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Health and Illness (47)
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60 Day CycleColin Jones & Darcy Wittenburg 2020 5 minWhen society shifts abruptly into pandemic low gear, a lone cyclist embarks on a tour that begins with shuttered shops and empty streets, and ends with a city opening up to a new reality. -
2000 mmGeorges Hannan 2021 7 minReady or not, society is in a process of redefinition. What goes through people’s minds in a situation like a toilet paper shortage? The term COVID-19 stands for something invisible, stoking fears strong enough to cause stock markets to melt like snow in springtime. As filmmaker Georges Hannan’s 91-year-old mother puts it, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” It has prompted him to embark on a gradual reflection over time, in a part of the world like any other: Atlantic Canada. Call it a fishing expedition with camera and microphone, into the unknown.
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As Night DescendsNadine Gomez 2020 10 minIn conversations with passionate sociologist and political thinker Jean Pichette, the filmmaker views the forced downtime stemming from the current crisis as an opportunity to rethink our modes of existence and our relationship to others, nature, science, the economy, art, politics—in short, everything that makes us human.
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Abortion: Stories from North and SouthGail Singer 1984 54 minWomen have always sought ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies, despite powerful patriarchal structures and systems working against them. This film provides a historical overview of how church, state and the medical establishment have determined policies concerning abortion. From this cross-cultural survey--filmed in Ireland, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, and Canada--emerges one reality: only a small percentage of the world's women has access to safe, legal operations.
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GovernanceHo Che Anderson 2020 3 minCriminologist and community activist Munira Abukar believes justice and equity begin in your own home and heart. Embracing the uncomfortable awakening that 2020 has brought about, she debunks the cozy narrative of social equality and puts her finger on the key issues needing change.
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Bevel Up: Chapter 1 - OpeningNettie Wild 2019 5 minThe nurses meet Becky, give her a mouth pieces for a crack pipe, and chat about her pregnant daughter, Liz. Later, they meet Tracey in a hotel and discuss her upcoming test results.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
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. -
Bevel Up: Chapter 2 - Wheels & BarryNettie Wild 2019 6 min“Wheels” drinks from his wheelchair in a park. Barry sells and injects drugs in the alleys. The outreach nurses establish relationships with both to encourage ongoing care.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Bevel Up: Chapter 6 - LeeNettie Wild 2019 3 minStreet nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James inject Lee, a sex worker, with an antibiotic for syphilis. They also call Lee’s boyfriend and arrange to test him as well.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Bevel Up: Chapter 7 - Long TranNettie Wild 2019 2 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt and health care worker Tuan Luu meet a Vietnamese man who, like his father and grandfather, shoots heroin. Caroline teaches him how to inject safely—with the “bevel up.”
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Bevel Up: Chapter 8 - ConclusionNettie Wild 2019 2 minStreet nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James visit a recovering Becky and then head home.
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Being PreparedCarol Kunnuk 2021 9 minAs the global pandemic reaches into the Arctic Archipelago, Inuk filmmaker Carol Kunnuk documents how unfamiliar new protocols affect her family and community. Her vividly specific soundtrack juxtaposes snippets from local radio broadcasts, issuing health advisories in both Inuktitut and English, with the sweet sounds of children at play. A richly detailed and tender account of disruption and adjustment.
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Citizens' MedicineBonnie Sherr Klein 1970 30 minIn Montréal, the St. Jacques Citizens' Committee set up a community health clinic, aided by volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists and medical students. This film shows discussion, planning, and the clinic in operation, and presents its problems and advantages as seen both by medical workers and by local residents. Members of the Citizens' Committee participated in the making of the film, from original planning through filming, selecting and editing.
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"CONTACT" Requiem for a WordOlivier D. Asselin 2020 7 minAn investigation into how language is changing in the age of COVID-19. The complete upheaval of social relationships today is leading to the reinterpretation of certain terms, which have suddenly taken on a fatal connotation. This film is a funeral mass in memory of the word “contact.”
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COVID 19: The Future of FoodJérémie Battaglia 2020 12 minHow are you adapting to the pandemic? That’s the question Jérémie Battaglia and Vali Fugulin asked Canadian small and medium-sized business owners in April 2020 as part of the Pivot project led in partnership with the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative. Out of these discussions, one major theme emerged — how COVID-19 has affected the eating habits of Canadians. Interest in local products and cooking exploded during the lockdown, but was it just a fad? Six months later, as the second wave was sweeping over the country, Jérémie wanted to continue the conversation with two of the business owners he met, restaurant owner Lil MacPherson and farmer Dave Kranenburg. Both have long advocated for the importance of making the agri-food industry more responsive and local. On a video-conference call, they reflect on the changes in behaviour we’re seeing and wonder if we might be witnessing a long-term paradigm shift in our relationship with food.
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Doctors with HeartTahani Rached 1994 1 h 52 minTahani Rached’s powerful documentary enters the doors of an AIDS clinic in Montreal. We meet a group of dedicated doctors struggling to provide health care to their patients. This 1994 film explores legal and ethical problems surrounding HIV/AIDS and the struggle against fear, rumours and prejudice. It is still relevant today. In French with English subtitles.
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The Interventionists: Chronicles of a Mental Health Crisis TeamKaterina Cizek 2006 31 minEllen is a mental health nurse. Brandon is a specially trained policeman. Together, they ride the streets of Toronto responding to 911 police calls involving “emotionally distressed persons.” Their mandate is not only to de-escalate crises, but to avoid unnecessary arrests and emergency room visits by providing appropriate referrals, services and resources within a patient's own community.
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Jules' Impossible SummerMarie-Julie Dallaire 2020 13 minShot in Montreal over a four-month period, from May to September 2020, Jules’ Impossible Summer charts the evolving relationship between the filmmaker and her 19-year-old son through 15 redundant conversations about the importance—or the impossibility, depending on the point of view—of following the health restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
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JiaWeiye Su 2020 10 minA young Chinese-Canadian couple is visiting family in Wuhan, epicentre of the virus, at the very moment the pandemic is declared. Interviewing his subjects in a novel socially distanced mode, director Weiye Su explores the culturally specific concept of Jia—an idea evoking family or home that acquires sharp new meaning during COVID times.
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A Kind of FamilyAndrew Koster 1992 53 minThis feature documentary tells the complex and touching story of Winnipeg city councilor Glen Murray and his 17-year-old adopted son Mike, whose struggles with addiction and behavioural problems cyclically repeat. Glen, now an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament, was one of the first openly gay elected politicians in Canada. He adopted Mike during an era when homophobic stereotypes often prevented gay men and women from adopting children. Glen and Mike's relationship is always tenuous and always turbulent as they struggle to define themselves together and alone.
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Listen Listen ListenBarbara Greene 1976 1 h 22 minThis film is about a controversial educational community in southwestern Ontario where people of all ages come, either freely or referred by the courts, psychiatric wards and training schools. The film focusses on the "referrals," and their common struggle to instill new meaning into their lives.
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Labour of LoveDan Curtis 1998 44 minWalk through almost any neighbourhood, and behind one of those front doors you'll find a family caregiver. The numbers are staggering. Over 25 million North Americans are currently looking after elderly relatives with health problems.
Shot over an entire year, Labour of Love shows the human side of caregiving - the loving bonds, the frustrations and heartaches, the mundane tasks and the constant fatigue.
Labour of Love includes five intimate profiles of caregivers and their families. This special video takes us to the heart of what it means to be a caregiver, offering hope for everyone who is caring for a family member. -
Mozambique: Building a FutureCharles Konowal 1987 27 minDiscover a unique coop program in which students from Mozambique are taught dentistry techniques in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in this short film from 1987. For many of us, dental health programs are something we take for granted, but in some regions of the world, they're considered a luxury. With this program, the Mozambique students are taught the skills they need to take back to their communities.
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Mistral SpatialMarc-Antoine Lemire 2022 1 h 42 minThe evening of his break-up with Cath, Sam is victim of an inexplicable phenomenon where he loses consciousness for few hours later. Could his heartbreak be related to the hypothesis of an alien abduction?
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NFB Pause: Making Art in a PandemicSimon Rouillard 2021 4 minWhat is it like to make art during a global pandemic? After one year of living under COVID-19, four creators from the NFB's The Curve project share how their daily lives (and creative process) have been turned upside down by this unprecedented crisis.
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Pandemic - At the End of the WorldAllan Code 2020 13 minThe Covid pandemic strikes a tragically familiar chord for the Inuvialuit of the Mackenzie River Delta. In the early 19th century John Franklin and his crew infected their ancestors with deadly smallpox. Other devastating epidemics would follow. Historian Randal Pokiak returns to the ancient site of Kitigaaruk, a community abandoned after the great flu epidemic of 1918, to deliver a vivid cautionary tale.
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Perfecting the Art of LongingKitra Cahana 2021 12 minCut off from his loved ones due to the pandemic lockdown, a quadriplegic rabbi in a long-term-care facility is filmed remotely by his daughter. Offering powerful meditations on love and hope, Perfecting the Art of Longing shows us what it means to be alive in a state of profound isolation.
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Reflections on Practice: Therapeutic CommunicationNettie Wild 2007 1 minStreet nurse Liz James explains how to work with someone who’s in an unsafe situation but doesn’t want help.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Road's End ChronicleNicolas Paquet 2020 11 minThe shore of a lake. A dam. Myriad testimonials that go right over our heads, just like everything else. Camped out in his car, a filmmaker stares out at the landscape through the raindrops coating the windows. Encounters emerge one by one. Voices multiply, at times validating each other, later contradictory. The filmmaker moves from worry to optimism. Only one question remains: Is there a right answer?
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Reflections on Practice: InsightsNettie Wild 2007 3 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt talks about seeing past the drugs and connecting with the person. Street nurse Janine Stevenson reflects on coming from a place of curiosity rather than judgment.
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Reflections on Practice: Supervised InjectionNettie Wild 2007 1 minNursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg and nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney reflect on how the nurse incorporates teaching and health promotion while supporting safe injection.
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Reflections on Practice: Pregnant UsersNettie Wild 2007 1 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt reflects on the challenges she faces when working with pregnant women who use drugs, and the importance of not judging the mother.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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Reflections on Practice: BoundariesNettie Wild 2007 2 minStreet nurse Janine Stevenson and nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney reflect on the complexities of boundaries when dealing with uncomfortable or unsafe situations.
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Reflections on Practice: Access to Health CareNettie Wild 2007 1 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt explores how detox or a supervised-injection site provide realistic first steps towards better health care.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
SòlValérie Bah & Tatiana Zinga Botao 2020 8 minMany Black, racialized and immigrant women work with elderly patients as healthcare providers. Their jobs, already arduous and underpaid as it is, have become even more exhausting during the COVID-19 pandemic. While some public commentators have described them as overrepresented in this sector because of their culture, and hailed them as “guardian angels,” what do they themselves have to say? This cross-sectional portrait of some of these women takes the form of a meditative essay.
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Sometimes I Wish I Was On a Desert IslandEli Jean Tahchi 2020 10 minAs the world learns to live again in the midst of the pandemic, for many Arabic-speaking LGBTQ+ people living in Montreal, this is just a period of time like any other. When you’ve fled homophobic violence in your home country and endured a painful migratory journey, or you still face social prejudices stemming from intercultural and intergenerational conflicts, surviving social isolation is nothing new.
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Someone Like MeSean Horlor & Steve J. Adams 2021 1 h 19 minTRIGGER WARNING: This film contains scenes depicting homophobia and violence, which may be disturbing to some viewers.
Someone Like Me follows the parallel journeys of Drake, a gay asylum seeker from Uganda, and a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community who are tasked with supporting his resettlement in Canada. Together, they embark on a year-long quest for personal freedom, revealing how in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist, survival itself becomes a victory. -
The StormMonica Kidd 2021 4 minA doctor as well as a filmmaker, Monica Kidd finds signs of hope in an uncertain pandemic universe. With The Storm, she collaborates with animator Duncan Major, employing sparsely elegant imagery to reflect on what it means to bring a baby into a world gripped by a global health crisis.
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Tobacco's Last StandRobin Benger 2004 44 minIn this feature documentary, we head to Norfolk County, Ontario, an unusual Canadian town where anti-smoking forces are the enemy in a community that proudly celebrates the annual tobacco leaf harvest and supports a feisty pro-tobacco mayor. Firmly in denial about the consequences of second-hand smoke, community leaders proclaim their right to freedom and economic success against the backdrop of a growing anti-smoking campaign and a heated city council debate on making the community smoke-free.
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ThursdayGalen Johnson 2020 15 minThursday, shot from filmmaker Galen Johnson's high-rise apartment during COVID-19 “lockdown” in Winnipeg, captures people going about their daily routines in the city's eerily empty streets, yards and parking lots, on their balconies and on the riverbanks. The extreme distance and the diminutive scale of humans is paired with sound close-ups—a combination that embodies the strange, heightened intensity of feeling of the time, knowing an era-defining tragedy is happening yet being so physically removed.
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Through a Blue LensVeronica Alice Mannix 1999 52 minThis gripping documentary takes a powerful look at the lives of people with substance use disorder in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Filmmaker Veronica Alice Mannix follows Constable Al Arsenault and six other police officers on their daily beat, documenting their unique relationships with people who speak candidly about their painful past experiences, their drug addiction, and life on the street.
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Topics: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderNettie Wild 2007 7 minPediatrician Christine Loock offers effective and non-judgemental communication strategies for nurses and healthcare providers who work with people affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
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Topics: Drugs & the BrainNettie Wild 2007 15 minDr. Anthony Phillips, a UBC neuroscientist, uses animation to describe the effects of crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin on the brain.
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Topics: Aboriginals & DrugsNettie Wild 2007 6 minChee Mamuk Program Manager Lucy Barney explains her theory of THE BRAID — how First Nations weave together culture and health to deal with drug use in their communities. She talks about why many First Nations people who use drugs do not access mainstream clinics.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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Topics: Mental Health & DrugsNettie Wild 2007 7 minMental-health counsellor Andrew Larcombe talks about the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder and using drugs to escape from difficult life circumstances. He also describes skills and strategies for developing therapeutic relationships and boundaries.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Topics: Sex Work & DrugsNettie Wild 2007 10 minFour sex workers—Sherri, Tina, Dee and Mum—explain the relationship between sex and drugs, revealing how it affects their health and can threaten their lives.
*Watch the complete documentary.
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*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
XO RAD MagicalChristopher Gilbert Grant 2019 1 minXO Rad Magical is a personal lyrical poem about the daily struggle of living with schizophrenia. This psychedelic and hypnotic film shows that there is beauty in the brains of those who are at war with themselves. Produced as part of the 12th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
