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Documentary (17)
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Capturing Reality: The Art of DocumentaryPepita Ferrari 2008 1 h 37 minIn this feature-length film on the art of the documentary, director Pepita Ferrari interviews 33 leading documentarians and shows clips from over 50 films. From cinéma-vérité pioneers like Albert Maysles and Michel Brault to mavericks like Errol Morris and Nick Broomfield, it explores the challenges of capturing reality on film. Directors as diverse as Pakistani feminist Sabiha Sumar and new media guru Peter Wintonick reflect on ethical issues and the contested status of the “truth.”
Featured interviews include German iconoclast Werner Herzog; Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán; British director Kim Longinotto and Alanis Obomsawin, the First Lady of First Nations cinema. -
Cinéma Vérité: Defining the MomentPeter Wintonick 1999 1 h 42 minCrisis, Lonely Boy, Chronicle of a Summer. You may not know these films, but you see their influences every day--in everything from TV news to music videos to Webcams. The cinéma vérité (or direct cinema) movement of the '50s and '60s was driven by a group of rebel filmmakers tired of stilted documentaries. They wanted to show life as it really is: raw, gritty, dramatic. Rich in excerpts from vérité classics, Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment is the first film to capture all the excitement of a revolution that changed movie-making forever. Director Peter Wintonick's Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is one of the bestselling documentaries of all time; co-producer Éric Michel won the Cannes Palme d'or for 50 ans, by director Gilles Carle, and co-producer Adam Symansky won an Oscar for Flamenco at 5:15.
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Chile, Obstinate MemoryPatricio Guzmán 1997 58 minIn this feature documentary, a Chilean filmmaker returns to the motherland for the first time in 23 years. Time is passing. A generation of young Chileans has grown up with no knowledge of the facts surrounding the military coup of September 11, 1973. In his suitcase, The Battle of Chile his 3-part cinéma vérité chronicle of the political tensions in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counterrevolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. His documentary toured the world but was never seen in Chile. Discreetly, he shows it to his friends and a small group of students. After the screening, the young people are in a state of shock. They have an urgent need to know the truth, for it is they who must build the Chile of tomorrow. In Spanish with English subtitles
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Donald Brittain: FilmmakerKent Martin 1992 1 h 34 minA close look at one of the best documentary filmmakers in the world, this retrospective of Brittain films also offers a glimpse of the man and the restless energy that informed his work. Dedicated and hard-working, Donald Brittain left nothing to chance, driving himself and his colleagues at the NFB and the CBC until perfection was achieved, or until airtime, whichever came first.
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Film and YouJean Palardy & Donald Peters 1948 21 minHow film councils are organized, and what they can do for the community are shown. Different people like different films--for instance, Grandpa, who goes to sleep during a sequence on kitchen planning, wakes joyfully at the sound of a square dance. But all groups agree that they want films on their programs, if they can get them, and that is where the film council comes in. Animation shows how a council is set up, and how a number of organizations in an area can collaborate in buying a projector. We see projectionist training, and the public library becoming a distribution centre for films as well as books. Finally we see film in action, as a variety of successful community projects are carried out, each directly the result of film showings.
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GriersonRoger Blais 1973 57 min
This feature film is a portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and informative portrait of a dynamic man of vision.
Grierson believed that the filmmaker had a social responsibility, and that film could help a society realize democratic ideals. His absolute faith in the value of capturing the drama of everyday life was to influence generations of filmmakers all over the world. In fact, he coined the term "documentary film."
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Margaret Perry—FilmmakerLes Krizsan 1987 24 minMargaret Perry, now in her eighties, is the unsung heroine of the Nova Scotia film industry. For over a quarter of a century, she shot, directed, wrote and edited all the tourist films for the province. Through her camera, we view changes in the landscape, in lifestyles, and in film technology.
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Making Movie History: Morten ParkerJoanne Robertson 2014 5 minMorten Parker recalls the early days of documentary filmmaking at the NFB, including the making of his Oscar nominated film The Stratford Adventure.
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Making Movie History: Edouard DavidoviciJoanne Robertson 2012 4 minIn a long and happy career at the NFB, master editor Edouard Davidovici witnessed the evolution of editing techniques. Before non-linear digital technology became the norm, Davidovici and his colleagues were adept at handling the raw material of cinema, cutting and splicing film on stand-up Moviolas or flatbed Steenbecks. As chief editor at the NFB, he oversaw the picture and sound edit of hundreds of productions in a range of genres.
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Making Movie History: Bonnie Sherr-KleinJoanne Robertson 2012 5 minBonnie Sherr-Klein recalls the early days of Studio D, the women's studio, and the birth of the seminal film Not a Love Story which she co-directed.
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Making Movie History: Alanis ObomsawinJoanne Robertson 2012 5 minAlanis Obomsawin talks about how she got her start at the NFB and the overarching importance of sound/story in her work.
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Our Dear SistersKathleen Shannon 1975 14 minAlanis Obomsawin, an Indigenous woman who earns her living by singing and making films, is the mother of an adopted child. She talks about her life, her people, and her responsibilities as a single parent. Her observations shake some of our cultural assumptions.
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The Summer of '67Albert Kish & Donald Winkler 1994 57 minThis feature documentary follows up on 2 important NFB documentaries that captured the turbulent year of 1967, a time when social and cultural revolution, as well as generational change, were on everyone’s mind. The first, Christopher’s Movie Matinée, followed the travels of 14 Toronto teenagers over the course of the summer, while the second, Flowers on a One-way Street, documented the conflict between the hippies of the day and Toronto City Council, over the future of the Yorkville neighbourhood, then Canada's counter-culture capital. More than 2 decades later, the filmmakers have sought out some of the films' participants, not as an exercise in nostalgia but to discover what traces remain in the lives of those who most deeply felt the impact of the '60s
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Self-Portrait: Part 4Guy Glover 1961 31 minThis short compilation, the fourth of a five-part series, features excerpts from memorable NFB films produced from 1939 to 1960. Commentary between excerpts notes the significant characteristics of each film's style and subject. Included in this volume are excerpts from Corral, The Grievance, Jolifou Inn, Monkey on the Back, Blinkity-Blank, World in a Marsh, Canadian Profile, The Sceptre and the Mace and City of Gold.
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Stories We TellSarah Polley 2012 1 h 48 minThis feature documentary is an inspired, genre-twisting film directed by Oscar®-nominee Sarah Polley. Polley's playful investigation into the elusive truth buried within the contradictions of a family of storytellers paints a touching and intriguing portrait of a complex network of relatives, friends, and strangers.
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The Universal Clock - The Resistance of Peter WatkinsGeoff Bowie 2001 1 h 16 minThis feature documentary is a portrait of Peter Watkins, an Oscar®-winning British filmmaker who, for the past 4 decades, has proved that films can be made without compromise. With the proliferation of TV channels, documentaries are enjoying an unprecedented boom fuelled by audiences seeking an alternative to infotainment. But now documentary filmmaking, too, finds itself constrained by the imperatives of television. However, there is a rebel resisting this uniformity of the spirit. Pre-eminent among today's documentary filmmakers concerned about this mind-numbing standardization, Peter Watkins has never strayed from either his principles or the cause.
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WintopiaMira Burt-Wintonick 2019 1 h 28 minWintopia is an intimate father-daughter story and poignant search for the meaning of utopia. Following the quick and tragic death of Peter Wintonick, Canada’s “documentary ambassador to the world”, his daughter Mira Burt-Wintonick dives into her father’s obsession with untangling the contradiction that is utopia. The remains of his unfinished film and several hundred hours of raw footage shot over 15 years leads Mira to surprising places and connections with her father, compelling all of us to live life with purpose.
