Skip to content
Accessibility
Food Issues and Nutrition (16)
-
Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen?Eisha Marjara 2024 24 minWARNING: This film contains imagery of anorexia and eating disorders that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. “Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose. But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood. Decades later, she revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism. In addressing a tender love letter to the troubled girl she once was, she reaches contemporary audiences with a timely reflection on body image and self-acceptance. -
Beauty Begins Inside - What's Eating You?Sheila Murphy 1995 13 minWhat's Eating You? follows a pair of engaging teens on a voyage of discovery in being convinced that there is more to life than junk food. The hero and heroine are definitely into chips and soft drinks, but this film is nothing if not persistent, winning them over with a banquet of gags and information. Everything teens need to know about healthy eating and the four food groups is right here in irreverent, fun-filled morsels.
-
Beauty Begins Inside - The "P" SyndromeSheila Murphy 1995 17 minIsabel is determined to go on a diet. Bruce and Melanie can't understand their attraction for each other. Jake spends hours in front of the mirror trying to achieve the right look, while Patrick is so grown up he is already a businessman. Enter Detective Stark, and the hunt for the Painfully Pugnacious Prickley Problem--puberty--is on. With help from his assistant Levert and intrepid biologist Fritz, he tracks down the syndrome. A hilarious send-up of detective movies, science-information shows and almost every other genre you can think of, the film cajoles, informs and inspires. A film for any teen who ever grew an inch.
-
Beauty Begins Inside - The Pressure ZoneSheila Murphy 1995 11 minThe Pressure Zone is a hilarious send-up of the forces that try to shape adolescent minds and bodies. Two mirrors--one promoting the perfect body through a merciless regime of muscle building and dieting, the other through tapping into the "essential essence" via meditation and herbal remedies--vie for loyal customers. As each advertises their vision as the right way, the teens are prodded, taunted and provoked into submission by making them believe that their bodies need improvement, but then the teenagers take control back from the mirrors and accept themselves from the inside out.
-
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. -
Children First1944 17 minThis wartime film emphasizes the importance of milk in the diet. Growing children, teenage youngsters, and expectant and nursing mothers are priority milk consumers. The film deals with minimum milk requirements, various milk products and derivatives, and the problem of conserving and sharing supplies.
-
Eye Witness No. 41948 13 minIn this short newsreel clip from 1948, we see commercial fishing being practiced on a large scale north of The Pas, Manitoba; a doctor from Indian Health Service struggle against the odds to build a better future for Canada's first citizens; a winter carnival in Banff that attracts large crowds to watch ski experts and the crowning of the carnival queen, and; a colour sequence of Barbara Ann Scott, Olympic skating champion.
-
A Matter of FatWilliam Weintraub 1969 1 h 38 minThis feature-length documentary follows a man as he sheds nearly half his body weight (63.5 kg) by complete starvation under hospital observation. The film explores what brought him to so desperate a course and catalogues what actions other overweight people are taking, singly or in groups, to reduce to healthier proportions. Medical authorities comment on some misconceptions and malpractices of the slimming industry.
-
Mystery in the KitchenDon Haldane 1959 23 minWhy does a housewife concerned for her family's welfare feed them so inadequately that she endangers their very lives? The film is a humorous and satirical attempt to remind the average housewife that it is not enough to be aware of modern food facts; they must also be applied in daily food purchasing and preparation.
-
Mother and Her ChildVincent Paquette 1947 1 h 0 minThis film follows a young couple from the time they suspect pregnancy to their child's first birthday. The value of good prenatal habits and medical care is emphasized. Good tips are also provided on day-to-day baby care.
-
Nutrition1943 2 minAn animated film explaining the nutritive values of staple foods. It lists the body's basic nutritional requirements and specifies the foods which meet these needs. Emphasized are the types of diets needed for active and inactive work.
-
We Eat ShitChris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski 2017 43 sWE EAT SHIT. An unapologetic warning about how complacent we can be.
-
The Sunny Munchy Crunchy Natural Food ShopRichard Todd 1973 9 minThis short documentary takes you on a tour of one of Montreal's first health food stores. The camera scans shelves stocked with all manner of natural foods to which nary an additive has been added: soybean and sesame seed products, wild honey, and even eggs from hens fed on blackstrap molasses. But the real eye-openers are in what you hear between the aisles, from the store's owner and his customers.
-
Sabrina's LawBarry Lank 2007 42 minA documentary on the creation of Sabrina's Law in the province in Ontario, the first legislation in the world to protect children with deadly allergies. On a September morning in 2003, Sara Shannon handed her 13-year-old daughter Sabrina lunch money, gave her a kiss and watched her walk into the halls of a high school in Pembroke, Ontario. The next day Sabrina Shannon died of complications brought about by anaphylactic shock. Suspected cause of death: french fries from the school cafeteria. French fries that she had eaten before, only this time the cafeteria was also serving poutine. All it would take is for the same tongs to be used in both dishes to set off Sabrina's reaction to dairy. Since then her parents have dedicated their lives to ensuring that what happened will never happen to another child.
-
The Weight of the WorldGlynis Whiting 2003 51 minThis fascinating documentary looks at obesity. Stockholm’s Dr. Stephan Rossner, an obesity specialist, proves beyond doubt that obesity is a man-made epidemic. Super-sized fast foods and a $12 billion ad industry are proving to be lethal when mixed with a car-dominated culture, urban sprawl and labour-saving technologies. This film was launched by the NFB and the CBC in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Physical and Health Education Canada.
-
Why Won't Tommy Eat?Judith Crawley 1948 16 minThis film examines the problem of children who won't eat, and what can be done about it. Tommy should be hungry, but he just picks at his food. Going back to early babyhood, the film traces in detail, how eating habits are formed, how individual likes and dislikes must be taken into consideration, and that the worst habit of all is the permanent battle over food. After this analysis, Tommy still sits by his well-filled plate. In despair his mother takes him to the doctor, who explains that she is really the problem. She realizes that she has been tense, impatient with Tommy from the start. Now it will take painstaking care to build a new atmosphere of cooperation and friendliness, to learn understanding of Tommy's personal requirements at mealtimes, and all the time.
