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Feminism (64)
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AssemblyJenn Strom 2012 4 minThis experimental short animation is inspired by the NFB's Studio D (1975-1994), a production department aimed at creating filmmaking opportunities for women in Canada. Featuring a rhythmic soundscape and paint-on-glass animation, Assembly shows a woman’s hands cutting and editing a reel of film on a flatbed editing table as fragments of women walking in chains, protesting with placards, and speaking at podiums are inter-cut. We hear bursts of words and the percussive whir and click of the Steenbeck—until a “message” is finally revealed. The film is dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Shannon, a prominent editor and one-time Executive Producer of Studio D. -
The Boxing Girls of KabulAriel Nasr 2011 52 minIn this feature documentary, a remarkable group of young Afghan women dream of representing their country as boxers at the 2012 Olympics, embarking on a journey of both personal and political transformation.
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Bevel Up - Drugs, Users and Outreach NursingNettie Wild 2007 45 minBevel Up follows street nurses as they reach out to people working in the sex trade, and people who use drugs in the alleys and hotels of Vancouver’s inner city. Most importantly the nurses reflect on the attitudes they bring to their work—attitudes that can make or break their relationships with the people to whom they provide practical, non-judgemental health care on a daily basis.
The Bevel Up Educational Playlists offer viewers a dynamic way to learn through more than four hours of additional footage, interviews and a Teachers Guide. The interactive resource gives students and instructors in the healthcare field access to the experiences of practitioners who work with people who use drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
For more information, images, and clips, click here. -
A Better ManAttiya Khan & Lawrence Jackman 2017 1 h 17 minIlluminating a new paradigm for domestic-violence prevention, A Better Man offers a fresh and nuanced look at the healing and revelation that can happen for everyone involved when men take responsibility for their abuse. It also empowers audience members to play new roles in challenging domestic violence, whether it’s in their own relationships or as part of a broader movement for social change.
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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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Country ThreshingWolf Koenig 1958 30 minThis short documentary records the rural sights and sounds of the Chateauguay Valley of Quebec. The day of the big stationary threshing machine is almost over, as the machine is pushed into obscurity by the combine harvester. But there are still parts of Canada where crops are gathered in the old-fashioned way as the men work out in the fields and the women manage the kitchen. This film offers a rare and charming glimpse into mid-20th-century rural and family life in Canada.
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The Colour of BeautyElizabeth St. Philip 2010 16 minRenee Thompson is trying to make it as a top fashion model in New York. She's got the looks, the walk and the drive. But she’s a black model in a world where white women represent the standard of beauty. Agencies rarely hire black models. And when they do, they want them to look “like white girls dipped in chocolate.”
The Colour of Beauty is a shocking short documentary that examines racism in the fashion industry. Is a black model less attractive to designers, casting directors and consumers? What is the colour of beauty? -
Doctor Woman: The Life and Times of Dr. Elizabeth BagshawMark McCurdy 1978 28 minElizabeth Bagshaw was a forerunner of the women's movement. As one of the first women to practise medicine in Canada, she had to overcome society's bias against women in medicine. During her seventy-year career she helped to instigate change in public opinion on that issue, as well as the issue of birth control. The film captures the personality of this remarkable woman through a contemporary interview and re-enactments of episodes from her youth. The sepia tones of the re-enactments are in keeping with the film techniques of the time, giving the viewer a strong sense of the period. The film is of special interest to persons interested in the evolution of women's roles in Canadian society.
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Eskimo Artist: KenojuakJohn Feeney 1963 19 minThis documentary shows how an Inuit artist's drawings are transferred to stone, printed and sold. Kenojuak Ashevak became the first woman involved with the printmaking co-operative in Kinngait (formerly known as Cape Dorset). This film was nominated for the 1963 Documentary Short Subject Oscar®.
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Finding FarleyLeanne Allison 2009 1 h 2 minIn this feature documentary, husband-and-wife team Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison (Being Caribou), along with their 2-year-old son and dog, retrace the literary footsteps of Canadian writer Farley Mowat. They canoe east from Calgary towards the Prairies (the geography of Farley's Born Naked and Owls in the Family) and then traverse the same paths that Mowat took more than 60 years earlier in Never Cry Wolf and People of the Deer. Their epic 5,000 km journey—trekking, sailing, portaging and paddling—ends in the Maritimes, at Mowat's Nova Scotia summer home.
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The Grasslands Project - Life Out HereScott Parker 2016 11 minThis short documentary from The Grasslands Project brings a female perspective to the male-dominated ranching and farming industries. Women often have a strong voice in the operations, and some women have been running their own ranches for decades. For this collaborative documentary, the participants themselves chose the themes to be discussed and then interviewed each other. These women are deeply dedicated to their farms, ranches and families. They can ranch as well as a man... maybe even better.
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Gulîstan, Land of RosesZaynê Akyol 2016 1 h 26 minThis documentary travels deep into the mountains and deserts of Kurdistan, where armed female guerillas from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) defend Kurdish territory against ISIS. These women share their most intimate thoughts with filmmaker Zaynê Akyol, resulting in an immersive audience experience. By offering a window into this largely unknown world, the film exposes the hidden feminist face of a revolutionary group united by a common vision of freedom.
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Gender Matters: A Virtual Discussion on Violence Against WomenDan Thornhill 2015 48 minAs part of the Young Women's National Leadership Summit, the YWCA and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) invited participants aged 17+ from across North America to take part in a conversation with three outstanding role models and leaders in the fight for women's rights. Focusing on the subject of gender-based violence, the panellists discussed the issues that women are facing today, and how we can work together to create a fairer and safer society for all.
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How They Saw Us: Women at WarAnn Pearson 1977 10 minThis 1942 British film, Women at War, contrasts sharply with similar Canadian productions. It accepts women's direct participation in the war effort as a natural outgrowth of their peacetime occupations.
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How They Saw Us: Needles and PinsAnn Pearson & Roger Blais 1977 10 minIn this film about a factory seamstress, there is the substitution of glamor for genuine job satisfaction and advancement. The film was made in 1955.
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The HutteritesColin Low 1964 27 minThe followers of religious leader Jacob Hutter live in farm communities, devoutly holding to the rules their founder laid down four centuries ago. Through the kindness of a Hutterite colony in Alberta, this film, in black and white, was made inside the community and shows all aspects of the Hutterites' daily life.
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The Gods of Our FathersAnne Henderson 1994 50 min"Human nature" is not fixed. We can, and do, reshape ourselves every time we change our culture. Nor is there anything natural or innate in male domination. In ancient Egyptian villages along the Nile, The Gods of Our Fathers explores the evolution of patriarchy as one effective way of organizing mass societies. The patriarchal order was not inevitable--it was merely functional. But the world is different now, and it's time to find alternatives to hierarchies and militarization.
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High Tide in NewfoundlandGrant McLean 1955 21 minThis 1950s account of the Newfoundland fishing industry shows equipment and methods of fishing. The film also documents the processing and marketing of fish. A record of the problems confronting fishermen in Newfoundland during the past, it also serves as a comparison with present-day Newfoundland fishing.
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In PiecesPaule Baillargeon 2011 1 h 21 minPaule Baillargeon is 37 years old, 11 years old, 65 years old. . . In this film composed of fragments, she tells her story: the story of a woman, a filmmaker, a mother, a feminist, an artist. Of an actress, too, who delivers a powerful narrative that is both soothing and unsettling. These potent images, her images—filmed, painted, photographed, drawn, animated—merge into the portrait of a life that has been wild, rebellious and gentle. The tableaux are not so much autobiography as an authentic tale, as unpredictable and unique as any life.
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Luckily I Need Little SleepKathleen Shannon 1974 7 minKathy worked as a nurse in Greece and then came to Canada. She and her family live in northern Alberta, where they are developing a farm. Kathy works outside the home as a nurse, sews for the children, maintains the house, and helps with the farm work.
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The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-BlachéMarquise Lepage 1995 52 minThis feature documentary is a portrait of Alice Guy-Blaché, one of cinema's most fearless pioneers. A filmmaker before the word even existed, Guy-Blaché made her first film at the end of the last century, when cinema was still brand-new. After directing, producing and writing more than 700 films, she slipped into oblivion. This film rescues her brave and shining memory.
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Moving OnTina Horne 1986 28 minThis short documentary looks at how the community of London, Ontario, has implemented a plan to address the issue of domestic violence. These efforts, spearheaded by police, lawyers, doctors, transition house staff, women's groups, and social services agencies have turned London into a rare model community. There, The London Battered Women's Advocacy Clinic and "Changing Ways," a therapy program for men who batter, contribute to the city's innovative attempt to break the cycle of violence. Moving On is part of the The Next Step, a 3-film series about the services needed by and available to battered women.
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Marilyn Waring on Women and Economics Show TwoTerre Nash 1996 30 minAs chairperson of New Zealand's Public Expenditures Committee, which reviewed all the parliamentary budgets of her government, Marilyn Waring travelled to over 35 countries and discovered that the rules governing the finances of her own country were operating worldwide. In each country she visited, Waring spent a day with a local woman her own age. She witnessed the enormous, unrecorded, unacknowledged extent of women's work. Women remain more than 50 percent of the world's population, yet hold no more than 10 percent of the seats in national legislatures. In one government in three, there are no women in the highest decision-making bodies. This film takes a hard look at the disparity between what women contribute to communities and how their work is valued.
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Marilyn Waring on the Environment Show ThreeTerre Nash 1996 26 minMarilyn Waring, ex-MP in the New Zealand Parliament and spokesperson for global feminist economics, now lives and works on her farm in the lush green hills of New Zealand. While in office, Waring fought to preserve the priceless natural resources of her riding, drawing on the pragmatic wisdom of her neighbours--farmers whose livelihoods depend on sustainable land use, and the Maori, who have lived in harmony with their environment for countless generations. Waring makes a convincing argument for changing a system that does not value what may be our most precious assets: clean air, water, and the unspoiled ecosystems that sustain and enrich life on earth.
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Marilyn Waring on Politics: Local & Global Show OneTerre Nash 1996 30 minIn 1975, 22-year-old Marilyn Waring became the youngest member in the New Zealand Parliament. At the age of 24, she became Chairperson of the prestigious Public Expenditures Committee, which reviewed all the parliamentary budgets of her government. She travelled to over 35 countries in this capacity, and discovered that the rules which governed the finances of her own country were operating worldwide. By approaching politics from the viewpoint of an average citizen, Waring challenges the assumption that the systems that currently determine how the world does business are adequately meeting the needs of both local and global communities. Using plain language laced with ironic humor, Waring makes it clear that classic economics work to benefit one particular group, while the rest of us--the vast majority--pay the price.
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Madwoman of GodJean-Daniel Lafond 2008 1 h 16 minThis feature-length film tells the story of the passion between Marie de l’Incarnation, a mid-seventeenth-century nun and God, her "divine spouse." Fusing documentary and acting by Marie Tifo, whom we follow as she rehearses for this demanding role, the film paints an astonishing portrait of this mystic who abandoned her son and left France to build a convent in Canada, where she became the first female writer in New France.
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The Mystery of Mazo de la RocheMaya Gallus 2011 52 minThis feature documentary tells the mysterious story of Canadian author Mazo de la Roche, author of the Jalna novels. Using both dramatic and documentary techniques, the film explores this compelling woman’s uncommon family life and reveals the secrets behind the extraordinary partnership that allowed the Jalna saga to grow into the phenomenon it is today.
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MabelTeresa MacInnes 2016 20 minFeisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.
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No Way! Not MeAriadna Ochrymovych 1987 29 minIn this short documentary, social activist and educator Rosemary Brown speaks to the high school students about the incidence of poverty among women. The film outlines the role of women in the work force and in society, as well as the causes of and possible solutions to the 'feminization of poverty.'
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NamrataShazia Javed 2009 9 minThis short documentary tells the intensely personal story of Namrata Gill – one of the many real-life inspirations for Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth – in her own words. After six years, Gill courageously leaves an abusive relationship and launches a surprising new career.
