The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility
Subjects (65)
Music (40)

Experimental Music (7)

  • Eternal Earth
    Eternal Earth
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Larry Weinstein 1987 28 min
    One of the Canadian Composers series, this documentary introduces viewers to the intricacies of contemporary classical music by following Chinese-Canadian composer Alexina Louie as she writes a symphony, The Eternal Earth, commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's musical director, Andrew Davis. Proclaimed Composer of the Year in 1986, Louie is known for her eclectic approach and blended musical heritage from both Chinese and Western influences. The film follows Louie between rehearsal spaces and the streets of Chinatown, including the world première performance of the piece at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall in May, 1986. It illustrates the process whereby musical notation is transformed into the rich, harmonious textures and sounds that audiences hear.
  • Fanfares
    Fanfares
    Barbara Willis-Sweete  &  Christopher Reilly 1993 29 min
    The documentary film, Fanfares, explores the creative process six composers go through as they co-write a musical composition which is to be performed in a shopping mall.
  • Harry in Wonderland
    Harry in Wonderland
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Barbara Willis-Sweete 1990 28 min
    This portrait of Canadian composer Harry Freedman shows his creative imagination at work and how he puts it into practical application in the composition and production of a major new work--Fragments of Alice--a musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
  • John Wyre - Drawing on Sound
    John Wyre - Drawing on Sound
    Niv Fichman 1991 26 min
    A half-hour documentary portrait of Canadian composer, John Wyre.
  • Kubota
    Kubota
    Jonny Silver 1982 20 min
    A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music.
  • The Wobble Incident
    The Wobble Incident
    Claire Blanchet  &  Sam Vipond 2009 4 min
    The Wobble Incident is an erratic journey through layers of cinematic illusion. When the First Sound rings out in a silent cartoon world, two characters experience momentous change as their universe goes bananas. NOTE: While the original version of this film is a 3D animation produced on Sandde, the streaming version is available in 2D only.
  • Wavemakers
    Wavemakers
    Caroline Martel 2012 1 h 37 min
    This feature documentary takes us on an intriguing human and musical discovery of the most expressive of electronic instruments, the Ondes Martenot. A group of Martenot aficionados pursues the legacy of Maurice Martenot (1898–1980), inventor of an instrument as rare and fragile as it is magical. Musicians, artisans and scientists strive to unravel the mysteries of this “Stradivarius of the electronic age.”

Explore