Discover Movies

A vignette exploring the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

Nomads of the underground question the value of history in a disposable culture.

Solitary anarchist, Lucien Brouillard ceaselessly fights for his rights and those of his societal peers. His subversive whistleblower activities will bring him endless troubles, and he will begin a real descent into Hell after his former childhood friend, and now judge, Jacque Martineau.

A 57 years old woman discovers herself after her husband's death.

A young director intent on making "the greatest color crime movie ever" can't seem to finish his script--he has a beginning and an end, but he can't quite figure out the middle. The daughter of his landlord, excited to have a real "movie person" living nearby, tries to help by putting him in touch with a man who wants to collaborate on a script--the strange "Dr. Jolly"

Terminal City records the demolition of the Devonshire Hotel in Vancouver; through extreme show motion (200 frames per second) and symmetrical diagonal framing, Gallagher underscores the passage from order to chaos within the event. The sparseness of this centering and he patience required of the viewer heightens the literally explosive climaxes of the film, and transforms the everyday violence of the events into moments of convulsive beauty. – Jim Shedden, Michael Zryd, The Independent Eye

"I joined the army so I could travel and see the country. I saw Northern Ontario during training exercises. In the first few days, I fell secretly in love with another soldier. That's when I asked to be released from the army. I had a super 8 camera with me, so I could film stuff to show my mother on leave. This film tells a story, but not exactly the one I'd intended..."

In this animation film without words, filmmaker Pierre Hébert and musicians Robert Lepage and René Lussier worked together, and separately, in their respective media. This cinema/music performance recreates, impressionistically, the dehumanizing environment of the urban subway. Drawings etch the outlines of people hurtling through space in underground tunnels. The sound track, elemental and atonal, gives compelling expression to their alienation.

This model-animation vignette takes a humorous look at the theme of transportation.

A portrait of Arthur Erickson, a Vancouver-based architect internationally known for his unique style. Seated in his Vancouver home, Arthur Erickson talks easily about his art, the importance of interpreting the site and of achieving harmony between environment and structure, the inseparability of climate and site, and the cultural role of a building. Five of his projects are shown. He explains how the designs evolved and what he was trying to achieve. Shot on location in Canada, Japan and Kuwait, the film introduces the man, the architect, the humanist.

Luc ou la part des choses is an ambitious and effective film about the story of a young man who "discovers" and assumes his homosexuality.

Three memories juxtaposed: that of an Innu, that of a Jesuit and that of the director. In this feature film, Arthur Lamothe films the daily life of the Innu, the culture of an indigenous people gradually being decimated.

This amusing short animation tells of a polite and timid young minister with a major shortcoming: he just cannot bring himself to say goodbye, and this causes him great grief and considerable consternation. On the first day of his vacation to visit friends, Melpomenus somehow stays and stays until, on the last day of his holiday, he finally departs in an unexpected way. Based on the Stephen Leacock short story, the film is set to toe-tapping ragtime music.

Michel Gagné's Sheridan college film presents us with some cute animation of a rabbit and a butterfly. All is not as it seems. The film gives us an early look at this brilliant animators visual efx style.

This animated film illustrates the terrible journey, the back-breaking work, the exotic and gaudy city of Dawson, and the turmoil and triumphs of the 1898 Klondike gold rush.

A solo show whose subject - the controversial Scottish psychiatrist Ronald David Laing - has largely faded from public view, starring an actor who doesn't impersonate him. Scottish actor explores Laing's life and work from the perspective of an unnamed genial ad mirer who says he has just come from Laing's funeral in 1989.

This film provides a lively introduction to the professional and personal lives of three female engineers-just a few of the growing number of women who were opting for "non-traditional" jobs in1983.

Male prostitution in a Montreal brothel run by a hard-nosed procuress.

At the annual ballet recital, Elizabeth, much to her chagrin, is cast in the part of the boy. The other girls in the ballet class ridicule her; her parents are unsympathetic. Only her free-spirited Aunt Eadie seems to understand.

Through the use of pixilation, this zany film introduces strange characters and happenings.

Frank Robinson abuses his wife verbally and batters her physically, with frightening consequences not only for her, but also for their sons, Billy and Freddy. This thought-provoking drama delves into the complexities teenagers encounter when faced with such issues, highlighting the beginning of a healing journey for this family.

Ted is an entrepreneur whose hopes of selling 10,000 automatized ashtrays are scattered away after his buyer died. The story revolves around dozen of people whose lives are intertwined around Ted's Sisyphean attempts to return the money of a loan shark whose services he had to seek for.

This short documentary depicts the stories of two hibakusha, survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This film follows them on their mission to New York as representatives of the Japanese Peace Movement at the second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament held in June 1982.

Scrolling excerpts from the diary of George Wallace's would-be assassin Arthur Bremer at screen bottom, Hank Aaron cards and ephemera from his entire career up top, and alternating audio clips of popular songs and highlights from the news throughout Aaron's career.

At 16, Tony is an English-speaking high-school drop-out in Montreal. In trouble with the law and at odds with his struggling single parent mother, Tony is sent to Juvie where he realizes that he's neither as tough or as disadvantaged as he thought. Then he comes home on a weekend pass only to find his younger brother following in his footsteps.

The world's first experimental photocopy animated film explores some of the possibilities for producing images in motion, including all effects, fades, and dissolves. Each image was recorded on paper using a Minolta EP-310 photocopy machine.

In this short documentary, five black women talk about their lives in rural and urban Canada between the 1920s and 1950s. What emerges is a unique history of Canada’s black people and the legacy of their community elders. Produced by the NFB’s iconic Studio D.

In this melodrama, Marie and Pierre (Danielle Proulx and Marc Messier) are a comfortably middle-class couple who want the ultimate accessory: a baby. Their efforts to conceive naturally have been unsuccessful, so they decide to try using the newest artificial methods of conception. Unfortunately for them, the clinician they contact for help is also given to conducting unauthorized experiments on the human lifespan, cloning, etc. Eventually the fertilization effort is successful, and Marie has conceived quadruplets. The couple discusses this situation while driving, and are killed in an auto accident.

An entertainer arrives to put on a show in a small town. It turns out that he has mystical powers that give each person a glowing aura, and forces them to tell the truth. Complications ensue.

This 1982 film explains the KGB infiltration of America. Who they are, what they are doing, and how well they have infiltrated North America.

A paralyzed man travels across the city of Porto, finding characters and scenes from popular tales along the way.

This film is an act of celebration ... He produces -- with light and colour, sound, stillness and movement -- the ineluctable rhythm and energy of the natural world.

A visual art music/video album created by the members of the industrial/experimental group Throbbing Gristle, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Sexually abused by her father from infancy to early adolescence, Shirley Turcotte is now in her thirties and has succeeded in building a rich and full life. To further reconcile her past and present, she is returning to the people and places of her childhood. Her mother, brothers and sister, all of whom were also caught up in the cycle of family violence, openly share their thoughts. Their frank disclosures will encourage survivors of incest to break through the silence and betrayal to recover and develop a sense of self-worth and dignity.

A man who works for an "issues" related magazine comes to Herring Cove, N.S. to look at photographs by a female photographer for possible publication.

We follow the wedding preparations of two childhood friends; the groom is a mechanic and member of the local "roller derby" team who has recently lost his father. At the church hangs a banner that reads "The Kingdom Has Come".

Focuses on the performance of various elite athletes during the PanAmerican Games held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979. Athletes showcased in the documentary include USA team swimmer of Puerto Rican origin Jesse Vassallo; legendary Cuban track and field athlete Alberto Juantorena; Mexican diver Carlos Girón; American diver Greg Louganis; and the Puerto Rico national basketball team, among others. At the end of the film, the athletes expressed their hopes of being "a step away" from the 1980 Olympics Games; however, these hopes were shattered by the political crisis and the eventual USA-led boycott to the Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980.

Women of the Arnait Video Collective reenact a traditional women's activity: the use of the qulliq. The qulliq is the seal oil lamp and stove of the old days, the only source of light and warmth. The women tell the story in words and songs as they install the qulliq in their igloo.

Shot in 1987 at the Montréal International Jazz Festival, this documentary film presents musical performances and conversations between three jazz pianists with remarkably different styles: Soviet Leonid Chizhik, Black Montrealer Oliver Jones, and French-Canadian Jean Beaudet. It introduces viewers to the diversity of interpretation within today's jazz world, explores the roots of modern jazz and the specific formative influences on the musicians profiled, and reaches for a definition of twentieth-century jazz.

A classic British pantomime version of the tale of Aladdin and the Lamp. The evil vizier Abanazar tries to manipulate Aladdin and his mother, Widow Twankey, into helping him acquire the magic lamp. But with the help of the Genie of the Ring, Aladdin wins through and captures the heart and hand of the Princess. Music, singing, dancing, and merriment throughout.

On a wedding day, women are confined to the kitchen to prepare the meal while the men wait to be served. While men talk politics and sports, women talk about their condition. A teenager observes the gap between the sexes. Co-directed by two actresses, Paule Baillargeon and Frederique Collin, The Red Kitchen is the birth of the Quebec women's cinema. The birth of the film was difficult, and funding has been largely achieved through donations from friends and a benefit concert. This war of the sexes takes place in a demanding formal research, based on the improvisation of the actors, whose preparation took place over long sessions in the workshop. The end result mixes black humour, horror and a very expressive fantasy that gave rise to heated debates.

A touching story of the friendship between a grandfather and his grandson, this is a film about aging and death. Award-winning animator Co Hoedeman combines 3-D and cut-out animation techniques to create a very dramatic and moving film. The story follows Charles and François through the different stages of their lives. With time, they become closer, common experiences having diminished the difference in age. By the end of the film, time appears to stand still; both are over one hundred years old and they are almost indistinguishable.

How safe is the future of the world’s food? This documentary explores a growing crisis in world agriculture. Plant breeding has created today’s crops, which are high yielding but vulnerable to disease and insects. To keep crops healthy, breeders tap all the genetic diversity of the world’s food plants. But that rich resource is quickly being wiped out. (NFB)

A fiddler's hand creates its own choreography is music is performed. This film is an attempt to share the dance. In the tradition and spirit of a Norman McLaren short, a light attached to a fiddle bow traces a dancing dot of light in darkness. The music was composed and is performed by Gordon Stobbe on fiddle and accompanied by Bill Doucette on guitar.

The nightmares of a poor and lonely delivery man.

During an improvised journey, which takes the route of memory and reflection, a man is confronted with the precariousness of existence.

A vignette on the travelling calliope (also known as steam organ), a musical instrument that produces sound by sending steam through large locomotive whistles.

Bruce Elder's Consolations picks up where Lamentations left off in the purgatory of modern existence, and aspires to regain, and reaffirm, a sense of meaning, goodness, beauty and mystery in the empty simulacra of the dead world. A philosophical meditation on everything from language to consciousness and aesthetics to morality, Consolations is a gargantuan achievement and a key part in Elder's The Book of All the Dead cycle, inspired by Alighieri's Commedia and Pound's Cantos.

In this Canadian rendering of a potential "apocalypse then", in 1990, after the collapse of modern civilization (due to atomic "accidents" and the "failure" of the world's economy), a young couple tries to carry on a quiet life in an uncivilized world. They are joined by a wandering soldier-of-fortune, who helps them survive the repeated attacks of mutant packs of human scavengers that have begun to evolve (mysteriously) back into animals. Mister soldier also eats their dog at one point. But an even darker threat comes from a lone figure, shadowing them wherever they go...

Koudougou and Poko, a young couple, await the birth of their first child. Unfortunately, the pregnancy does not go well for Poko. First, the village midwife examines her, but to no avail. The village council meet and decide Poko should go into town for treatment.

"Low Visibility" finds a man wandering alone on a snowy mountain roadside, waving his arms and shouting at the sky. The enigmatic Mr. Bones, an apparent amnesiac, is unable or unwilling to explain what has happened to him.

Four young adults try to form meaningful relationships in a barren world of dead end jobs and awkward conversations in Greg Hanec's acclaimed minimalist drama Downtime. The Woman (Maureen Gamelsetter) is at the center of a quartet of bewildered, though gently touching, low-income slackers and dreamers.

In attempting to sail non-stop between Saint-Malo and Gaspé through the Roaring Forties and around Cape Horn alone aboard his Alberg 30, Jean-du-Sud, Canadian Yves Gélinas added his exceptional adventure to the art of sailing a small boat around the world.

In 1988, the Cirque du Soleil toured the United States and set up its big top in New York City - a grand three-ring circus in itself! - garnering rave reviews. Behind the scenes, artists working in the fledgling Quebec circus talk about what it means to them to be a part of this success, and also the price they pay for sharing the American Dream.

This full-length drama depicts the reality of managers getting fired and the emergence of a new industry specialized in handling executive terminations. The film was made with the cooperation of the business community, which helped script some of the scenes and provided authentic locations. The central figure, D.R. "Biff" Wilson, 44, is a composite figure based on extensive conversations with fired executives.

As part of a geography course, students learn to do topographical surveys. A stroll at the Champlain lookout, in the Outaouais region, will allow them to familiarize themselves with the different methods in use from Samuel de Champlain to the present day. Finally, a visit to the Directorate of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, in Ottawa, will introduce them to a new device capable of automatically drawing contour lines. This film describes this new technique of digital mapping and gives us an overview of the progress it brings in this field.