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Pierre is a dwarf, as are his parents, who are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. He has difficulty sharing their joy because he is single and lonely and dreams of a normal life.

No. 5 Reversal opens with a close up sequence of two women in animated conversation, followed by an aural page/station structure. The film combines elements of horizontal and vertical montage in the soundtrack, using white noise, and radio static as a fragmentation device. The visually striking black and white photography weaves lyrical, pastoral nature with the de- and re- construction of civilization. No. 5 Reversal ends with a filmic signature, an image of its maker framed in front of a window against a backdrop of ruins.

Filmed mainly at the Montréal community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, this feature documentary follows 3 young from their first days in the temple to their initiation 6 months later.

A woman enjoys her first fishing trip, until a fish is caught and she is pressured into killing it. Fishing is a common activity that provides a rare opportunity for the hands on experience of killing.

An animated allegory densely packed with fast-moving images, this film is about fear. A dissenter masks his true colours. Chameleon-like, he blends in with his surroundings. Because he lacks the courage to act on his beliefs, he cheats himself and others. He dies as he has lived, unnoticed.

Satirical short animation; on the Earth's beauty and how to ruin it.

A shy person, frightened at social settings, makes several attempts to communicate and then succeeds in a bizarre and unusual way. Deliberately focusing on the one who rarely gets much attention and recognition; the theory is that inside every introvert there is an extrovert and vice versa, and that there are myriad ways of expressing human experience, not always through conventional channels.

Australian / Canadian Co-Production

Mock documentary about Elvis' iconic status in America

Greg and Charles, two young men in Montreal, are trying to find creative fulfillment in their professional lives; Greg pursues work as a freelance writer of human interest journalism, while the openly gay Charles takes a job as a dancer in a gay bar.

Luc Bourdon, Marc Paradis and Simon B. Robert are curators for a selection of Canadian video to be presented within the context of the 13th Montréal International Festival of New Cinema and Video. This tape relates their experiences and research which occurs during their journey across Canada. This document is less a documentation of the trip than a logical suite to the questions raised in a previous work, Scheme vidéo. Focusing on the displacement of the three curators, the tape reflects their perceptions through the random capture of images. With Paul Wong, Grant Poier, Nida Home Doherty, Jerry Kissel, John Greyson and Collin Campbell.

High contrast black and white photography, a subjective camera and a quirky sense of humour contribute to this extraordinary portrait of the filmmaker’s neighbour Sophia, a working class woman from Cape Breton with opinions she’s not unwilling to (loudly) share. Clarke’s highly personal film is at once familiar and dispassionate – an innovative documentary which moves as kinetically as any action film.

Images, repetitive in visual completion, combine with a popular music track and self-acknowledging voice-over to form a void of numbed loneliness and dissatisfaction.

A parody of the 1975 Canadian documentary "The Man Who Skied Down Everest" details the preparation for, assault upon and subsequent descent of Citadel Hill in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Also known as Atomic Dragons, this film animation confronts the environmental issue of atomic waste. Faced with the long life of atomic waste, where the devil shall we store it?

Portraits of women activists in the Philippines and their role in the national democratic movement. Portraits of women women activists from all sectors of Philippine society in the movement to overthrow the Marcos dictatorship in the 1980’s. Women farmers, workers, students, mothers, and revolutionaries of the New People’s Army join forces in the people power uprising that ousts the US-backed President Marcos. We meet beauty queen Nelia Sancho, Sister Mary John Mananzan, head of a private Catholic college, Concha Araneta, guerrilla commander and daughter of a prominent landowning family; Alicia Barros, mother of fallen student leader Lorena Barros, and many more, in this inspiring documentary that introduces some of the heroines of the national democratic movement in the Philippines.

Experimental short film by Josephine Massarella

In a lively animated lesson about the do's and don'ts of fire and outdoor safety, the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe takes all her children and Cousin Jim off on a summer camping trip. And to make sure that needless accidents won't spoil their fun, she plays it smart by observing the rules. Cousin Jim, however, unaware of rules, has several close calls with disaster until the Old Lady steps in and teaches him the ABCs of safe, enjoyable outdoor living. When it comes to fire prevention, the Old Lady knows just what to do. Do you?

A violent man wants some quiet time and he makes sure he gets it no matter what.

A classically trained musician learns the lyrics and tune, live on tape, of the Hank Williams' song, "Honky Tonkin", prompted and coached by a friend over a period of time until she gets it right. Images of customers in a costume and mask shop preparing their dress and make up for Halloween night are cut into the music session as well as other ambient voices and music soundtracks and images of a street corner in Halifax during Halloween night.

The two central characters are breaking up. Moira flees to Paris; Stan goes up north with gay writer friend, Timothy. Moira returns and joins Stan and Timothy up north to sort things out. Roberta, Stan's old friend also arrives. The next 24 hours reveal the assortment of tensions, expectations, humour and discontents of four people experiencing the difficult transition to middle age. The four characters return to Toronto to resume their separate lives.

As it says on the tin.

This documentary from 1987 looks at the serious malaise that plagued the US manufacturing sector at the time. No longer competitive in the world market, and forced to buy more than it could sell, the US nevertheless continued to bask in the glow of past glory rather than face its immediate predicament. Meanwhile, Japan and other Pacific Rim countries were gaining economic ground, perhaps permanently. This film was part one of the series, Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.

"Condensation is an aggregation of moments that appear like crossroads or intersections. The moments when things happen to you. […] I don’t want my film to exist in the past as a nostalgic reminder of the way it was, or as a record. I want people to feel the present as they’re living in the theatre. To feel things you pass every day without noticing. I work on the image, reprocessing the surface to make those things magical again. There’s a shot of houses on my street that has a frenzied jazz feel because of the gestures of camera and emulsion. Everything moves: the film, the sound, your eye, and everything moves in rhythm. That’s what Condensation is all about: it’s a building sensation that gets spilled across the screen." (CB)

Utilizing human pixillation, Isabelle's demand to nurture conjures a variety of sensations... perverse, kitsch, sweet witch voodoo?

In the sensual erotic piece, Robakowski revisits three experiences of homosexuality he encountered as a child, a teenager, and an adult. In an interview, he recalled the homosexual games he witnessed and participated in at an orphanage. He illustrated episodes of his intimate story with images from the lives of a gay couple he met in Montreal. Warm, soothing shots of the two men contrast with the artist's words, delivered in a blunt, intimidating voice.

This short documentary looks at how the community of London, Ontario, has implemented a plan to address the issue of domestic violence. These efforts, spearheaded by police, lawyers, doctors, transition house staff, women's groups, and social services agencies have turned London into a rare model community. There, The London Battered Women's Advocacy Clinic and "Changing Ways," a therapy program for men who batter, contribute to the city's innovative attempt to break the cycle of violence. Moving On is part of the The Next Step, a 3-film series about the services needed by and available to battered women.

"This tape is comprised of a sensual drift of images which allude to or trace evidence of psychic energy that surfaces within the image. The tape begins with a tableau of architectural stone to a saxophone player (Charlie Braden, a musician from Minneapolis) who is playing through a 34 foot elevated rectangular tube wood structure. The intention was to support a "physical soundtrack." The piece then moves to an outdoor garden restaurant setting during the credits, where a mental patient speaks of various subjects, shifting the emphasis away from the previous content." - David Askevold

In Adieu bipède (1987), Hébert turned to performance, using the scratching technique for the scenes with dancing and music. He used the same technique in La Lettre d'amour (1988).

Recent years have seen many Latin Americans choose exile over repression and poverty. In Montreal alone, there are currently around 35,000, mostly from El Salvador, Argentina and Chile. But who are they? What do we know of their culture, experiences or challenges? How have they adapted to life in Quebec? What dreams and hopes do they carry — and how do they experience life as an exile? Lastly, how do they see Canadians, and what do they expect of us? In giving voice to Latin American immigrants, this documentary invites us to go beyond the numbers and get to know them better.

A collaboration between a video artist and an artist who works primarily in painting and drawing. This collaboration has produced a mix of narratives which receates the delirium of the AIDS epidemic. The Cree myth of a cannibalistic demon (Windigo) becomes a macabre metaphor for the virus and its psychological affects.

A Cartoon by Dan Collins

Animated short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Starting with a boat swaying on its anchor at the head of an inlet, a landscape of pilings, shore, and forest is slowly revealed by time-lapse photography as the morning fog lifts. While the deep space of the landscape evolves out of the fog-enshrouded flatness of early morning, the camera skips from fixed point to fixed point - suggesting the motion of the human eye while reading.

In this animated short, Evelyn Lambart uses her well-known style of animation – paper figures and brightly colored backgrounds – to revisit Aesop’s tale of 2 mice with vastly different lifestyles. Ultimately, the film suggests it is far better to live simply and in peace than to live in luxury amidst danger.

In this video, the artist tries to overcome the effects of distance, and reflects on geography represented in exile due to war, and on the psychological distance represented in each one’s approach to her womanhood. The video beautifully weaves personal images and audio recordings of a very intimate nature, binding the personal with the political. Reading aloud from letters sent by her mother in Beirut, Hatoum creates a visual montage reflecting her feelings of separation and isolation from her Palestinian family. The personal and political are inextricably bound in a narrative that explores personal and family identity against a backdrop of traumatic social rupture, exile and displacement.

TV movie, a part of a Canadian series titled "The Legends of the World", telling the legend of the White Lady of Wieliczka reportedly haunting the grounds of the mine.

Lorna Boschman’s Butch/Femme In Paradise follows the moves of a butch as she chases an elusive femme around the beautiful coast of British Columbia. Mixing fast-paced editing with slow and sensual long shots, the film walks to the beat of its own drum.

John dances with the camera and lets himself get carried away by the device, which works at one frame per second and spins its way on the end of a fishing line while he makes it go up and down from rooftops and bridges. Throughout this time, the camera points from above at John, who is on the ground and raises his head to look back at the camera, and turns with it. “Camera hoisting” by Stephen Niblock, a friend of John’s. Various locations were used, which were edited in-camera, and there were two recording sessions separated by an interval of one year; the first was outdoors and the second indoors (stairwells), recorded with exposures, with which occasional abstract vortices were created.

Seven Sisters is a multi-screen video installation shown on seven different monitors of various sizes, similar to the Seven Sisters mountain range in northwestern British Columbia. MacDonald first encountered the Seven Sisters mountains in the 1980s when he was invited to northern British Columbia for the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en land claim case, in which the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en First Nations took the government to court in an effort to regain jurisdiction of their territory that was being destroyed by clear-cut logging. Created in 1989 using aerial footage taken from several vantage points, Seven Sisters showcases the grandness of the landscape with lively mountain goats and beautiful flowers and plants. However, it’s also a document of the devastation that clear-cut logging had on the area, indicating that if action is not taken soon to protect this unique environment, perhaps this will be the only way to see it.

On a snowy Abitibi road, a subjective camera shares the nighttime journey of a driver returning from La Sarre. In the storm and blowing snow, strange territories and curious phantasmagorias born out of memories take shape.

Lettre à un amant is the final chapter of Paradis’ video trilogy. It deals with a couple's break-up. It is both a letter and a reflection, and it concerns giving of one's self, sharing and exchanging. It is also a response to the other person's flight, the absence, the void. The images attempt to replace the fear and silence. A need sublimated in the exacerbation of pleasure conveyed by images and sounds, Lettre à un amant is a masterful conclusion to the series. At the same time, it poses several questions about the dichotomous love-image paradox present in love. This work also refers to an earlier work by Marc Paradis, La Cage, because of its erotic homosexual content and its many electronic applications. Richard Anger's original score was composed to emphasize the dramatic aspect while several processes proper to the video medium serve to peg the images in an aesthetic approach.

In this experimental documentary video, we spend the day in the cramped and busy office of a woman who manages a rental housing agency.

Using a program which "reads" sixteen shades of grey, the artist has produced a quiet, calming tape; a neutral panacea to help fight against the increasingly frenetic noise levels, both audio and visual.

This documentary looks at the microchip, an American invention exploited by the Japanese that caused a second industrial revolution. The devastating effect on millions of human lives is related through interviews with some of the newly jobless in Hamilton, Ontario. Using the example of Japan for contrast, host James Laxer demonstrates that the cost of technological advances need not be so high if their effects are foreseen and planned for. Part 2 of the series Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.

A documentary portrait of Peter Mettler’s best childhood friend, who had left home to lead a lavish lifestyle.

Margaret Perry, now in her eighties, is the unsung heroine of the Nova Scotia film industry. For over a quarter of a century, she shot, directed, wrote and edited all the tourist films for the province. Through her camera, we view changes in the landscape, in lifestyles, and in film technology.

An experimental film shot in 1978 wherein the director skateboards down one of the highest mountain passes in the Andes.

Examines the plight of Filipino peasants who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the Aquino government's military offensive against rebels of the New People's Army, with the evacuees facing an uncertain future in crowded, makeshift camps.

First part of Carmell's Narratives of Egypt (1984-87).

Documentary about a collaboration between avant garde filmmaker David Rimmer and choreographer Paulo Ross.

Close-ups of lovers caressing and images of nearly motionless nude males are presented as a collage. A young man feverishly comments upon le mal d’amour by confronting desire and disappointment, including moments of his everyday life and moments which occur in a dream-like state. This results in an opposition between the primitive simplicity of sexuality and the complexity of love to which we traditionally associate it. This work focuses upon the omnipresence of sexuality and its inevitable changes and ramifications in long-term relationships.

With warmth and humour, Gay Hawley proposes ways in which feminist media might look at the realities of being a lesbian mother in an anti-lesbian society.

A talented, but doomed, gentleman tries to participate in a properly British game of charades.

This short film portrays the NFB's itinerant projectionists during the '40s and early '50s who travelled throughout Canada, bringing films and discussions to rural communities. The film uses a mix of dramatic re-enactments with archival footage and interviews with veterans of the movie circuit to shed light on an important period in Canadian film history.