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The documentary tells the story of the immigrants who came to Canada with dreams of a better life. Featuring incredible archival footage, photographs and documents as well as interviews with historians, sociologists as well as first-hand accounts from several Italian Canadians.
The little known story of one of the worst non-combat disasters in the history of the US Navy, …AS IF THEY WERE ANGELS is a story of courage, heart, sacrifice and the heroism of miners & fishermen of 2 small towns, who risked their lives to save nearly 200 American sailors, shipwrecked on the rugged cliffs of Newfoundland. Narrated by Peter Coyote, it’s a deeply layered tale of navigation errors, courts martial mistakes, a steep loss of life, and resonates today as if the very telling of its deep humanity offers a lifeline for our fractured times.
Moving between two extremes - the intimate verite drama of the Miss India pageant's rigorous beauty "bootcamp" and the intense regime of a militant Hindu fundamentalist camp for young girls. The World Before Her delivers a provocative portrait of India and its current cultural conflicts during a key transitional era in the country's modern history.
An outstanding factor in the efficiency of the CANDU reactor employed in Canadian nuclear power stations is that its construction allows for refuelling while the plant remains in operation, with no necessity for periodic shut-downs. Filmed at the Pickering, Ontario, station, this film clearly illustrates the processes and the advantages of this Canadian feature. Cutaway models and animated drawings are used in the demonstration.
This documentary short introduces us to the Caravan Stage Company, the world's only horse-drawn open-air theater. Every summer it tours British Columbia and Alberta, bringing live entertainment to communities where television is often the main diversion. In a montage of short sketches, the film shows the troupe on the road and in performance. Hard work and laughter are basic ingredients of this unconventional lifestyle.
In an effort to understand where she came from, Fabiola asked a question that became the central phrase of the film: what would my life have been like if I'd stayed in Haiti? Taking as her starting point her biological mother's precarious economic situation, she had no choice but to entrust her daughter to her care. Fabiola could have ended up restavek, or in a loving foster family, or on the streets abandoned to her fate, or adopted abroad.
“Straight-Guy Porn” is a wildly popular subgenre of online amateur pornography that features supposedly heterosexual men having sex with other men for a gay male audience. Why do some gay men prefer to watch sex between two heterosexual men? Where does this desire come from? Is it innate or is it learned? And why would men who identify as straight choose to perform in gay porn? Straight Guys follows filmmaker Daniel Laurin on his journey to answer these questions and reconcile his own relationship to this type of pornography. Daniel speaks to porn historians, porn theorists, porn producers and the performers themselves.
CREE CODE TALKER reveals the role of Canadian Cree code talker Charles 'Checker' Tomkins during the Second World War. Digging deep into the US archives it depicts the true story of Charles' involvement with the US Air Force and the development of the code talkers communication system, which was used to transmit crucial military communications, using the Cree language as a vital secret weapon in combat.
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has long fought for the rights of her people. When her son suddenly dies, Aaju embarks on a journey to reclaim her language and culture after a lifetime of whitewashing and forced assimilation. But can she both change the world and mend her own wounds?
This bold "graffiti" essay on the Pope, Michael Jackson, the Olympic stadium, and the manipulation of the masses, provided a fresh glimmer of hope in a decade of institutional complacency. In Passiflora (named after the anaesthetic tropical flower), the animation, "new music", street theater and dramatization deployed builds on Belanger's observations of the two media stars' simultaneous visits to Montreal to meet with their followers. The film celebrates the resistance shown by a coalition of the unsubmissive: gays, transgendered people, youth, battered women, psychiatric patients, abortion activists and women who have had abortions.
An experimental essay film blending documentary and fiction, where women's voices turn a satiric eye on AI, agesim, and the absurdities of capitalism.
From cinema-verite; pioneers Albert Maysles and Joan Churchill to maverick movie makers like Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, the world's best documentarians reflect upon the unique power of their genre. Capturing Reality explores the complex creative process that goes into making non-fiction films. Deftly charting the documentarian's journey, it poses the question: can film capture reality?
In a nostalgic look at her mother, Snap presents Anne Murray crooning over a collage of photos, home movies and letters.
A documentary film crew follows Bernie Rosenblum to the El Paso, Texas ranch where he worked in 1966 on what is arguably the worst movie of all time.
In this honest and deeply personal account of living with addiction, a young man talks about the realities and challenges of living in the Anishinaabe community of Kitcisakik and the hope he still harbours for himself and his people.
A surrealist exploration of dissociative identity disorder (DID) based on the lived experience of a Black, nonbinary, disabled artist and former sex worker.
Perfect follows the Canadian synchronized swimming team beyond the beauty, to the brawn it takes to qualify for Rio 2016.
Is sand an infinite resource? Can the existing supply satisfy a gigantic demand fueled by construction booms? What are the consequences of intensive beach sand mining for the environment and the neighboring populations?
A short film about the end of World War II and Canada's contribution to the effort.
Portrays Louis Robichaud, Canadian politician and former Premier of New Brunswick.
A jetliner spans the miles, sheering through clouds to open sky and scenic vistas of the provinces below. Glimpses of town and country, of people of many ethnic origins, of a resourceful and industrious nation - impressions it would take days and weeks to gather at first hand - are brought to you in this vivid 1800-kilometer panorama.
Young, gifted and black! In an act of self-empowerment, a group of young Black people, mainly first and second generation immigrants from the Caribbean, have occupied the public space of the Toronto underground to perform their agitprop concept of edutainment – poets, rappers, singers and musicians.
Colombian teenagers study the traditional art of bullfighting in the sleepy town of Choachi. They live and train in an oasis of teen aged camaraderie and dreams for the future. But when bullfighting becomes banned in Bogota, the boys' sanctuary slowly becomes susceptible to society's larger struggles of class and conflict. Inspired by the watchful eye of retired bullfighter Nicolas, the bullfighting students strive to succeed first as Matadors, then as role models themselves. Interpreting bullfighting as a living metaphor for personal, social and historical struggles, the film focuses on the individual experiences of these boys and their mentor as they try to break free of the bleak future being dictated to them by Colombian society.
Acclaimed Montreal band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is one of a growing number of rock groups to have accepted an infant into their touring tribe. Touring with children is both costly and complicated, yet SMZ are determined to combine family life and being on the road with the band's deep political commitment.
Canada's northwest has been opened up by the Alaska Highway. This film looks at the construction of the highway and at the resources and development in the surrounding areas.
Documentary about the life and career of a comic genius, Peter Sellers.
Francois the Tree Man is far from his wife and three small children in Quebec, selling Christmas trees and living in a van on the streets of New York City. He does it for them. But this is home, too. Like the hundreds of Christmas tree sellers who descend upon the city from Canada, New England and even Europe, Francois delivers the magic of the season over a grueling month in his adopted neighborhood. He's a star, a storyteller, a Santa Claus in a sap-stained coat, a confidant, a friend, and a father figure to the local characters who are his New York family. They also need him. TREE MAN is the story of Francois's journey, how he arrived here, what holds him, and the conflict that will cause him to leave. As one of Francois' long-time customers says: "This has nothing to do with the trees anymore."
Shot during the first ever Innu circus festival in Labrador, Canada, Tricksters gives the viewing audience a positive glimpse into these troubled native communities. The artistry of international performers is combined with the native tradition of drumming and dancing offering a wider appreciation for the Innu way of life. Tricksters features Beni Malone's Wonderbolt Circus, as well as two time world champion hoop dancer Lisa Odjig who interacts with Innu Elders and children in workshops. Interviews with Innu elders inspire a greater appreciation for the Innu way of life. Tricksters offers an emergence of art and native culture, rarely seen on the screen.
The documentary is a portrait of former Canadian boxing champion Gaétan Hart, profiling both the ups and downs of his career in the 1970s and 1980s and his attempt to return to the sport in a 1990 fight. The film's title was inspired by "A Piece of Steak", Jack London's 1909 short story about a retired boxer struggling with poverty.
Zombies are part of pop culture, but what are they? Where do they come from? To find real zombies we visit Haiti where Zombies are an integral part of the island's cultural and religious roots.
The devastating impact of industrial and military ocean noise on whales and other marine life.
This touching documentary follows a cast of blind and visually impaired actors as they prepare Dancing to Beethoven, a play about blindness. The film takes us deep into the lives of the actors. We hear stories of their shock and disbelief at first losing sight and of their struggles coping with a life without it. We hear them talk about grieving and pining for the visual world. They tell the moving story of how this play is itself a victory, a type of salvation, for each of them. By opening night, at the renowned Place des Arts in Montreal, they are a close-knit cast, well-honed and ready to step out of the wings and into the light.
The investigation and exposure of the US sugar industry’s systematic hijacking of scientific study to bury evidence that sugar is—in fact—toxic.
In this Gilles Carle feature documentary on the game of chess, the international chess match is cast as a classic Western shoot-out. Three chess greats dominate the film: Russia's Anatoly Karpov; Viktor Korchnoi, a Russian defector; and American Bobby Fischer. Chess aficionados Camille Coudari and Fernando Arrabal analyze the personalities and strategies of the players and comment on the interplay of politics and chess.
From the unique vantage point of 200 miles above Earth's surface, we see how natural forces - volcanoes, earthquakes and hurricanes - affect our world, and how a powerful new force - humankind - has begun to alter the face of the planet. From Amazon rain forests to Serengeti grasslands, Blue Planet inspires a new appreciation of life on Earth, our only home.
Creators, superfans, and stars including Aubrey Drake Graham delve deep into all things Degrassi in this engaging history of the Canadian show that changed teen TV.
Portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature.
Y2K. With no experience nor training, Simon Boisvert embarks on a journey of writing and producing self-financed micro-budget narrative films. Nine years later, he had produced and distributed six feature films. This documentary, interspersed with various excerpts from his films and personal archive footage, recounts his journey through thick and thin, and as a laughing stock.
Created over 75 years and three generations, Les Quatre Vents stands as an enchanted place of beauty and surprise, a horticultural masterpiece of the 21st century. See how Frank Cabot gave birth to one of the greatest gardens in the world.
This short WWII propaganda documentary drives home the point that steel and committed steel workers can make the difference between winning and losing in modern warfare. A short sequence demonstrating the depravity of the Nazis is followed by a detailed explanation of the manufacture of Bren guns, ambulances, transport trucks and submarine chasers in Canada during World War II.
Vancouver-based filmmaker and TV news veteran Fred Peabody explores the life and legacy of the maverick American journalist I.F. Stone, whose long one-man crusade against government deception lives on in the work of such contemporary filmmakers and journalists as Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, David Corn, and Matt Taibbi.
The meaty saga of Burger Baron, a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following, run by a loose network of fiercely independent Arab Canadian immigrants.
A retrospective documentary on 9/11 in connection with the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival.
This short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series. The secret winter manoeuvres of the British Army's Lovat Scouts took place in the Canadian Rockies during the winters of 1944 and 1945. In combined operations with the Canadian Army, these elite mountain commandos tested themselves and their equipment in temperatures of -50°F.
From La Région Centrale (1971), Snow orchestrates new patterns of movement that exchanges the focus on landscape with the cityscape of Toronto.
Cathy and Martin Ward, a stereotypical North American suburban couple, fight for years to adopt five siblings from a remote Ukrainian orphanage. When they finally succeed, a new drama unfolds. A sensitive and emotional oldest girl Yuliya, who is eighteen, finds it unbearable to accept that the younger siblings don't need her care and protection any more. She forms much stronger bond with her adoptive father Martin than with Cathy, her adoptive mother, and rebels against suburban values. Yuliya's struggle to find her place in a new family becomes an ultimate test of her adoptive parents' ability to love unconditionally.'
Today, 11 years after the massive earthquake in Haiti that left over a million people homeless and killed hundreds of thousands, the country has still not recovered from the disaster. Despite billions of dollars in aid money, Haiti struggles with some of the highest levels of poverty and unemployment in the Western hemisphere. In Port-au-Prince, various citizens are shuttled through a city in crisis. Maneuvering around barricades, garbage dumps and the packed streets of the capital, they speak candidly about the current state of their country. Through the car window a frustrated population passes and occasionally interacts with the passengers in the vehicle. Beautifully shot, with a lively score, Zo Reken presents a complicated portrait that testifies to the magnitude of the tragedy and highlights the disorganized state of international aid.
Lauren Southern’s distubing documentary about the violence against Boer farmers in South Africa.
Five Rings Films presents the inspiring story of how Czech Republic won gold at the first Olympics to feature professionals from the NHL.
An encounter between Russian and American volleyball teams, presented more as an essay in the choreography of the players' movements than as a play-by-play report of a sports event. Various camera tricks are used to dramatize the action, notably stop-motion, that freezes the ballet-like leaps and postures of the players. The film has jazz background music. -NFB
The human impact on forests is explored through breathtaking vistas and poignant vignettes set in Canada's Pacific Northwest. Those who rely on this precious resource highlight the tensions and dilemmas between commodification and conservation.
ŽIŽEK! trails the thinker as he crisscrosses the globe, racing from New York City lecture halls, through the streets of Buenos Aires, and even stopping at home in Ljubljana, Slovenia. All the while Žižek obsessively reveals the invisible workings of ideology through his unique blend of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxism, and critique of pop culture.
This wartime newsreel from 1942 documents the efforts of China to deal with Japanese aggression.
A landmark WWII docudrama, told through the eyes of three young Canadians, chronicling the events of the Allied invasion of Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 - otherwise known as D-Day.
Interviews with the cast, creators, journalists and celebrity fans, plus behind-the-scenes footage from season six.
Beaupré the Giant marked his era with his 8’3” height. Gone too young and far from home in 1904, his journey as a phenomenon was only just beginning. In a stunning series of twists and turns, his mummified body will take more than 80 years to find its way home.