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Filmmaker Oren Siedler's personal exploration into her troubled and unusual relationship with her brilliant, charming, con-artist, white-collar criminal father takes us around the world, from Australia to Cuba and the USA.

Silas Fung, a Chinese-American, was a sign designer and painter for Sears in Chicago in the 1930’s. Born into a creative family, he was also an avid painter, musician, church-goer, documentarian and father. After he was married (to Edythe) and had children, he decided to continue his passion for filming by documenting their lives. Over the next two or three decades, he amassed his family’s whole life as they became part of the middle class of America. Meanwhile, in the early 21st century, Ali Kazimi was bidding on an online auction for some 16mm nitrate film cans with Silas’ name on them. After winning them and starting the process of cleaning them up, he was contacted by a lady who was bidding on another lot of Silas’ films and wanted to know who had won the second lot. From there, Kazimi began to interview Silas’ daughter, Irena Lam, and other Chinese-American people who grew up at the same time as Irena as well as experts in Sino-American culture.

Not only did Norman McLaren create his own film imagery, he also made his own music by drawing, etching and photographing patterns directly onto the sound track area of the film, becoming a pioneer of electronic music long before the invention of the synthesizer. Norman McLaren: Animated Musician celebrates this exploration and presents much never-before-seen work by this master of cinema.

This documentary short is a cinematic recording of Tales from a Prairie Drifter, a stage comedy about the North-West Resistance during the opening of the Canadian West. Highlighting the roles of Louis Riel, the Resistance leader, prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and General Middleton, who was sent to quell the uprising, the play defines the First nations and Métis cause more succinctly than many history books. Here, the play is performed by the Regina Globe Theatre before and Indigineous audience of First Nations and Métis, whose reactions are recorded.

A car slowly navigates the winding streets and disparate airwaves of the United States of America in search of the scars of capitalism in natural landscapes, urban environments, people, and wildife.

Since his death in 2007, the renown of Canadian painter E.J. Hughes has only continued to grow. For decades, his extraordinary works highlighting the landscapes of British Columbia have captivated the public, but his personal life is less well known. A solitary man dedicated to his art, Hughes led a fascinating life, struggling to make ends meet until a discovery of his work led to its acclaim. Having attempted to work as a fisherman during the Depression, he became a war artist during the Second World War and never gave up his passion for painting, even when devotedly caring for his ailing wife.

The Weight of Words is perhaps more than the introduction of the scientific and cultural personality of Abolhasan Najafi, which was enough well-known to everyone, but the story of the discovery of fatherhood. The fact that he was away for about thirty years of close contact with his son, and now his son wants to get to know him bit by bit.

Étienne Boulay’s story is anything but ordinary. Raised in Montréal-Nord, he went on to play football in the CFL and NFL, with lots of road bumps along the way. Boulay is a genuine and engaging personality who never fails to make an impression wherever he goes.

For 200 years, coal mining had been a way of life in Cape Breton. By 1920 things were looking up: miners were unionized and paid decent wages. Then the British Empire Steel Corporation arrived and bought every single steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. BESCO cut wages by a third, setting off a bitter labour dispute. The miners settled in for a long strike. Finally, in 1925, the military ended the unrest with brute force. But the miners, in one sense, had won. They broke up the monopoly and provided an example to workers across the country.

The transition that humanity is going through at this time offers an opportunity for deep inner transformation and awakening to our true nature.

Google Maps, Wikipedia, and early 20th-century colonial landscape photography provide the material for this absorbing techno-meditation on the status of Palestine and the notion of the “Holy Land.”

An exploration of the founding of nature aquariums and the way that they reconnect people with the natural world.

In the remote region of Semipalatinsk in North-Eastern Kazakhstan live the victims of hundreds of Soviet nuclear tests carried out from 1949 through 1989.

Kosovo: Can You Imagine? is about the Serbs that live in Kosovo and the lack of human rights that they have today, in the 21st century. Most of the Kosovo Serbs have been ethnically cleansed by the Albanians who make up the majority of Kosovo. Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia for 76 days to halt a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatism in its province of Kosovo. In the years following the war, thousands of Serbs were expelled from their homes, kidnapped and killed. Their houses, cultural and religious sites were burned and destroyed. Kosovo for the Serbs is what Jerusalem is for the Jewish people. It is the cradle of their statehood, culture and religion. Most of the important Serbian Christian Orthodox monasteries are in Kosovo. Today, Serbs still have a deep spiritual and traditional connection to Kosovo, a land which is being cleansed of everything Serbian.

Elder Marie Leo recounts her experiences going through puberty. Growing up on the Líl̓wat Nation near Mount Currie, B.C., Marie details the important process of preparing for womanhood. The various tasks and duties she undertakes demonstrate a complex, beautiful journey a young Líl̓wat person undergoes as they welcome adulthood and increased responsibilities. This short is part of the L’il’wata series. In the early 1970s, at the outset of her documentary career, Alanis Obomsawin visited the Líl̓wat Nation, an Interior Salish First Nation in British Columbia, and created a series of shorts that provide personal narratives about Líl̓wat culture, histories and knowledge.

Exposure is an experimental documentary that explores issues of race, sexuality and cultural identity. A dialogue between two lesbians of colour (Japanese-Canadian and Afro-Caribbean women) is intercut with photographs, texts, paintings and voice-over.

In this video, Noam Chomsky concentrates on the contemporary institutions and powers which have set limits on human progress and offers us some concrete ways of challenging them; in effect, he presents a vision of a future society. Chomsky's work is directed at developing intellectual self-defense for "ordinary people" who are often isolated in their struggles. States are seen to be violent through such strategies as the near-genocide of aboriginal peoples. Ultimately, Chomsky feels we must move beyond the myths of modern industrial civilization and the privileged elites who dominate mass communication, and instead foster the interests of a truly global community.

In the fall of 2007, Vancouver's Bend Sinister set out to answer the question: is it worth it to tour Canada? The answer came back with mixed results. Along the way, the group loses its bass player, van and sanity.

On a brilliant day in June 1947, all the thoughts and wishes of Catholicism converged on the Canadian capital where a Marian Congress was inaugurated, the memory of which remains indelible. Of all the ceremonies of this congress, the Marian procession is one of the most touching. Offered to the veneration of the crowd that throngs along her journey, Mary is represented there at different times of her life.

Madame Winger wants you to make a film about something you love. She shows you her favorite low budget filmmaking techniques, from cameraless animation to processing your own film in a bathtub. Filmed in 16 mm.

From Haiti, images and testimonies that describe the climate that reigned during the aborted elections of November 29, 1987. A powerful military police in the service of a despotic power terrorized an impoverished people that they wanted to keep submissive. The government had succeeded in ousting Duvalier. However, another dictatorship has taken over, and nothing has changed. However, both on the radio and in the streets, the voice of the Haitians was heard with strength and courage. But what if it was all a sham of democracy?

A beautiful and vital film that tells the story of a young woman's fight with death.

Jason was in Grade 5 when he started having feelings for other boys. Because of those feelings he was called names, beaten up, and even sexually assaulted. Now Jason is using art to open up – and he is asking his audience to question what we actually mean when we talk about 'bullying.'

To The Tar Sands follows a group of nineteen young environmentalists as they cycle over 1,300 kilometres northbound across Alberta to witness the impacts of Alberta’s tar sands boom firsthand. They talk to farmers, moms and dads, an urban planner, oil industry workers, the chief of a First Nations community and others along the way asking “How has the tar sands boom affected you?” As the kilometres click away, they excavate into their own complicity with Alberta’s rush to develop the tar sands.

This short documentary explores homophobic language and its consequences among teenagers. Name-calling and cruel language hurt, say the teens who speak in this video. Homophobic language is a common verbal put-down among young people, but many adults feel uncomfortable responding. This video is a tool for teachers, counsellors and youth groups to explore the origins of the words, how young people feel about them and how to overcome the pain they cause.

Only fifty years after the Holocaust, the world has allowed another genocide to take place, this time in Rwanda. In April 1994, the international community sat by and watched while a million Tutsi men, women and children were massacred in the central African nation. Sitting on a Volcano, the first volume in the three-part Rwanda series, follows the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Hutus who fled Rwanda to take refuge in neighbouring countries. One year after the slaughter, they find themselves trapped beween gangs of Rwandan war criminals in control of the refugee camps and their country's new masters, who show little interest in reconciliation. Sitting on a Volcano criticizes the international community, which continues to feed the killers in the refugee camps and refuses to acknowledge human rights violations in Rwanda.

Super 8 footage layered with Sharpie marked lines and circles obscuring the image illustrates the story of the filmmaker’s experience with temporary episodes of migraine related blindness and her cousin’s self induced blindness later in life. Paralleling the experience of Blindness with Mental Illness, Cuthand deftly elucidates that any of us could lose any of our abilities at any time.

Canada as a refuge for LBGTQ+ immigrants: Yazan from Iraq, Nata from Central Africa, Aida from Iran and Eilyn from Colombia all had to flee their homelands, where violence, threats, hate and rejection prevented them from living their lives and expressing their sexual orientation openly. All they wanted was to be free. From Beirut to Montreal, Quebec City or Vancouver, this ensemble documentary follows the journeys of four people who are determined to change their future. From the terrifying realities they had to flee to the heartbreaking sacrifices they were forced to make, Renaître is a vibrant and luminous tribute to their quiet strength.

In The Reason Why, the subjects of growing up queer, fat and lonely are recounted in rebuttal letters to ex-boyfriends who all share the same name. Using a mix of 8mm and experimental video, the piece weaves together pornography, new “Gay Hollywood” movies and memories to explore how to find one’s place while being a minority within a minority community, and how to say all the things that were never said in significant relationships.

After an extraterrestrial encounter in 1975, David Hamel embarked on a 30-year mission to build a flying saucer in his backyard, ultimately failing to do so yet leaving behind a mysterious legacy that only the residents of his small town can unravel.

This feature film uses Michael Crummey's seminal piece of Newfoundland literature to examine cultural change and modern relationships.

Featuring a voiceover. 1944 test inspired by surrealist painter Yves Tanguy, an improvised moving growing landscape in a surrealistic manner.

Five centuries after the genocidal "discovery" of America by the Europeans, the Indigenous peoples of Guatemala and Bolivia question what their future holds.

A historical survey of the office of the Canadian governor general, from its inception through the inauguration of Edward Schreyer to office.

North Buxton, near Chatham, Ontario, has been a black settlement since the middle of the last century, when it was one of the destinations of escaped slaves traveling north on the Underground Railroad. Prieto and McTair went to Buxton to record one year's 'homecoming,' and came back with a celebratory reminder of the long history blacks have had in Canada. -- Images Festival

A portrait film of Little Bay Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador's latest resettlement project.

A hybrid-documentary film that follows a queer Urdu poet as she traces the connections between quantum physics and political movements in South Asia.

MAINSTREETERS: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 surveys the history of a gang of Vancouver artists who lived and worked together in drama, excess, friendship and grief. From 1972 until roughly 1982, they lived along Main Street, the traditional dividing line between the city's working-class immigrant eastside and its more affluent westside. Core members––Kenneth Fletcher, Deborah Fong, Carol Hackett, Marlene MacGregor, Annastacia McDonald, Charles Rea, Jeanette Reinhardt and Paul Wong––engaged in ambitious collaborative media and performance work that charts the rapidly shifting social terrain of the city.

Told from the perspectives of local residents, Nakuru Song provides a first-person look at a country where hope is struggling to survive against monumental complacency. While Ken coaches a football team to keep boys off the street and James works tirelessly at the Melon Orphanage, countless other Kenyans live on: legions of children sniff glue to avoid hunger, other collect scrap metals for their income, and middle-aged men mix formaldehyde and jet fuel to create the "illicit brew."

In her own way, the web girl has become the most popular artist in Quebec! Roxane opens the doors to her unique past, as she prepares to do the unimaginable: sing in front of thousands of people.

A documentary that tells the story of the Nechako River in British Columbia and the evolution of its relationship with humans.

The conflict over forestry operations on Lyell Island in 1985 was a major milestone in the history of the re-emergence of the Haida Nation. It was a turning point for the Haida and management of their natural resources.

Captured over 14 years across two continents. Sing Me a Lullaby is a story about a daughter's search for her mother's birth parents and the complex tensions between love and sacrifice.

By combining ecstatic energy and artistry, Amplify Her follows talented young women in the electronic music scene as they come-of-age amidst the emerging cultural renaissance of the feminine.

A short experimental documentary on the effects of industrial society.

Three generations of women grapple with their family's legacy of the Holocaust, its affiliation with the Nazi regime, and their resistance.

Microscopic plastic particles are now everywhere, including in the food we eat. What implications does this have for the future of humanity?

Meshes of the Ocean is the story of Ron Ingraham, a charming 96-year-old Newfoundlander who immigrated to Canada during the 1940’s, while the territory was still under the British law. In this documentary, Ron weaves his life’s story from his home in the idyllic village of Neil’s Harbour, Cape Breton. He recounts his experiences and the vast changes he witnessed in the fishing industry over the last century and shows his hand-knitting skills while repairing fishing nets, a sustainable practice barely employed today. Through Ron’s story, we acknowledge practices lost over time and the importance of listening and learning while the knowledge is available.

Dennis and Barb McDonald are empty nesters from the suburbs. On this day they get legal possession of their new house. They have privately purchased the burned out house directly from its owner. John Jeffery grew up in this house. He has been living on the property since the fire destroyed the house a year ago. John is the last of the old families with deep roots still on the street. He is now surrounded by recent neighbours who are more interested in retrofitting character homes than the people who live in them.