asshole behaviour is on the rise in the workplace, in government, and at home.
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Blue Like a GunshotMasoud Raouf 2003 5 minDiscover a short, animated film that explores the conflict between nature, civilization, and the absurd vanity of human warfare. With its interplay of shadow and light, this film is sure to sweep you away.
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The BrainwashersPatrick Bouchard 2002 12 minIn this animated short, two chimney sweepers clear all the memories from their victim's brain in a quest to determine what goes on in a man's head. A chilling film filled with fearsome puppets inhabiting a world of strange objects.
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The Bear and the MouseF.W. Remmler & Ingmar Remmler 1966 7 minA variation on a fable by Aesop ("The Lion and the Mouse") in which a mouse aids a mighty lion who had once spared his life. This children's film casts real animals – with a big brown bear in the role of the lion, and proves that little friends can prove to be great friends indeed.
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Beyond December 6Catherine Fol 1991 28 minOne year after the tragedy that took the lives of fourteen female students, Montreal’s École Polytechnique has returned to something resembling normalcy. Nathalie Provost is a survivor of the shooting at the engineering school. Today, with friends, she opens up. About the tragedy, about feminism. About racism and sexism. About the fact that society has difficulty accepting difference. And, above all, about life, which must go on beyond December 6.
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Buying SexTeresa MacInnes & Kent Nason 2013 1 h 15 minThis feature documentary explores the state of prostitution laws in Canada. It captures the complexity of the issue by listening to the frequently conflicting voices of sex workers, policy-makers, lawyers, and even the male buyers who make their argument for why prostitution is good for society. Warning: This film deals with mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
Following the release of Buying Sex, Professor Alan Young, counsel for the applicants in Bedford v. Canada and a participant in the film, contacted the NFB to complain that the film provides an incomplete and inaccurate account of the case. The NFB acknowledges that the constitutional challenge is not the focus of the film. Rather, the aim of the film is to examine the current controversy in Canada around the decriminalization of prostitution, of which the Bedford case is one aspect. The goal is to create a film which encourages Canadians to engage in an informed debate about sex work from a national and international perspective. The NFB believes the film achieves this purpose. In the spirit of furthering an informed debate on these issues, including the constitutional challenge, and in response to Prof. Young's concerns, the NFB provides below links to the legal briefs filed by the parties before the Supreme Court of Canada as well as links to the judgments of all three Canadian Courts. The third judgment, from the Supreme Court of Canada, was released in December 2013, following the completion of the film. The Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the three prostitution related laws challenged by Prof. Young, but suspended its judgment for one year to allow Parliament to consider whether to enact new laws, thus ensuring that the debate surrounding the decriminalization of prostitution will continue in Canada for some time. -
BlakeBill Mason 1969 19 minDirector Bill Mason's short film focuses on his friend and fellow filmmaker, Blake James. In his never-ending quest for freedom, Blake pilots his own plane. This film is Mason's view of his friend as a "hobo of the skies," but it is also an adventure that beckons the viewer to come along for the ride.
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BalakrishnaColin MacKenzie & Aparna Kapur 2019 15 minWhen an extraordinary new resident – Balakrishna, an Indian elephant – arrived in the town of East River, Nova Scotia, in 1967, no one was more in awe of the creature than young Winton Cook, who became inseparable from his mammoth new friend. Using painterly animation, photographs and home-movie treasures, Balakrishna transmits the wistfulness of childhood memories, while evoking themes of friendship and loss, and issues of immigration and elephant conservation.
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Bravery in the FieldGiles Walker 1979 28 minThis dramatic film introduces us to Tommy, a World War II veteran who rooms alone, waiting for his pension cheque to arrive, passing the time in the evenings with his cronies in the Legion Hall. Lennie can claim only a third of Tommy's years, but he prowls the same area of town, and the two have more in common than either of them realizes. Both their lives lack a sense of place and purpose. The story occurs early in November and leads up to an event that provides one of Tommy's few remaining moments of glory, the annual veterans' Remembrance Day parade.
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Boys, Toys and the Big Blue MarbleMarquise Lepage 2007 52 minBoys living in poverty across the world tell us of their lives, amusements and sometimes their hopes. Boys, Toys and the Big Blue Marble appraises childhoods destroyed by slavery, criminality, war, sexual exploitation and human stupidity.
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Black and White in South AfricaJohn Howe & Ronald Dick 1957 29 minThis 1957 documentary short offers an analysis of South Africa's acute race problem, an issue that causes dissension not only within its borders but within the Commonwealth and beyond. In South Africa, a country of 14 million people, 4 out of 5 people are black. The film gives a dispassionate appraisal of the motivations behind the policy of apartheid and of whether the practice of segregation provides a satisfactory, long-term solution.
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A Chairy TaleNorman McLaren & Claude Jutra 1957 9 minIn this short film, a chair, animated by Evelyn Lambart, refuses to be sat upon, forcing a young man to perform a sort of dance with the chair. The musical accompaniment is by Ravi Shankar and Chatur Lal. This virtuoso film is the result of a collaboration between Norman McLaren and Claude Jutra.
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The EggJean-François Pouliot & Robert Bélisle 1979 1 minIn this animated short from the Canada Vignette series, learn how societies in evolution are often in danger of self-destruction.
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Canada at War, Part 13: The Clouded Dawn1962 27 minAugust 1945 - 1946. Japan surrenders. World War II is over, but the scars are deep. Canadian prisoners are released from Japanese war camps. In Canada, as elsewhere, the monumental task of rehabilitation begins. In Ottawa the Gouzenko case shocks the nation. The trials at Nürenberg begin. The United Nations is formed. Canada, now a much stronger, independent nation, enters the Cold War.
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Christopher, Please Clean Up Your Room!Vincent Gauthier 2001 6 minThis short animated film stars Christopher, a terrific kid with one major problem… he's messy! His shoes smell funky, his fish bowl stinks, and even the cockroaches can't stand it. In the chaos of Christopher's room, his fish rise up from their scummy bowl in protest. They enlist the help of a fastidious cockroach. Together, the fish and the roaches hatch a plan that will change Christopher's life and his cleaning habits forever.
Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen. -
A Child Unlike Any OtherAnna Barczewska 2005 11 minIn this short documentary about autism, director Anna Barczewska examines the complex challenge of raising autistic children. Through the voice of Jan's devoted mother and the comments of specialists, the film offers an introduction to this neurological disorder that reduces one’s ability to communicate with the outside world.
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"CONTACT" Requiem for a WordOlivier D. Asselin 2020 7 minAn 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.”
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The Children of Refus GlobalManon Barbeau 1998 1 h 14 minIn 1948, Paul-Émile Borduas' Refus global manifesto proclaimed the end of the "reign of fear" embodied by the Duplessis regime. Fifty years later, all the history books mention this document which laid the foundations of modern Quebec. Daughter of one of the signatories, filmmaker Manon Barbeau takes a fresh look at this period. She went to meet the sons and daughters of Barbeau, Borduas, Mousseau and Riopelle, "children of Refus global" who, like her, suffered the consequences of their parents' revolutionary gesture. None of them emerged unscathed from a childhood made up of worries and abandonment, but also of a richness that only art can bring. Especially when it appears to us, as it does here, in the light of emotion.
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The DeserterJulian Biggs 1956 30 minThis short drama highlights the work of the Family Welfare Service in its compassionate tale of a husband who abandons his wife and children. Part of the Perspective series.
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Doctors with HeartTahani Rached 1994 1 h 52 minTahani Rached’s powerful documentary enters the doors of an AIDS clinic in Montreal. We meet a group of dedicated doctors struggling to provide health care to their patients. This 1994 film explores legal and ethical problems surrounding HIV/AIDS and the struggle against fear, rumours and prejudice. It is still relevant today. In French with English subtitles.
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Dehors novembrePatrick Bouchard 2005 6 minThis animated short evokes the tragic death of Dédé Fortin, frontman, and vocalist of the Québécois band Les Colocs. To the soundtrack of “Dehors novembre,” one of the band’s songs, animator Patrick Bouchard weaves of dark tale of death and ruin, as they unfold in the dark of night, in November, the Month of the Dead. Not for children.
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Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide?Beverly Shaffer 1985 14 minOne of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern medical technology. This film deals with questions arising from advances in pre-natal diagnosis. Joanne, a victim of spina bifida, discovers that her unborn child has the same disease. A decision whether to terminate the pregnancy must be reached quickly. When her husband says that all he ever wanted was "a normal baby," Joanne counters with "What is normal?"
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The Dark Side of the White LadyPatricio Henríquez 2006 52 minIn this feature-length documentary, filmmaker Patricio Henriquez seeks to untangle the web of lies surrounding the Chilean navy's training vessel, the Esmeralda. Heralded as a symbol of national pride, a dark secret lies behind the facade of the ship the Chileans call The White Lady: Following the 1973 coup d'état, it was used as a floating prison. Thirty years later, the victims of the dictatorship are demanding justice. The Dark Side of the White Lady is a fascinating journey to uncover the truth.
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Discussions in Bioethics: Happy BirthdayJefferson Lewis 1985 12 minOne of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern medical technology. A young couple's marriage is threatened over a decision as to whether the husband should accept a job researching poison gas for military purposes. The wife is adamantly opposed. Regardless of their decision, someone will take the job. Should one morally accept responsibility for the consequences?
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ExpectationsSuzanne Gervais 1993 7 minIn this short, poetic film, a woman, 9 months pregnant, senses the danger the world holds for her unborn child. She wanders the city holding her camera, expressing and transforming this anxiety through photographic images. Combining live-action images with paper cut-outs, this moving film is about the survival of life on earth, and the hopes we cherish for our children. A film without words.
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Every ChildEugene Fedorenko 1979 6 minThis animated short follows an unwanted baby who is passed from house to house until he is taken in and cared for by two homeless men. The film is the Canadian contribution to an hour-long feature film celebrating UNESCO's Year of the Child (1979). It illustrates one of the ten principles of the Declaration of Children's Rights: every child is entitled to a name and a nationality. The film took home an Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film.
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Examined LifeAstra Taylor 2008 1 h 28 min
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates
Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academia and classrooms and puts it back on the streets.
In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today’s most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.
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The End of SummerMichel Brault 1964 27 minFilmed at a summer cottage in the Laurentians north of Montreal, this film penetrates briefly the charmed world of the adolescent. Watching and listening, you sense the bittersweet mood of childhood's end, the poignant awareness that nothing will ever be the same after this summer at the lake. With English subtitles.
