Discover Movies

Two Longform Lesbian Census takers poll their community to find out important statistics on tops, bottoms, and switches, butches and femmes, cats and dogs, how couples are planning to conceive their children, and more crucial lesbian data! Or they are just trying to get girlfriends!

What makes me a Sikh? That question posed by nine-year-old Zara Garcha starts a family’s journey to learn about their religion. The Garcha family explores Sikhism by visiting diverse Sikh communities around the world: meeting with a Maharaja, cheesemakers, fashionistas, farmers, and scholars to glean a better understanding of the world’s fifth largest religion. Their journey begins in Parma where they meet Sikhs who have a hand in creating Italy’s iconic Parmesan cheese. From there, the Garcha’s head east traveling to India to visit The Golden Temple, and learn about the historical foundations of the religion. As their travels continue their lived experience blends with academic insight and we see how the religion and culture has manifested itself throughout the world.

Is it possible to provide the amenities required by modern life without destroying the socio-cultural heritage of past generations? In this film two historically preserved cities present contrasting examples of contemporary growth.

Examines racism and discrimination in Thunder Bay from a youth perspective.

Set in south-western Iran, in the province of Khuzestan, where the stories of oil and war originate, Meezan is a documentary encounter in three parts. Rejecting a historicizing or theoretical gaze, Meezan is attentive to the immediacy and embodied experience of those most intimately connected to these embattled landscapes.

The end of WWII has brought much hardship to Western Europe, especially in the area of food security and availability. The war has wiped out much of Europe's ability to grow its own food - it, as a continent, was close to being self sufficient during peace times - or to distribute what can be grown internally. In cities, there are long line ups at the few places where food is available, and a growing black market for food for those who can afford it. Much of the food growing regions of the southern hemisphere are also having problems growing enough to feed their own due to natural disasters. That leaves the United States and Canada as the only major food growing nations to assist its war time allies of Europe through this crisis while Europe rebuilds.

The Halari Oshwals are a small community dispersed around the world yet held together by a history of sacrifices. But times have changed. This globalization has led to many problems within the community, and their numbers are dwindling. An Oshwal woman from Canada worries about the preservation and survival of her heritage in the hands of generations to come. She sets out on a pilgrimage to visit Oshwal communities in Kenya, where she was born; the UK, where she lived for a while; and India, where her parents originated. She discovers a shared concern for the future of the community and its traditions in the face of globalization and geographical disconnect, and explores what this means for the younger generation and their Oshwal identity.

A profile of Alexander Graham Bell, inventer of the telephone.

Quebec is a modern society where the suicide rate among 15-25 year olds is among the highest in the world. It is the second leading cause of death after car accidents. The result of three years of research in all environments, Le Spasme de vivre tells the life stories of different people, and all of these stories form a portrait of society.

For years, Québec's churches have been emptying out. They are being demolished, or sold to the highest bidder. The residents of Saint-Camille, in the Eastern Townships, unite to try to save theirs.

Follows five Anishinaabe youth on a summer research project with their Elders, whose stories guide them on a journey back to proceeding generations that lived a healthy lifestyle off of the land. Their stories chronicle the devastating impact that environmental and cultural dispossession had on the flow of knowledge from Elders to youth, and ultimately on the health of their people. As their summer comes to an end, the youth emerge with "gifts" of knowledge and teachings from their Elders, inspiring a renewed determination to forge a hopeful and healthy future for the next generation.

Scratched directly onto 35mm film stock, this abstract film is a visual interpretation of a piece for solo violin based on a Bosnian popular song from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The composer, Malcolm Goldstein, describes it as a gesture of hope for peace in that land ravaged by war during the 1990s.

The Healing Jar is a short meditative documentary which uses ASMR techniques and poetic imagery designed to relax the audience. It creates a space for the audience to reflect on their own healing.

This documentary is a portrait of modern-day Pondicherry, an ancient city near the southern tip of India.

Everything in Sergiy’s immigrant life is temporary except his incurable love for his motherland. He has a Canadian passport but his soul belongs to Ukraine. Despite having lived in Quebec for 15 years he still wants to go back.

A tiny community in rural Ghana recently discovered that the religion they have been practicing for centuries is Judaism. Filmmaker Gabrielle Zilkha explores their story from isolation to global connection and the challenges and rewards they face along the way.

No animal in the Amazon is more feared and more respected than the 'spirit of the river' - The Anaconda

A harsh winter in Canada’s Muskoka, where players face sub-zero temperatures, contrasts with New Zealand, where hockey is just starting to take root. Yet, between these two far-apart nations, there’s one thing they share: a deep love for the game of hockey.

A story of The Map and The Territory. Shot in BC, California, and Nevada. Original music by Tashi Townley, Jack Brintnell, Luc Wiebe, and George Lee.

The drawings and recollections of Inuit artist Pitseolak, from the book of the same title written by Dorothy Eber. Now in her seventies, Pitseolak is one of the most famous of the graphic artists of the Cape Dorset (Baffin Island) artists' colony and co-operative. Her coloured pencil and felt-pen drawings vividly illustrate her memories of past life in the Arctic, and of the birds, animals and spirits that figured so large in the daily life of the Inuit.

A documentary about the Famous Jeff Healey Club which opened in downtown Toronto, Canada in 2001 until its closure in 2008. The movie tells the story of the Jeff Healey club ,the A- list musicians who played there from around the world and of course the amazing talent that Jeff had as a Blind Musician who never let his disability stop him from doing what he loved most -Music. With interviews with Cristie Healey, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Ronnie Hawkins and others and with rare live performance footage from the club with Jeff Healey, The Jeff Healey Blues Band, Ian Gillan, Jimmy Bowskill, Watermelon Slim and many more.

Lamentations: A Monument to the Dead World belongs to a 35-hour film cycle, The Book of All the Dead, which comprises the bulk of Toronto-based Bruce Elder’s filmmaking from 1975 to 1994. In ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of the Dead consisted of religious texts intended to help preserve the spirit of the departed in the afterlife — but in Elder’s reading, that comforting idea of continuity takes on a rather darker cast. Lamentations is comprised of a complex audio and visual patchwork: a philosophical meditation superimposed as text throughout the film; vignettes featuring a comical but disturbing Franz Liszt, a debate between Isaac Newton and George Berkeley, an angry, deranged man in an alley, and an arrogant psychiatrist; and a final search for salvation in the forests of British Columbia, the American Southwest, and Mexico’s Yucatan.

Voices of Positive Women is a ground-breaking documentary examination of the impact of HIV and AIDS on the lives of women working from material published in the book "Positive Women", a collection of personal accounts of women from all over the world living with AIDS and HIV. Bravely sharing their experiences publicly in what until now has been a void of information and support, and in some cases medical and bureaucratic denial that women are even at risk, the nine women presented in Voices of Positive Women speak compellingly on their own terms of their personal struggles for survival and voice.

The story of the Big Three, the Liverpool band that refused to sell out.

For First Nations communities, the headdress bears significant meaning. It's a powerful symbol of hard-earned leadership and responsibility. As filmmaker JJ Neepin prepares to wear her grandfather's headdress for a photo shoot she reflects on lessons learned and the thoughtless ways in which the tradition has been misappropriated.

In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.

Coast Salish carver Beau Wagner honours his late teacher’s wish by carving a canoe on Gabriola Island with local elementary school students to revitalise Coast Salish canoe culture and foster understanding and respect for Coast Salish knowledge.

A devastating highway accident in April 2018 thrust Humboldt, Saskatchewan into an international spotlight and voices from across the globe responded with sorrowful condolences, vigils and tributes. As the shock subsided and the world stepped back allowing the community to grieve, the directors of Humboldt: The New Season remained near the families. This is a story of healing without ever forgetting or letting go.

This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.

Three best friends travel on a backcountry trip in the Alberta Rockies. Rugged footage contrasted with intimate audio interviews creates a portrait revealing the nuances of masculinity and male friendships.

The film follows the journeys of Asian and Pacific Islander lesbian athletes and performers in the 1990 Gay Games III held in Vancouver, BC. The featured athletes include: Ana Chang, Abi Jeung, Corinne Lee, Cynthia Low, Canyon Sam, Granate Sosnoff, Jill Togawa, Kitty Tsui, and Marlene Wong.

The artwork of well-known Quebec animator Frédéric Back are used to tell the tale of Champlain’s life in New France – from his first explorations and settlement to his death in 1635. This is an edited version of his 28 minute short documentary on Champlain.

Alanis Obomsawin turns her lens to Le Patro Le Prévost, a recreational centre in the Villeray quarter of Montreal. On the eve of its 80th anniversary in 1989, Le Patro is a vital focal point in the predominantly working-class neighbourhood. Beloved by the many generations who use the facilities and partake in activities daily, Le Patro encourages a strong sense of togetherness through principles of cooperation, respect and sharing. Obomsawin presents a tender portrait of a neighbourhood of diverse residents and the community centre many of them consider a second home.

A snappy and hyper-saturated ode and eulogy to growing up in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and immigrating to Canada. A slice of life through the lens of a camcorder.

An investigation of Canada's clandestine involvement in the Manhattan Project, from Gilbert LaBine's 1930 discovery of a rare radium deposit in the Northwest Territories to today's ongoing 2.6 billion dollar nuclear waste clean-up project in Port Hope, Ontario. Expert interviews, first hand testimonies, and generational accounts present a nuanced and thought-provoking examination of how these hidden histories have impacted the Indigenous Dene people of the Northwest Territories, Port Hope residents, and other communities worldwide.

This feature documentary shines a light on a group of women who are passionate about their non-traditional job – trucking. Filmed in 1999, it follows the women all across Quebec as they do their job and address the big-ticket items in life: love, family, freedom, and solitude. Filled with humour and the contagious good spirits of the women involved.

The many environmental, social, legal and human perils of BC’s controversial Site C hydro dam project are explored in Heather Hatch’s documentary.

Sundance award-winning director Julia Kwan’s documentary Everything Will Be captures the subtle nuances of a culturally diverse neighbourhood—Vancouver’s once thriving Chinatown—in the midst of transformation. The community’s oldest and newest members offer their intimate perspectives on the shifting landscape as they reflect on change, memory and legacy. Night and day, a neon sign that reads "EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT" looms over Chinatown. Everything is going to be alright, indeed, but the big question is for whom?

Upon discovering that her lifelong next-door neighbour of over twenty years, Taybah, has never explored what the 6ix has to offer, our director launches a two-day adventure with her to show her what she’s been missing.

Great Britain was the first country to plan the establishment of 'new towns' to house the overflow from rapidly expanding industrial centres. Today these towns number over one hundred. This film examines the operation of two of them.

In making this piece, Bourque literally distorted the personal home movie images appearing on the film plane through various manipulations in the process of doing her own low-tech contact printing. The point of contact in printing is continuously shifted so that the film plane appears warped and the images fluctuate, creating a distorted space of fleeting apparitions, like resurfacing memories.

A documentary that shows and talks about the struggles of being a musician nowadays with the rise of streaming services.

The period from 2020 to 2022 has increased social inequalities, anger and popular revolts. Under lockdown in Montreal, the director had to cancel her projects. In the need for moviemaking, she asked 50 of her friends and acquaintances for sending her footages and sounds.

A cinematic and intimate collision of drag, queer history, and performance art, a musical and genre bending irreverent documentary that follows trans icon Oliv Howe as she prepares for the 40th anniversary of her coronation.

Labelled "Canada's most dangerous female offender," Marlene Moore, known as Shaggie, took her life inside the Prison for Women at the age of 31. Janis Cole constructs a personal memory about her lost friend.

One of North America’s most amazing collections of art can be found in the crumbling ruins of Detroit. As the once great ‘motor city’ declares bankruptcy in 2013 and thousands of retired workers risk losing their pensions, Detroiters search their souls: should they sell the art to save the city?

There is a cultural revolution going on in Canada and Faith Nolan and Grace Channer are on the leading edge. These two African-Canadian lesbian artists give back to art its most urgent meanings--commitment and passion. Grace Channer's large and sensuous canvasses and musician Faith Nolan's gritty and joyous blues propel this documentary into the spheres of poetry and dance. Long Time Comin' captures their work, their urgency, and their friendship in intimate conversations with both artists.

A classic NFB documentary about the Golden Gloves boxing tournament, the Canadian amateur's hope for success in the boxing world. This Gilles Groulx film shows three Montreal boxers in training. In behind-the-scenes interviews they talk about their ambitions and what prompted them to take up the sport. - NFB

The catalyst for this unusual documentary, which took the Silver Plaque at the 1980 Chicago Film Festival, was the attempt by Toronto striptease artists to form a union. The film is structured around the strippers themselves, as they speak directly to the camera about their attitude toward striptease, as work.

Through a simple juxtaposition of words and images, Charles-Émile Lafrance and Romy Bélisle give us a coming-of-age story distilled to its purest components, emphasizing the essence of being aware of the passing of time. Romy Bélisle’s writing grants us access to her inner self, to the universal significance of the end of adolescence, to one world dying so that another can be born. Her words are paired with images of her last summer before heading toward adulthood, captured by a warm and discreet camera. These seemingly mundane fragments contrast with the breadth of emotions conveyed by her entries, and from this tension crystallizes the underlying goal of immortalizing what is about to disappear with the maturity and clarity we all wish we had.

Documentary that reveals the bond between actor Christian de la Cortina and Omar, a Guatemalan worker, as they expose abuses on Quebec farms and advocate for invisible workers' rights.