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Historical Perspectives (12)
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The Balgonie BirdmanBrian Duchscherer 1991 8 minA small prairie town has few secrets but in Balgonie, Saskatchewan, Bill Gibson had one. Each night, when most folks were home asleep, Bill was busy in his workshop. You see, Bill had a dream. He was building a flying machine. This short puppet animation tells his story. -
Beyond PaperOana Suteu Khintirian 2022 2 h 11 minAt a critical moment in the history of the written word, as humanity’s archives migrate to the cloud, one filmmaker goes on a journey around the globe to better understand how she can preserve her own Romanian and Armenian heritage, as well as our collective memory. Blending the intellectual with the poetic, she embarks on a personal quest with universal resonance, navigating the continuum between paper and digital—and reminding us that human knowledge is above all an affair of the soul and the spirit.
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Arctic MissionJoan Henson 1980 1 minA vignette with Dr. Joe MacInnis and his diving team assembling a "Bubble" in the Arctic Ocean.
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The DefenderStephen Low 1988 54 minThis documentary is about Bob Diemert of Carman, Manitoba, and his dream of building the world's next great fighter plane. His worldwide reputation as a genius at restoring "warbirds" enables him to finance his dream. The Defender is a lively, sometimes wild and funny, tale about a remarkable, modern-day folk hero.
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Double HeritageRichard Gilbert 1959 30 minThis documentary from the Salute to Flight series links the barnstormers and bush pilots who explored Canada's vast hinterland with the aviation heroes who flew the Bolingbrokes, Ansons, Mosquitoes and Hurricanes of World War II.
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The MicrowaveCathon , Iris Boudreau , … 2019 2 minIris and Cathon are shocked to discover how big and heavy the first microwave oven was. Turns out that inventing it involved melting a bar of chocolate.
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The ClockIris Boudreau & Francis Papillon 2019 2 minCathon has found something wonderful in the recycling bin—a birdsong clock. But Iris isn’t totally on board with her friend’s taste, so she seeks a compromise. She wonders how people told time before clocks.
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Mirrors of TimeJean-Jacques Leduc 1990 23 minThis short animated film delves into the mysteries of time: how calendars came to be; why the seasons change; why the year is divided into days, etc. From Babylon to 16th-century Europe, this film presents the history of the measurement of time.
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Making Primitive Stone ToolsDouglas Leechman 1950 11 minA demonstration of the method of chipping stones employed by Indigenous peoples to fashion tools and knives. An authority on Indigenous crafts selects from the bank of a British Columbia river typical stones used to make arrowheads, axes, knives and skin scrapers, and proceeds to show how this was done. Illustrations show the careful manipulation required to achieve a blade of the desired sharpness and strength.
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The Power of MatterGraham Parker 1960 59 minThis documentary from 1960 forms a two-part study of nuclear power in Canada, guided by Larry Henderson, skilled observer, analyst, and commentator on public affairs. The first part shows civilian applications of nuclear power outside Canada, while the second part shows the history of atomic energy development in Canada, from the outset of WWII to the installations at Chalk River.
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Trans Canada SummerRonald Dick , Jack Olsen , … 1958 56 minThe camera follows the Trans-Canada Highway from east to west, revealing the people, the resources and the geography of Canada. Included are some of the engineering feats accomplished in the building of the highway.
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Victoria Bridge: The 8th WonderMichel Choquette 1987 6 minIn this short film, a collection of images create a colourful collage depicting the construction and opening of Montreal's Victoria Bridge. Considered an engineering marvel at the time, it was the first bridge to span the St. Lawrence River, connecting Montreal to the South Shore by rail.
