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Three working-class teenage girls in a port city in Bangladesh escape daily hardships and stifling family lives by riding waves on their surfboards and grabbing hold of the fleeting and thrilling sense of freedom that brings.

"The Pitch" takes a look at the world of international street performing buskers to find out why these men and women have chosen to "pass the hat" to make a living, along with the challenges they face.

According to the official history of Afghanistan, ruthless destruction has always prevailed over art and creation; but there is another tale to be told, the forgotten account of a diverse and progressive country, seen through the lens of innovative filmmakers, a story that survives thanks to a few brave Afghans, a small but very passionate group that secretly fought to save a huge film archive that was constantly menaced by war and religious fanaticism.

A look at Canadian bullfighter Carolyn Hayward.

Stuck in a creative rut, filmmaker Gilda Pourjabar returns to Iran, her homeland, to talk with her brother Siamak, an illustrator based in Tehran. This encounter raises questions about their relationship to Western popular art, as they grew up in a culture that the current political regime describes as “westoxicated.” This documentary uses playful animations by Siamak, inspired by Franco-Belgian comics and rock concert posters, superimposed on archival footage of the most recent popular uprisings in Iran to become a logical collaboration for these artists who shared a record collection as children. Together, they examine how art slips through the cracks of repression to light the rebellious sparks in the hearts of young people.

A summer river sequence documenting stone-weir fishing, communal labor, and domestic life.

This Colin Low documentary from 1959 depicts Venice in all its splendor. In the tradition of Venetian painter Canaletto, the film captures the great Italian city’s elusive beauty and fabled landscapes, where spired churches and turreted palaces soar into a blue Mediterranean sky. Narration by William Shatner.

The tragic story of little Aurore Gagnon has left its mark on the collective imagination of Québec. This documentary revisits the myth, which still resonates today.

Thomas Hart Benton's paintings were energetic and uncompromising. Today his works are in museums, but Benton hung them in saloons for ordinary people to appreciate.

This film details how drug traffic operates, how the drug addict is made, and how this grim social reality may be curbed.

Documentary of an underwater archaeological expedition led by French explorer Franck Goddio that explores the sunken ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt, where Cleopatra made her home over 2,000 years ago. The underwater exploration team uses advanced scientific methods to locate the remains of Cleopatra's sunken palace as well as the entire submerged Royal Quarters in the harbor of modern Alexandria. Also uses re-enactments, computer graphics and animation to present a picture of Cleopatra's life in ancient Alexandria.

Since the first film was made explaining the power of the atom, nuclear technology has made great advances. This film is an up-to-date account of the many areas of nuclear research and recent developments in Canada. It was filmed at the long-functioning atomic reactors at Chalk River and Rolphton, and at the latest and largest atomic power station at Pickering, as well as at laboratories across the land where experimentation is carried out in both pure and applied nuclear science. Produced for the NFB by Crawley Films Ltd. for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

Take a technological thrill ride The Magic of Flight takes you on a technological thrill ride faster, higher and wider than modern science or even your imagination! Relive the first flight of the Wright Brothers, then soar with the Blue Angels as they defy the laws of gravity. Narrated by Tom Selleck.

A documentary about Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe who, at a time when all doors were closed to them, found sanctuary in Shanghai, thanks to the intervention of Chinese diplomat Ho Feng Shan who as Chinese consul in Vienna defied the Nazis and his own government by issuing travel visas to the desperate refugees. The film tells the story from the point of view of the refugees and the Chinese people who sheltered them. In light of today's refugee crisis, an inspiring poetic tale about two peoples who found common cause and dignity in a world in chaos.

Inside a shelter, participants in a talking circle share their experiences of intimate partner violence as a way to regain their dignity and strength to act. Powerfully empathetic, Après-coups creates a space of sisterhood and solidarity—a chorus of voices breaking down the walls of silence.

An extraordinary soup kitchen in Milan - the Refettorio Ambrosiano - run by internationally renowned chef Massimo Bottura and 40 of the world's best chefs including Ferran Adria, Rene Redzepi, Alain Ducasse, Daniel Humm and many others. All food served was made from the food waste of Expo Milano 2015. The film also tells the compelling story of several of the refugees and homeless the Refettorio served.

Portrait of the Canadian artist duo Cozic, composed of Monic Brassard (1944) and Yvon Cozic (1942). United in life and creation, the couple works with industrial materials in vibrant colors to create ecological and playful artworks. From the carefree hippie years of the 1960s to major public art commissions, their work reflects the evolution of our relationship with nature and the industrial world. Today, from their remarkable estate in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle in the Eastern Townships, the duo is preparing for their major retrospective at the Musée national des beaux-arts de Québec.

A disturbing portrait of four Western volunteers who risk their lives to fight ISIS alongside Kurdish forces. The feature documentary 'My War' probes the complex motives behind the need to take up arms on someone else’s behalf.

This feature documentary is an exploration of the concept of dirt and impurity. From the slums of Kolkata to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside to a barbeque joint in Central Texas, Dirt digs deep into the webs of meaning and feeling attached to that deceptively simple 4-letter word. An odyssey into all things unclean, the film features animation to make Hieronymus Bosch blush and music from Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Follow a team of seven wildlife filmmakers in their search for endangered species, and the contrast that they discover between pristine wild spaces and the reality of man’s impact.

Built on a layer of frozen earth, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada has subarctic winters where temperatures routinely drop below −40°C. Meet the four season food producers who engage in small-scale agriculture, and those who support their back-to-the-land movement. These resilient unassuming farmers have carved out small patches of fertile soil, in an otherwise unforgiving expanse of isolated wilderness, to make a living and a life.

Chanda Chevannes follows scientist Dr. Sandra Steingraber as she makes speeches against fracking and gets arrested protesting “the industrialization of the Finger Lakes.”

Filmmakers Holly Dale and Janis Cole explore the culture of Davie Street, located in the underbelly of Vancouver, where dozens of prostitutes work and live every day. Surprisingly, they find that the sex trade there is stable and largely non-violent, and that the women who work on Davie Street meet daily to discuss safety and health issues and don't use pimps. The film also includes candid interviews with the prostitutes and footage of negotiations with potential clients.

Following five years in the life and career of independent filmmaker Justin McConnell, this documentary explores the struggles of financing, attracting the right talent, working with practical effects and selling the finished product in the hope of turning a profit. Featuring interviews with a range of industry luminaries, not only are technical aspects and interpersonal skills discussed but also the emotional stamina and little-known tips needed to survive in the low budget film industry.

For the 750 dogs that live in a Moroccan shelter, the daily routine consists of eating, resting, a bit of fighting and eating again. Could they possibly expect more from life? A pointed, cinematic commentary on mass confinement.

There is no indication that this typical online flirtation between two strangers would turn into a case of shocking international intrigue. For months, Sandra in Montreal and Amina, a Syrian-American, bond romantically and intellectually. Encouraged by Sandra, Amina launches a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus," representing a marginalized voice in the Middle East on politics, religion, and sexuality. Rapidly garnering worldwide attention, Amina becomes something of a star blogger. But when Syria enters the Arab uprising of 2011, Sandra receives word that Amina has been kidnapped, and soon the search for Amina becomes a global concern and an even larger mystery to solve.

Frances Ward, a self-professed “Seaweed Nerd” and adventurer, is about to give up everything she’s built in her life to start a kelp farm off  the west coast of Canada. SEND KELP! follows Frances on an odyssey that brings her into the vast oceans of the Pacific where she intends to build one of the first farms of its kind in British Columbia.  But to coax a crop from the wild Pacific, she’ll need help from scientists, wild harvesters, and entrepreneurs who know the challenges and astonishing potential of this miraculous organism. And along the way, she’ll find a glimmer of the hope that seaweed might provide not only for our planet, but for her, too.

A Canadian documentary featuring two young filmmakers attending the Toronto Film Festival to pitch a film concept to various celebrities. Their film idea, titled "The Dawn", concerns a Mafia don who goes for a hernia operation but gets a sex change instead. During the 1996 Toronto Fest, they approach Roger Ebert, Norman Jewison (at a packed press conference), Eric Stoltz (leaving a limo), Al Pacino, and others without much success. On a roll, they leave Toronto for Hollywood, getting advice from Arthur Hiller and Neil Simon and finding an agent who expresses interest in their pitch.

As Athens faces a stray cat crisis, two veterinarians and a network of volunteers give their time and resources to help the city’s overwhelming cat population

The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg, is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s film. Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this work, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome.

This short live-action film tells the story of a little raccoon who encounters many adventures when he strays from home to explore the world.

Frame 394 follows a young man from Toronto who entangles himself in one of America's most high-profile police shootings.

Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.

Join iconic Canadian artists, activists, actors, and athletes as they share their stories of hope and inspiration in this national salute to our frontline workers and in support of Food Banks Canada’s COVID-19 relief efforts.

Found footage documentary about the dynamic Sarah Kate Foster has had with her father throughout his alcoholism.

The King family is from Badger's Quay near Greenspond, Newfoundland with over 40 family relatives still living there. The entire community has a population of only 400. Actor/musician Greg King takes us on tour of his family homes, and to meet his father and sister, who work at the hospital where they were all born. They tell of the importance of family and the irony of feeling worldly while connected to a small community in central Newfoundland.

It takes two or three generations for the monarch butterfly to reach the Canadian breeding grounds, but it is one "supergeneration" that makes the 2,000 mile return trip back south into central Mexico. The documentary film covers Dr Fred Urquhart's interest in monarch butterflies, with perspectives of Urquhart as a child wondering where the butterflies went, his years of research and study into their life and migration, to his time decades-later as a senior scientist looking back at his investigations and discoveries about the insect's life pattern.

A tribute to the spirit and humanity of people who are physically different from the average: very tall and very large men and women, a bearded woman and her long-time husband, Siamese twins joined at the midsection, and several little people including actor Billy Barty. We meet some at Gibsonton, Florida, where carnival folk winter. They talk about their lives and accomplishments. The camera also goes on the road to visit a grandfather with a distinctive face, a legless mechanic from Kentucky on a second honeymoon in LA, a marathon runner and motivational speaker who has no feet, a karate student with partial limbs, and an armless, down-to-earth mom in Texas.

"This documentary depicts a canoe being built in the traditional manner. Cesar Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek of the Manawan Reserve North of Montréal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots, and gum. With a sure hand he works methodically to fashion a craft unsurpassed in function or beauty of design. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Native Peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is free of spoken commentary but text appears on the screen in Cree, French, and English." - Anthology Film Archives

Canadian director Catherine Annau's debut work is a documentary about the legacy of Pierre Trudeau, the long-running Prime Minister of Canada, who governed during the 1970s. The film focuses particularly on Trudeau's goal of creating a thoroughly bilingual nation. Annau interviews eight people in their mid-30s on both sides of the linguistic divide. One tells of her life growing up in a community of hard-core Quebec separatists, while another, a yuppie from Toronto, recalls believing as a child that people in Montreal got drunk and had sex all day long. Annau has all of the interviewees discuss how Trudeau's policies affected their lives and their perceptions of the other side, in this issue that strikes to the heart of Canada's national identity.

From the 1930's to the 1970's, pretty well every comedian or comic you might see on TV or the movies was Jewish. Jews came to dominate the world of western‐society comedy on radio, stage and screen alike.Why did Jews dominate comedy in this period? And why did that domination end? Were Jews just funnier back then? And if so, did that extend to your average Jew on the street? In this 90 minute documentary acclaimed director Alan Zweig will examine these questions and many others in this exploration of 20th century humour, cultural decay, and a search for a missing heritage.

A serendipitous encounter with a younger artist gives legendary Canadian art icon Michael Snow the opportunity to reflect on his life and career.

Sophie Thibault and Marie-Ève Richard want to understand the alarming rise in skin cancers and are joining their voices to raise awareness about the dangers of the sun.

Two friends, Don and Dave were diving in the cave of Boesmansgat: 283 meters. Right before surfacing up, Dave - who'd just broken a world record - finds a body. They decide to dive back and retrieve it.

July 1969. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are 240,000 miles from earth facing the most hazardous venture in the history of space flight; the first human landing on another world. They'll succeed, abort, or die in the attempt.

The Space Channel celebrates the 40th anniversary of the original STAR TREK. Produced by Mark Askwith, hosted by Jonathan Llyr and featuring interviews with George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, William Shatner, Peter David, Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, F. Murray Abraham, Lawrence Montaigne, Leonard Nimoy, Garrett Wang, France Nuyen, Michael Reeve, George Clayton Johnson, Denise Crosby, Marc Scott Zicree, Garfield Reeves-Stevens, D.C. Fontana, Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock, DeForest Kelley, LeVar Burton, Dr. Mae Jemison, Rob Salem, Walter Koenig, J.G. Hertzler, Dean Devlin, Harlan Ellison, Richard Arnold, Jeffrey Combs, Rick Berman, Bjo Trimble, Jim Lee, Alice Cooper, and Robert Picardo.

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

Trees talk, know family ties and care for their young? Is this too fantastic to be true? German forester Peter Wohlleben and scientist Suzanne Simard have been observing and investigating the communication between trees over decades. And their findings are most astounding.

Made for the 30th anniversary of the Montréal massacre, Judith Plamondon’s documentary gives voice to the survivors and witnesses of the tragedy and is narrated by Karine Vanasse, actor and co-producer of Denis Villeneuve's 'Polytechnique' (2009).

This short film was created by a group of Indigenous filmmakers at the NFB in 1972 and is essentially a song by Willie Dunn sung by Bob Charlie and illustrated by John Fadden: "Who were the ones who bid you welcome and took you by the hand, inviting you here by our campfires, as brothers we might stand?" The song expresses bitter memories of the past, of trust repaid by treachery, and of friendship debased by exploitation upon the arrival of European colonists.

When the artist loses inspiration, she turns towards the overlooked things that tend to fuel us the most

Since the renewed Intifada began in 2000, there have been over 75 Palestinian suicide bombings. This is the story of 0ne-the bombing of bus 32 in Jerusalem in June 2002. The film connects the stories of a group of ordinary Israelis-Jews and Arabs. Each of them holds a clue to someone who died that day.

Displaying the faces and voices of transgender youth, the documentary short shows the authenticity of queer and trans people living in Toronto, while simultaneously discussing the struggles for self-acceptance that people who do not conform to cisgender and heteronormative ideals of gender face. Andy Nguyen, trans director and film student, captures his trans friends in their natural state on 16mm film shot on a Bolex h16 camera. Accompanied by narration written and recited by Salem Rao, this film represents that trans people exist and this is what we look like. Regardless of the obvious everyday transphobia, trans people find community and uniqueness within each other and themselves.

Filmed in IMAX, Emergency takes you from the far north to two Montréal-area operating rooms, following a patient in urgent need of heart surgery.

This documentary explores the history of Canada’s first major migration of non-European and non-white refugees who arrived in 1972 when Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled all South Asians from the country. Their story of struggle and hope became part of Canada’s conversations about refugees and cultural pluralism, and informed the Canadian response to future refugee movements.

A filmmaker explores his family's 30-year hidden secret through home videos, despite risks to everyone's safety. Based on Mike Lobel's investigation into what his parents kept from him and his siblings.

An introduction to the world of French composer Maurice Ravel through The String Quartet in F major, performed by the Canadian ensemble Quatuor Arthur Leblanc. The four movements of the quartet are presented on screen by dance segments recreating key elements of the composer's life interspersed with documentary vignettes.

Around the world, multinationals are taking advantage of carbon credits to allow them to burn their waste. Beneath the system’s environment-friendly veneer, entire ecosystems are under siege, human populations are in economic crisis, and greenhouse gases keep spewing into the atmosphere. Three years after making MYTHS FOR PROFIT, activist filmmaker Amy Miller follows up with this ambitious documentary (filmed on four continents) – a bold, highly intelligent work on the dark underbelly of green business. Even while working on a grand scale, she creates intimate portraits of numerous communities, never forgetting that global issues always affect individual lives. An essential appeal to conscience.

In early February 2025, the world’s top hockey nations, including Canada, Finland, Sweden and the U.S., came together to pit their best players against each other in the 4 Nations Face-Off. The tournament replaced the NHL’s annual All-Star game and offered a chance for players to wear their national colours and assert their hockey dominance. None more so than Canada and the U.S. For decades, each team has staked a claim as “world’s best,” but as the first puck dropped, things were more heated than normal.