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La Cage seems to be divided into two parts: a homosexual writer visualises his fantasies and a collective joins what seems to be the story of an encounter between two men.

Exceptional documentary devoted to Félix Leclerc. The images are taken from five films produced by the NFB during the 1950s (Un Canadien à Paris from the Coup d'oeil series, Chantons maintenant, Félix Leclerc, troubadour, La Drave and Les Brûlés). A commentary by writer Marcel Dubé, with narration by Monique Leyrac, enriches this previously unpublished documentary portrait.

Made during a love-affair (short) with bridges, road-crew workmen and their day-glow coloured vests, flags and markers, Flagman's Nightmare is part of a loose trilogy. Grey's Lullaby and Pure Mutation being the other two pieces.

A satirical look at gender roles, mixing performance art segments by Sheila Costick and Helen Porter with musical comedy interludes performed by The Clichettes.

Does humanity exist in our world?

A man brings a small plant into his home and cares for it.

Seen through the eyes of the filmmaker, a child of concentration camp survivors, this program explores the impact of the Holocaust on a generation of Jews and Germans born after World War II. Includes interviews in Canada, Israel, and Germany with the children of survivors, with young neo-Nazis, and with the children of former Nazis.

A recently released mental patient imagines himself living the lives of three different people he randomly encounters.

Paul Cowan's film captures the spirit of the legal battle over abortion waged by Dr. Henry Morgentaler in Quebec and in federal courts between 1970 and 1976. Using a combination of newsreel footage, interviews and re-enactments, this docudrama unravels the complexities of the case that began as a challenge to Canada's abortion laws and turned into a precedent-setting civil rights case.

A feature documentary on people with physical disabilities and love.

Experimental short film by Josephine Massarella

A beguiling, humorous presentation of cinematic impermanence. A naked man (Hoolboom), tilted 90 degrees by the camera angle, paints a black shape on a white wall; meanwhile, in a second, superimposed image, he re-paints it in white.

This film interview affords a glimpse of a bold and learned mind illuminating important social issues. Responding to questions on the related topics of language, democracy, and the role of the modern university, acclaimed literary critic Northrop Frye explains why education is crucial: "A democracy cannot function without articulate citizens." Frye claims that the university is a place where individual liberty becomes possible, as students learn to question beliefs imposed by society. For Frye, reading and writing are "instruments of freedom."

Cinematographic poem. On grey images, in familiar yet unknown streets, Strass Café tells the story of the hopes and disappointments of a woman who speaks to herself, who also speaks to us. Another woman is mute, is she alone? Is she the same one? Maybe. And then there is a man who appears here and there. Is it her man? One night, in a deserted bar, a couple is slow dancing. But despite their proximity of circumstances, they never meet.

We do all show business explores the reality of women in this world of sounds and songs, rhythms and all these so-called "rock" musics ". From Marjo to Louise Forestier, from Nanette to Sylvie Tremblay, from Diane Dufresne to Louise Portal, and some more obscure bands from the time. Fifteen Quebec artists talk about their voice and power in their profession as musicians and singers.

"The lateral movement of the title "Along the Road to Altamira" signals that we are about to embark on a journey through Spain. Our final destination is Altamira, where the first forms of representation by Paleolithic man still remain. These images, a narrator tells us in German, would have remained undiscovered if not for the childish curiosity and unconditioned vision of the young girl who noticed the ancient paintings of bison on the cave ceiling.

Portrays the hazard of playing on a construction site and dramatizes peer pressure and its consequences.

This film completes a trilogy of landscape/poetry films, which include “Waterworx” (1982) and “Landfall” (1983), and was shot near the family home on the Northumberland Strait in Prince Edward Island. In writing the text for “Beach Events,” I wanted to challenge the cinema's dominant present tense by imitating primitive “event” poetry, referring superficially to action present on the screen, but gradually slipping out of synchronization with its referent. This practice, together with reading a kind of sub-conscious, internal monologue (also based on the film's events, but only those past and future), helps the viewer transcend the spectacle of the present, and be aware of a larger temporal universe. In this film it informs a dialectic of internal and external nature, temporal presence and absence, the conscious and sub-conscious. (RH)

This documentary traces the history of the fiddle’s arrival in Canada 300 years ago via Scottish traders from Orkney Island. The Cree population of what is now Northern Québec adopted the instrument, and many contemporary Cree residents are master fiddlers. In this film, two Cree fiddlers travel to the Orkney Islands, the birthplace of the music they learned from their fathers and grandfathers. The film captures the warmth and good will of this reunion.

A team of divers assemble a big bubble in the Arctic Ocean.

A visual interpretation of the massive disarmament rally held in New York City on June 12, 1982. With huge rallies held simultaneously around the world, people gathered together on this day at the height of the Regan-era nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union.

Exploring a historical house in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is the former residence of former Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald.

A surreal look at the conformity that prevails within institutions. The videotape moves the viewer through the situations found in a mental health institution and conveys how our lives are molded by a particular structure that has almost no interest in individuality or personality.

A meditation on the death of a male body, calling into question language, memory and theoretical texts.

A man and a woman awake in the middle of the night. The woman is upset by her dreams and what she perceives as the untouchable nature of her mind, unlike the physical nature of her body. The man recounts the story of his youth – when he was not allowed to go out to play, his mind would go outside instead. An elliptical series of scenes unfold as though in the mind of the man – an encounter with an epileptic, a prostitute, and a demented therapist - all somehow address the mind/body schism. A school film written and completed in two weeks, incorporating preliminary image manipulation techniques via the use of contact printing and Mettler’s first use of sound montage in a musical sense.

Short film by Josephine Massarella

Mary Brown, the head of Ontario's Censor Board, spends an afternoon with the gals cut, cut, cutting.

An intimate portrait of the film maker's family home located in an apartment above his parent's Chinese restaurant in Saint Catherines, Ontario.

A subtle little narrative; an abstracted interlude between sound and silence, motion and stability, and light and darkness.

This black and white artistic travelogue pokes and probes the city of Calgary through the eyes of four very different cinematographers. Each looks at a particular and unique area to contribute to an overall sense of the city's texture. The four sections are creatively connected through poetic narrative and accompanying images of transportation, which stress the relationship between working and living in the city.

When you wake up and you have so much to do that you just want to go back to bed. The illusion created by shooting the entire film in reverse emphasizes the entire cycle of life.

Black-and-white images of waves dissolving over stills of gravestones, old fences, boats on the shore, and a voice meditating on the joys of celibacy.

Film by Janet Webb.

Hope I will see you again!

An animation.

Examines the mythology in Hollywood cinema by constructing a visual poem to one of its' most mythic stars, Marilyn Monroe.

Imelda Marcos, deposed Philippines tyrant, has moved to the corner of Bloor and Bathurst in Toronto. She remembers it all but regrets none of it. She had everything and now she has nothing. But she has no bitterness in her heart. A satire.

Difficult to say what this film is about. I know it is the product of much anger. Anger against TV, the media, cinema, politics, social, economy, history, finally a lot. Above all I wanted to stop making illusions.

One Woman Waiting evokes questions of subjectivity in the mirrored performance of two women. The single take, tableau composition forms the structure for catalytic change between the characters. The sensuous desert environment accentuates the poetic and ephemeral quality of this film.

An animated allegory demonstrating the need to integrate the disabled into general society.

Offers passersby the opportunity to don a mask and become either an elephant or a mosquito. A look at people's inhibitions.

The spotlight is shone upon the Goler family when a 14-year-old female member of the family flees the family and reports her lifetime of abuse. The Goler family lived together in two dilapidated shack shacks in a remote wooded area on South Mountain, located south of the community of White Rock, outside the town of Wolfville. Their ancestors occupied the area since at least the mid-1800s and due to their isolation, this caused generations upon generations of incest. Charles and Stella Goler, the patriarch and matriarch of the family, lived together with their five sons and grandchildren in the shack.

An intimate portrait of renowned British sculptor Henry Moore, combining an extended interview at his home and studio with archival footage, photographs, and readings from his writings to explore the ideas, influences, and natural forms that shaped his work.

Educates about substance abuse and the sexual dysfunctions it can create, in a humorous way. At first, alcohol and other drugs seem to improve sex for our animated characters, young Romeo and Juliet. Fear and guilt disappear. He feels more masculine; she feels more feminine. Sex and alcohol/drugs become inseparable. In this context, their relationship is not a healthy one and can only lead to physical and emotional difficulties.

Explores the various memories and fantasies of a group of gay men who frequent an old movie house, seeking an understanding of their collective past, and uncertain future.

A feminine character stages fragments of paintings through dance. The metaphoric body constitutes the essence of this artwork. Two narrations are conjugated in the present and in the past : one speaks of the human quest for survival and the threat of man's intervention in nature, while the other evokes a wild nature where characters and animals are emerging. Paintings of Caravagio, Della Francesca, and Douanier Rousseau overlap the two accounts.

Pauline has a daydream inspired by Manet's paintings. The point of view of painting, and the question of the movement. Close-ups of Pauline, quiet, laughing or serious. Her voice in Paris, her accent, the music she listens to. The sounds of her house, and of her life being led. At a distance.

An in-depth look at Winnipeg's most enterprising children's entertainer, Al Simmons, modern high vaudevillian and cowboy hero. A film about an artist with a pioneer spirit and an infectious nature appreciated by both young and old.

Mirror Mirror depicts an intimate friendship between two gay Chinese-Canadian men in Toronto, Lloyd Wong and Paul Cheung. Over food and intimate conversations they discuss family, identity, culture, friendship, and dating.

The tape follows the participants in a carnival show performing their act called The Wall of Death. The riders operate motorcycles and go-carts on a vertical wall. The tape follows them through one complete show. It starts with the least knowledgeable and least skilled showmen and works up to the best. The star of the show is a woman. She out-performs everyone and stands alone in what is generally thought of as a man's game. Changing roles in a changing society.

Marie Antoinette takes us on a walking tour of the Petit Trianon, a charming little farm on the grounds of Versailles. Her commentary includes reflections on life, God, and the peasants, providing valuable insights into the royal character of this important character.