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Development/Global Issues (37)
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Act of DishonourNelofer Pazira 2009 1 h 30 minSet in the northern region of Afghanistan, this feature drama tells the story of a young bride-to-be who strays from local customs after befriending an Afghan-Canadian translator. Part lament against injustice, part testament to the spirit of a people who have survived decades of war, this film is a compelling drama in which East and West, love and honour, modernity and custom clash with tragic consequences. -
Blood and WaterRohan Fernando 2007 1 h 17 minWhen the 2004 tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka, 65-year-old Anton Ambrose's wife and daughter were killed. "In five minutes," he says, "I lost everything."
A year later, Anton returns to Sri Lanka. With him is his nephew, award-winning filmmaker Rohan Fernando.
A Tamil, Anton moved to California in the 1970s and became a very successful gynecologist. His daughter, Orlantha, made the opposite journey, returning to Sri Lanka where she ran a non-profit group that gave underprivileged children free violin lessons. Anton and his wife, Beulah, were visiting her when the tsunami hit.
Blood and Water is the story of one man's search for meaning in the face of overwhelming loss, but it is also filled with improbable characters, unintentional comedy and situational ironies.
To honour Orlantha's work, Anton is building a music centre and hosting a fundraising concert. Eccentric characters and oddball events immediately take centre stage. Exiled Iranian country singer Ann Claire is focused on media attention as much as on the concert. Shondale, an energetic African American computer analyst, is so moved by Orlantha's story that she drops everything to become the concert's chief organizer. The concert itself loses money, although - in a final irony - some of the underprivileged children it is designed to serve come from among the richest families in the country.
Meanwhile, Anton tours his old neighbourhood, spends time with his daughter's closest friends and seeks out advice from the archbishop of Sri Lanka. ("That's life!" the archbishop says, when Anton describes his loss.)
All this against the backdrop of Sri Lanka - a country coming apart as the decades-old civil war between Tamil Tigers and the government heats up.
Ultimately, Blood and Water is a film about the coming to terms with loss. As Anton Ambrose seeks meaning in tragedy, he must re-evaluate all he has taken for granted. In so doing, he comes to understand his daughter better than he ever did when she was alive. -
EconomicsPhilip Eddolls 2020 3 minEconomist Armine Yalnizyan offers a radically honest and deliciously sweet review of our absurdly dysfunctional economic system and what we must do in order to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
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Being CaribouLeanne Allison & Diana Wilson 2004 1 h 12 minIn this feature-length documentary, husband and wife team Karsten Heuer (wildlife biologist) and Leanne Allison (environmentalist) follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot across 1500 km of Arctic tundra. In following the herd's migration, the couple hopes to raise awareness of the threats to the caribou's survival. Along the way they brave Arctic weather, icy rivers, hordes of mosquitoes and a very hungry grizzly bear. Dramatic footage and video diaries combine to provide an intimate perspective of an epic expedition.
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Beef Inc.Carmen Garcia 1999 50 minA struggle for control of the world food market is waging, and the battle promises to escalate in the 21st century. Beef Inc. examines how a handful of companies have come to dominate beef production and distribution in North America.
As traditional farming falls victim to agri-business, small producers and consumers are paying the price. What has been a way of life for generations is now solely a money-making venture for big business. In the beef industry, a strategy of "intense livestock production" has been implemented to boost profit margins. Cattle are housed and fattened in overcrowded feed lots, a situation which exposes them to disease. To combat this, the animals are systematically vaccinated, given antibiotics and pumped with growth hormones. No regard is given to the potential health risks to consumers or the quality of the end product.
This film gives a voice to the independent cattle producer who, unable to compete with the corporations, find themselves being squeezed out of the industry. In French with English subtitles. -
Catapult CanadaBill Maylone 1985 1 minThis short stop-motion animation takes a humorous look at the theme of transportation. Forget trains and planes—the best way to get across the country is by catapult!
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The Chocolate Farmer (Short Version)Rohan Fernando 2010 52 minThis full-length documentary takes us to an unspoiled corner of southern Belize, where cacao farmer and father Eladio Pop manually works his plantation in the tradition of his Mayan ancestors: as a steward of the land. The film captures a year in the life of the Pop family as they struggle to preserve their values in a world that is dramatically changing around them. A lament for cultures lost, The Chocolate Farmer challenges our deeply held assumptions of progress.
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The Chocolate FarmerRohan Fernando 2010 1 h 11 minThis full-length documentary takes us to an unspoiled corner of southern Belize, where cacao farmer and father Eladio Pop manually works his plantation in the tradition of his Mayan ancestors: as a steward of the land. The film captures a year in the life of the Pop family as they struggle to preserve their values in a world that is dramatically changing around them. A lament for cultures lost, The Chocolate Farmer challenges our deeply held assumptions of progress.
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Dinner for TwoJanet Perlman 1996 7 minWhen it comes to conflict, even chameleons won't change! Peace in the rain forest is disrupted when two chameleons literally get stuck in a conflict, with catastrophic results. Relationships are severed, opportunities are lost, innocent bystanders are harmed and violence seems imminent. Luckily for the lizards, a frog observing the fracas turns into exactly what they need - no, not a prince - a mediator.
Dinner for Two tackles conflict in a lively, humorous and provocative way. It shows that amidst the chaos that differences create, there are still paths to reconciliation.
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A Drop in the OceanLise Éthier 2002 48 minWhen Doctors without Borders, the humanitarian medical aid agency, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, Dr. Claudette Picard was in Liberia. Her first mission with the agency had begun in this small country of West Africa six years before. In the meantime, she had practised medicine in other wartorn countries such as Zaire and Afghanistan, always in extremely hazardous conditions.
What impels women and men like Dr. Picard to leave their easy lives behind and go off to do what little they can to alleviate human suffering? Whatever the motivation, the doctors are in the field, providing medical care and helping to draw attention to distant places often forgotten by the world's media. Places like Harper, a small town in Liberia devastated by a decade of civil war. This is where we follow Dr. Picard on her rounds. With her halting English, her comforting presence and a few scarce drugs, she sometimes manages to do the impossible. But not always...
Some subtitles. -
Eye of the StormNigel Markham 1997 44 minA documentary about Nain, a Labrador Inuit community located near the world’s largest nickel and copper deposits. As commercial mining interests prepare to exploit the resources, local residents consider the potential environmental and cultural impact. Meanwhile longstanding Aboriginal land claims are unsettled.
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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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Grace, Milly, Lucy... Child Soldiers (Classroom Length)Raymonde Provencher 2010 51 minThis feature documentary exposes the little-known tragedy of girl soldiers in Uganda. How can they learn to live normal lives again after being abducted and trained to become killing machines? Clinging to their dreams, Grace, Milly and Lucy are trying to restore meaning to their lives and break the silence surrounding the fate of a sacrificed generation.
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Grace, Milly, Lucy... Child SoldiersRaymonde Provencher 2010 1 h 12 minThis feature documentary exposes the little-known tragedy of girl soldiers in Uganda. How can they learn to live normal lives again after being abducted and trained to become killing machines? Clinging to their dreams, Grace, Milly and Lucy are trying to restore meaning to their lives and break the silence surrounding the fate of a sacrificed generation.
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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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Grassroots in Dry LandsHelene Klodawsky 2015 1 h 29 minGrassroots in Dry Lands tells the story of three unconventional social workers united by a common vision that transcends the antagonisms between their countries. Nuha, from Nablus (Occupied Palestinian Territories), Talal, from East Amman (Jordan), and Amit, from Sderot (Israel) are empowering some of the region’s most disenfranchised, war-scarred communities in an effort to build a just and civil society.
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HinduismDavid Millar 1962 18 minIn India, the home of most present adherents, this film traces the history of Hinduism, its evolution over the centuries and its connections to Buddhism and Jainism. Shown are the observances of this faith, its teaching of non-violence, its respect for all living things, how the social order created by it has been modified in the modern world to outlaw the declaration of individuals as "untouchables" and to remove limitations on freedom imposed by caste.
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Universe Within - AccraKaterina Cizek 2015 3 minJohn is a 30-year old that operates PC Clinic Air, a wireless Internet café in his apartment building. He wants to provide Internet access at an affordable rate, and considers his work in the public interest. Currently, his customers pay half of what they would with any of Ghana’s major network providers. In addition, his clients save the cost of purchasing a modem, or Internet stick. People use the Wi-Fi on their mobile phones, laptops or smart TVs.
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Hue: A Matter of Colour (Short Version)Vic Sarin 2013 57 minThis feature documentary by renowned director and cinematographer Vic Sarin is a personal yet global investigation into the history and current state of colourism: the discrimination within one ethnicity based on differences in skin tone. Sarin travels the globe to discuss this complex cross-cultural social issue with individuals whose lives it affects, including a Filipina entrepreneur whose business has flourished within the billion-dollar skin-whitening industry. Hue leads viewers on a thoughtful and surprising journey to the heart of a painful and pervasive social issue that not only polices appearance, but also class, gender, and geography.
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Hue: A Matter of ColourVic Sarin 2013 1 h 25 minThis feature documentary by renowned director and cinematographer Vic Sarin is a personal yet global investigation into the history and current state of colourism: the discrimination within one ethnicity based on differences in skin tone. Sarin travels the globe to discuss this complex cross-cultural social issue with individuals whose lives it affects, including a Filipina entrepreneur whose business has flourished within the billion-dollar skin-whitening industry. Hue leads viewers on a thoughtful and surprising journey to the heart of a painful and pervasive social issue that not only polices appearance, but also class, gender, and geography.
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In Pursuit of PeaceGarry Beitel 2015 1 h 24 minIn Pursuit of Peace makes the case for unarmed civilian peacemaking and mediation as a response to violent international conflict. We follow four Canadian peacemakers as they take us inside the drama of their work in some of the world’s hottest conflict zones: land disputes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the civil war in South Sudan, IDP camps with displaced minorities in Kurdistan in Northern Iraq.
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LockedBhimsain 1997 5 minOn the way to school, a boy is confronted by an enormous man whose hand grabs hold of his school bag and tosses it into the air. The hand pushes him towards a huge padlock, then forces him to enter through the keyhole: the schoolboy is imprisoned in a hazardous lock factory. Like the other children inside, he finds himself forced to operate a high-speed punch press. Struggling to follow the movements of the machine, he cuts off a finger. He tries to run away, but is recaptured.
Back at the factory he starts to cough up blood after inhaling iron particles that will prove lethal: the child dies on the job. Coldly, the hand picks up his body and drops it in the box the padlocks are shipped in, symbol of his murdered innocence. How can we live with forced child labour? This India/Canada co-production is inspired by Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child, which particularly upholds the child's right to be protected from economic exploitation. An animated film without words for 12- to 17-year olds. -
Life Begins in JanuaryMichel Régnier 1980 58 minEight hundred thousand Cambodians have fled genocide. This film describes the life of these people in Thai refugee camps, the hardships they encounter, and the concerted efforts by many countries to help them in their fight for survival. Aside from its historical value, this film reveals the courage of a people who refuse to die.
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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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Now - The Peace1945 21 minThis short film looks at the plans made at Dumbarton Oaks in 1945 for a renewed international organization devoted to world peace - the United Nations.
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NeighboursNorman McLaren 1952 8 minIn this short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.
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Of Hopscotch and Little Girls...Marquise Lepage 1999 52 minHopscotch is universal. Girls around the world trace squares on the ground, then hop through them, trying hard to reach the end. Girls share other interests too; they all like to talk about school, what they want to be when they grow up, who they will marry, how many children they will have, their hopes for a better life for themselves and their family.
But all too often, through poverty, perversion, spite, ignorance or superstition, adults shatter these dreams by denying girls the right to an education, entering them into forced labour, subjecting them to mutilation, sexual abuse and other injustices.
Soni, Kamlesh, Mou, Yui, Dalal, Esmeralda, Fatou, Adiaratou, Safi and Maude range in age from 8 to 14. Some are frail, some strong; all are beautiful. Whether they live in India, Thailand, Yemen, Peru, Burkina Faso or Haiti, they all speak of having much of their childhood stolen from them. Because they are girls. With subtitles. -
Population ExplosionPierre Hébert 1968 14 minA film in cut-out animation depicting the demographic problems of the world. It shows that in many countries freedom from the old scourges of famine and disease has in turn created the new problem of more mouths to feed. The film suggests that wealthier nations might increase all forms of aid to struggling nations to create a better world
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Shock WavesPierre Mignault 2007 52 minIn the Democratic Republic of Congo, murder, rape, armed conflict and the looting of civilians by the military are daily facts of life. In this huge country where chaos and corruption reign, the journalists of Radio Okapi risk their lives every day to expose the abuses of power to which the Congolese people are subjected. This is one of the worst humanitarian crises in our world today.
Shooting in danger zones still in the grip of rebellion the filmmakers follow the work of several journalists from this free, UN-backed radio station. Taking us up the Congo River and deep into the equatorial jungle, they capture with a hidden camera a reporter's confrontation with unscrupulous soldiers who practise extortion and torture. Another reporter journeys east to cover a new outbreak of the rebellion and returns with harrowing testimony by victims of rape and destruction. Elsewhere, after denouncing the chief of police, another journalist barely escapes reprisal by a death squad. All across the country, Radio Okapi's national network of reporters takes enormous risks to put the truth on the air.
Shock Waves is a hard-hitting documentary that denounces the crimes committed by armed thugs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also paints an unforgettable picture of an independent radio and its courageous journalists, who are aware that they are making history.
Shot in a land where silence is imposed at gunpoint, Shock Waves provides riveting testimony to the difficult birth of freedom of expression and democracy in a country torn apart in the aftermath of war.
