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Health and Illness (24)
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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. -
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.
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BreakdownRobert Anderson 1951 42 minThe story of a young woman's schizophrenic breakdown, and of her recovery in a modern mental hospital. Inherent in the film is an appeal for greater public understanding of mental illness and for the removal of the stigma that still surrounds it. The film presents the case of a seemingly well-adjusted young woman, showing the disintegration of her personality and the psychiatric treatment that follows.
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Daisy: The Story of a FaceliftMichael Rubbo 1983 57 minIn a probing yet playful approach to a sensitive subject, this documentary examines the values that prompt people to alter their looks through cosmetic surgery. Personal accounts of men and women, young and old, who have decided to change their bodies are counterbalanced by comments from professionals who explain the effects of physical appearance on our lives. The film focuses mainly on the experiences of Daisy de Bellefeuille, a frank and feisty woman who decides to counter middle age with a facelift. The film provides us with a front-row seat during a facelift operation, as well as a close-up look at the results.
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Emergency! A Critical SituationTahani Rached 1999 52 minShot at the Pierre Boucher Hospital in Montreal, this film takes us into the emergency room to see how our healthcare system is holding up. What it reveals is a powerful indictment of management that sees only the bottom line while human lives are at stake.
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The Feeling of RejectionRobert Anderson 1947 20 minThe case history of Margaret, a 23-year-old girl who has physical disorders with no physical causes. A psychiatrist shows her the root of her troubles--childhood overprotection and discouragement of her efforts to express herself, resulting in a crippling fear of failure and a complete inability to assert herself. When Margaret understands her problem, she develops new and healthier habits of behaviour.
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Feeling of HostilityRobert Anderson 1948 31 minDramatizes the factors producing resentment and hostility in personal relationships. In the story of Clare we see how the death of her father and the later remarriage of her mother discouraged her from seeking affectional relationships with others. Although successful at college and in her business career, she feels the lack of fellowship and understanding. The factors behind this emotional inadequacy are reviewed by a psychiatrist.
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The Great MalaiseCatherine Lepage 2019 5 minIn the voiceover for this animated short, a young woman attempts to describe herself, casting her life in the ideal light that society expects. The film’s imagery, however, tells a different story, poignantly illustrating the intense anxiety that comes with the quest for perfection and the pursuit of happiness. A film that’s both funny and moving, and above all, profoundly human.
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I Hear YouKoumbie & Chelsea Innes 2019 1 h 40 min
I Hear You is a non-conforming medical drama about a group of gender oppressed women and non-binary people, who each struggle with sexual health issues, and the newly graduated doctor who believes she can help them as they all navigate the frustrations of the Western medical system and their own personal limitations to find hope and help on the other side.
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LOCAVéronique Paquette 2024 5 minThrough the energy of tango, a woman finds a path to freedom. A mesmerizing visual performance created with waves of ink and black-and-white geometric shapes.
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love, ammaPrajwala Dixit 2022 14 minAfter being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a young mother writes a letter to her daughter about their family’s collective journey to acceptance.
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Mabel's SagaJoDee Samuelson 2004 14 minThis short animation celebrates menopause through the story of Mabel. She’s juggling work, teenagers and an elderly mom. Now she’s got hot flashes and chin hairs! Before you can say "estrogen," purple-haired Mabel finds herself the heroine of her own adventure. Colourful computer animation and a rich musical score offer a reassuring look at one of the most important passages in a woman's life.
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The Measure of Your PassageEsther Valiquette 1993 29 minThis short film tells of two rugged journeys: that, autobiographical, of a young woman who learns she is harboring the AIDS virus; and that of the ancient Minoan civilization, wiped out by the greatest cataclysm in history. Today, the world is held hostage by a killer disease that is stealthier than a volcano, but it exacts the same price. Now, as then, some profound questions exist: How does humanity define itself? How do we measure our passage on this planet?
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MichellePedro Pires & Robert Lepage 2014 31 minIn this short film, our protagonist Michelle suffers from schizophrenia and has just come out of a psychiatric institution. Finding refuge in the Quebec bookstore where she works, this tortured poet seems almost serene. But no one knows what she sees and hears when she lets her gaze drift. The ghosts, the self-inflicted wounds, the paranoia: they still weigh on her. When a student wanders into the bookstore, Michelle rediscovers her love of creating with words. Through this chance meeting of two completely different people, Michelle gradually finds her way out of the darkness.
This short film is part of Triptych, a contemporary urban saga based on Robert Lepage's epic theatre piece Lipsynch. -
Maybe ElephantsTorill Kove 2024 16 minIn the ’70s, three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in bustling Nairobi. The family will never be the same.
Created by Oscar®-winning animator Torill Kove (The Danish Poet), Maybe Elephants is a playful and loving autobiographical homage to family, adolescence and the therapeutic power of memories, however unreliable. -
Pink Ribbons Inc.Léa Pool 2011 1 h 37 minPink Ribbons, Inc. is a feature documentary that shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer, which marketing experts have labeled a "dream cause," has been hijacked by a shiny, pink story of success.
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A Part of MeAndré Roy 2016 23 minA Part of Me addresses a little-known topic: hair loss in women. The documentary focuses on Karène, the director’s wife, who suffers from alopecia and is ready to do anything to regain her self-confidence. Centering on the testimonies of Madeleine, 17, Jenny, 30, and Marie-Claire, 60, the film questions the concept of beauty by plunging into the daily lives of women from different generations.
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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.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
StigmaStanley Jackson 1958 19 minThis film tells the story of a young woman who suffers a mental breakdown, recovers fully in a mental hospital and returns home. Instead of the understanding and support she most needs from her friends and associates, she is virtually ostracized. The film makes a plea for a change in the sort of public thinking that places a stigma upon people who have suffered from an illness of the mind rather than of the body.
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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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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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Two SistersCaroline Leaf 1991 10 minThis animated short, etched directly onto tinted 70 mm film, depicts the story of two sisters: Viola, who writes novels in a dark room, and Marie, her only companion. Disfigured, Viola counts on her sister to take care of her and shelter her from the outside world. But when an unexpected stranger turns up on their front door, the sisters' quiet lives are disrupted and their routine turns to chaos.
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These Forgotten VoicesBlaise Barrette 2008 43 minHere's a concert with a difference: The fifteen singers all have mental health problems. Yet they've recorded a CD and have performed on stage in front of 500 people. Filmmaker Blaise Barrette spent a year with them, filming their confidence-building adventure. From the difficult first singing lessons to the highly successful concert, Ces voix oubliées bears witness to an amazing change in the participants. An inspiring documentary that defies prejudice. In French with English subtitles.
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The VigilChristine Chevarie-Lessard 2020 8 minMarguerite Paquin lives in a seniors’ home where 14 nuns from her religious congregation have succumbed to COVID-19. The film takes us from the grandeur of the landscapes of Côte-Nord, Quebec, where Marguerite has worked for 47 years, into the room where she sits confined today, finding a sort of liberation through prayer and unshakeable solidarity with her sisters who are suffering.
