Discover Movies

A documentary on the history of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches and its founder, Reverend Troy D. Perry.

Live from the Toronto Concert Hall in 1987, this concert showcases the legendary industrial band performing such songs as "Dig It," "Anger," "Addiction," "Chainsaw," "First Aid," "Assimilate," "The Choke," "Deep Down Trauma Hounds," "God's Gift Maggot," "Brap" and "Smothered Hope."

Kodo—the Japanese word for heartbeat—is the name of a group of musicians and dancers whose exhilarating performances of traditional and contemporary Japanese drumming has captivated audiences worldwide since its 1981 debut in Berlin. Produced and directed by filmmaker Jacques Holender, this is the original 1983 KODO documentary, which explores their commitment to a unique aesthetic and collective ideal. Filmed on location in Japan at their communal home on Sado Island, and in Tokyo. Soon after this documentary was filmed in January 1984, the young performers of Kodo set out on a new journey under the banner of “One Earth Tour.” By taking the sound of taiko to all corners of the globe, Kodo hoped their music and message would resonate with myriad cultures and ways of life, reminding people of our common bonds as human beings. In 2024, this film was digitized and made available for distribution to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the beginning of Kodo’s ongoing “One Earth Tour."

Louis Vincent is found unconscious in a city park. He claims to a policewoman that he has been kidnapped. In addition to narrating the judicial investigation, the film becomes an open reflection on the power of the imagination.

It operates through the juxtaposition of two strands of ambiguously contrasting image and sound. She has said: 'I want to remind the audience that there are different realities that people have to live through … Changing Parts … is about such different realities - the big contrast between a priviledged space, like the West, and the Third World where there's death, destruction, hunger.' (Quoted in Mona Hatoum, 1997, p.127.)

Documentary that follows the Edmonton Oilers at the beginning of the 1988-89 NHL hockey season, as Wayne Gretzky makes his return with the Los Angeles Kings for the first time since being traded.

Abstract video art by John Sanborn and Dean Winkler. Dedicated to Ed Emshwiller.

A half-hour drama based on a short story by Alice Munro in which a young woman has to deal with her snobbish husband when her aunt comes to dinner. The aunt is unsophisticated and perhaps boring, but the young wife comes to realize how this fat woman's warmth and humanity have so much more value than her husband's cold sophistication.

A young girl in central Newfoundland becomes convinced she is connected to one of the last Beothuk people. As she and her father search for her mother’s grave near Red Indian Lake, an accompanying archaeologist with similar beliefs joins them, and their journey explores questions of heritage, memory, and identity.

Amerika is a "feature-length experimental film which was created one reel at a time to function as a mosaic that expresses the various sensations, myths, landscapes of the industrialized Western culture (1960's -1980's) through the eyes of media-anarchism and avant-garde film techniques." (A.R.)

A Life is about a man who lives by facing death.

This feature-length drama explores the changing role of men in today's society by delving into the stories of 4 men and their relationships with women.

This film is about the francization of Québec that has taken place since the Parti Québécois won power from the Liberals in 1976. It shows how the once powerful anglophone community is now questioning its very survival. It discusses some of the motivating forces behind Québécois nationalism. The film concludes by asking if the Canadian nation can survive if neither of its major language groups is welcome in the territory of the other.

The Trolls and the Christmas Express is an animated classic about six roguish trolls who are determined to sabotage Christmas by infiltrating Santa's village disguised as elves. After a week of wreaking havoc but still not completely ruining Christmas, they are about to give up when they get a devilishly clever idea. On the day before Christmas Eve they get the reindeer dancing and singing songs all night long. The poor reindeer are so tired the next day that they cannot find the energy to pull Santa's sleigh. Christmas looks like it has finally been ruined - but everyone knows you can't stop Christmas! The elves quickly devise a plan to link the train from Santa's village with tracks that travel all over the world. Santa can deliver the toys using the Christmas Express.

Berri and Ste-Catherine, at 8:30 a.m. on June 19, traffic was paralyzed by 8 individuals, who appeared from who knows where. The hidden cameras see everything. This film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1st Montreal International Art Film Festival.

An unhappy butcher, kvetching as he swings his cleaver at a side of meat, cuts off several rib steaks and lets them fall to the floor.

This short documentary examines the complex range of issues affecting urban transport in developing countries. After examining cost and available technology, as well as the different needs of the industrialized middle class and the urban poor, the film proposes some surprising solutions.

Lamento is an unfinished novel by writer Albert Laberge. Laberge, recognized today as Quebec's first naturalist author, published La scouine in 1918, a novel that earned him accusations of pornography from the Catholic Church. The fiction paints an impressionistic portrait of a man torn between his literary ambitions and his exhausting work as a sports journalist for the daily La Presse.

A child is given birth in the womb of its dead mother. Child’s eyes perceive the death of a city. The last birth combined with the fire and destruction.

A Vietnam vet decides to undergo a sex change operation in the 1970s.

This very short film from the Canada Vignettes series documents the annual pilgrimage that members of Saskatchewan’s Métis Catholic community make to St. Laurent, a village in the Duck Lake area that became the Métis nation’s spiritual centre at the time of the 1885 Northwest Rebellion.

A group of teenagers training for the national Power Commando championship games mistakenly find themselves on land owned by drug merchants. With only harmless paint bullets as their weapons, they must match their skills against live ammunition and the ruthless men behind it.

The film follows the stories of men and women who work with steel drums in various capacities, including a steel drum tuner, university and primary school students performing on steel drums, as well as two steel drum orchestras.

The fur trade is Canada's oldest industry, but today some people challenge the morality of killing animals for their fur. This film examines the public relations war raging between the industry and its opponents and takes an objective look at the ethical, environmental and economic issues raised by the debate. The struggle to win over public opinion has been joined by Indigenous peoples in Canada who fear that their way of life will be jeopardized if the fur industry is destroyed. The cycle of the industry is followed from the trapper's bush camp and the fur ranch to the final sale of a coat in the furrier's salon. Throughout the film, the conflicting opinions of fur industry representatives, animal rights activists and Indigenous people challenge the viewer to consider all aspects of this complex debate. —NFB

Depiction of Newfoundland's "old times" as seen by Julie O'Brien, an 11-year-old living in Tors Cove. Told in the first person with cutaway shots to the girl's many activities, the film illustrates the way traditions are maintained, remembered and evolved. This film is part of the Children of Canada series.

Using archival documents, fictions, current accounts, and excerpts from a theatrical creation, Paul Tana paints a nuanced portrait of the Italians of Montreal. From the first waves of immigration at the beginning of the century to the men and women taken to a prisoner of war camps during World War II, to the hardships and joys of building vibrant lives in Montréal. Caffè Italia Montréal chronicles a significant chapter in Canada’s history.

90 Days is a tongue-in-cheek look at the misadventures of two modern men in search of romantic bliss: macho Alex, who receives the offer of a lifetime from a mysterious woman, and sincere Blue, who goes to extravagant lengths to find the perfect bride.

"The conceptual and minimalist aesthetic seen in this film refers to the more complex metaphysical and alchemical transformations which occur when silver is exposed to tungsten light. These currents of light, like Daniel Burren's striped conceptual art, refer to the basic nature of representation while attempting to resist and transform traditional viewing habits or consumption. 'Current' is a beautiful meditation on these realities." - Maria Insell

This short film recreates the experience of Sylvie, a battered woman who seeks shelter in a Montréal transition house. Faced with the threat of violence, loneliness, the lack of financial resources or information about services, the victim is often understandably reluctant to seek help. Emphasizing the importance for women of speaking out, the film also points out the role of the transition house in putting victims of abuse in touch with appropriate legal and social services.

The Peace River Valley in British Columbia is an area of rich farmland threatened by the construction of a hydro-electric dam. This Borrowed Land gives the women who farm the Peace the chance to voice their growing concern over the conversion of farmland to uses not related to the production of food. They ask: "Will we leave our children enough land to grow food on?" They are firmly committed to their lifestyle despite the difficulties, both concrete and imponderable. A film about agriculture, ecology, land misuse, and stout-willed farmers who happen to be women.

With a touch of fantasy and a lot of ingenuity, this short fiction film presents the beginnings of a simple love story. Employed in the service of a department store, Pierre-Paul will become a Santa Claus to welcome children during the holiday season. This new job will mark the beginning of a charming adventure.

The Madballs are a zany animated rock band who rock and roll their way across the galaxy. Music is illegal on their home planet so they make a break for it on Earth.

This feature documentary takes us to the heart of the Jane-Finch "Corridor" in the early 1980s. Covering six square blocks in Toronto's North York, the area readily evokes images of vandalism, high-density subsidized housing, racial tension, despair and crime. By focusing on the lives of several of the residents, many of them black or members of other visible minorities, the film provides a powerful view of a community that, contrary to its popular image, is working towards a more positive future.

To anyone outside the Atlantic provinces, K. C. Irving is virtually unknown. Yet he is reputed to be the richest man in Canada, patriarch of a New Brunswick-based industrial empire involving oil, transportation, newspapers, lumber and much more. This one-hour documentary marks the first time a filmmaker has gained access to the legendary Irving, whose business career began in 1924 with the purchase of an oil truck. It is an absorbing look at a man who amassed great wealth as a by-product of his main objective: "to see wheels turn."

A historical drama depicting an Irish immigrant family’s first winter in Canada, where isolation, illness, and an unforgiving landscape test their will to survive.

In a farmhouse on Cape Breton Island where Shawn Peter Dwyer, age 10, lives with his mother and nine brothers and sisters, children's pockets are usually empty and their lives well filled.

When 24 year old apiring actor Mathieu meets and falls for 39 year old Jean-Marc who has just ended a seven year relationship, things are not all roses. In addition to their age difference there's the matter of Mathieu's five year old son from a previous marriage.

A young pilot witnesses the unintentional murder of her two sons (by a rich, drunken couple driving carelessly) and, following a court's decision not to press criminal charges, she decides to get her revenge.

W.O. Mitchell recounts Newton's Law of Falling Backhouses, a story based on the youthful pranks of his prairie childhood.

This hilarious short animation offers over 40 safety tips for homes with infants and young children. The film's hero is a very earnest, somewhat pompous, but endearing dog called Wally. A "professional" in home safety, Wally is assigned to a house with an infant whose parents have little safety consciousness. Accidents and near-accidents succeed each other with lightning speed, constantly putting Wally to the test.

This lively satire uses animation and a pseudo-documentary style to depict Canada's search for a national identity. The National Scream explains, amongst other elements of Canadiana, how and why the beaver became the country's symbol.

A dirge-like hula song illustrates humanity's woes. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

A father is racked with guilt because he let his wife die in a boating accident, so that he could save his daughter. The girl is now in a hospital, recovering from the effect of losing her mother.

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

A short drama that takes a humourous look at the consumer society.

The Circle Square Gang learn important lessons about taking something that isn't theirs, and why it's wrong.

A short film created (and narrated) in 1985 by Québécois director Pierre Falardeau. It compares English rule in Ghana with Canadian dominance in Quebec by showing the 200th anniversary celebration of the Beaver Club of Montreal.

In 1985, Zacharias Kunuk broke the race barrier at Canada Council for the Arts when his Inuktitut-language video, From Inuk Point of View, was the first work by an Inuit or Aboriginal artist deemed eligible to apply for a professional artist's grant. Kunuk was the video's director and producer; Norman Cohn cameraman; Paul Apak Angilirq editor; and elder Pauloosie Qulitalik as narrator. By 1990, the four partners had formed Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc. to produce independent video art from an Inuit point of view. The video also features footage shot by Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak Angilirq and Simon Quassa, along with narration from three other well-respected Igloolik elders.

When Marta Wendell's institutionalized sister suddenly dies, she suspects foul play. To uncover the truth she gets the job as chief surgical nurse at the hospital.

In a special TV presentation of "Today's Special," Jodie, Muffy, and Sam prepare for a live theatre performance. However, Jeff faces a problem as his magic hat won't function outside the store, preventing him from joining them. Undeterred, he sneaks into the costume box bound for the theatre. Upon arrival, Muffy is late, prompting Jodie and Sam to begin the show without her. Meanwhile, Jeff, trapped in the box, finds himself turned into a mannequin without his magic working. With Waldo the Magnificent as their only hope, Jeff's fate hangs in the balance, hoping for a miraculous rescue.

In this spectacular feature-length documentary, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and an NFB crew sail up the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes on board the specially equipped vessel, the Calypso. They explore the countryside from their helicopter and plumb the depths of the waters in their diving saucer. They encounter shipwrecks, the Manicouagan power dam, Niagara Falls, the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway and an underwater chase with caribou.

An animated film promoting the value of freedom of expression as stipulated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Thirteen-year-old Kelly travels from Los Angeles to Alaska to visit her father after her parents divorce.

Two girls turn down two boys for more prosperous, motorized dates. In anger, the two teenage boys steal a car, booze up and accidentally meet up with the girls. The drivers of the two cars challenge each other, and a wild race starts that ends up with a horrifying accident. A fictional film, it dramatizes a situation where pride, alcohol and wheels combine with disastrous results.

Shipwrecked for 13 years on an island lost in the heart of the ocean, the passengers and crew of a freighter, reorganized community, suffer the tyranny of Orn, their former captain became a guru and despot.