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“When he shot Une seconde (4 min., 20 sec.), a video animation without computer graphics, Richard Angers tried to adapt Norman McLaren’s animation techniques to video shooting and editing. A long-term solitary task, in which images are moved by hand, centimetre by centimetre, in which one plays with the number of images per second, and in which the ± pure quest for effects is more important than the message”. BLANCHARD, Louise. “Les vidéastes sont au ‘rendez-vous’”, Le Journal de Montréal, Montreal (9 February 1992), p. 38.

This project brings together five South Asian men from across Canada. Each of the men express in a short video-vignette a particular experience of their carnal body in relation to queer 'male' sexuality. This video-chain-letter originated in Calgary where Kevin d'Souza recorded a short message and then passed it on to the next participant who in turn recorded his own message and then circulated it to the next participant. The result is a series of short postcards: How to Feel Free by Atif Siddiqui, Biryani is My Business by Arif Noorani, Ghar Ke Khani by Imtiaz Popat, Devotion Desire by Himmat Shinhat, and Cancer by Kevin d'Souza. This project, through the process of self/body documentation, was transformative; leading out of the pessimism of colonial discourse by making new narratives and by exhibiting imperfect bodies in the realm of the fetishized/advertised/racialized body.

Scenes from Madonna: Truth or Dare and the music video for Madonna's "Vogue" along with other various videos are spliced together with a letter from a former sexual partner of Madonna's scrolling on the bottom of the screen. Part 4 of 7-part bio-feature Public Lighting (2004).

A short film about lesbians’ obsession with love and marriage. Using colourful imagery and an ironic voice-over, Bradley creates a playful and hilarious look at this popular cliché within the lesbian community.

A short film about justice and the problems with the legal system talked about by major businessmen who work in law, ending almost like an advertisement PSA announcement about identity theft.

"Mutt and Jeff meet Felix in a battle for the letter "U". Using old black and white cartoons and contact-printed 35 mm film that I scratched on, I combined the three elements into a primordial soup." Rick Raxlen

When Dr. Ruth Whitehead meets graduate student Carmelita Robertson, who had come to do research at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, the women realize both their ancestors come from South Carolina, and that their names sound shudderingly familiar. Embarking on a journey to Charleston in search of their connection, Ruth and Carmelita encounter a modern South where the Klan is on trial for burning black churches and where they must come to terms with the thunderous cruelty of the past.

Walker is a young Aboriginal foster child whose only playmate is his dog. Jamie is a lonely young white boy who is afraid of dogs, and has some strange ideas about Aboriginal people. Walker ignores the racist jeering and taunting of the bigger boys and reaches out to Jamie. Together, they find friendship and understanding. Walker challenges racist attitudes toward Aboriginal people, and shows how children from different backgrounds can form friendships. This film is part of the Playing Fair series.

A documentary about single mothers by choice.

Ostensibly embarking upon a portrait of a "modern-day Abraham Lincoln", Escaping History traces the development of a relationship between the videomaker and his subject. As the story unfolds, it veers from the objective to the highly personal. The tape relates the story of Mel Glasser, a recovering schizophrenic who, having adopted the persona of Abraham Lincoln, has made considerable progress in the last twenty years. The tape refuses to romanticize Mel's condition; he speaks frankly with intelligence and humour, and takes Applegath on a special journey.

In this intriguing film, Jack Wise speaks very privately about his artistic process —'losing oneself in the language of the brush'— and what it means to be an artist. While at work in his studio, Wise talks about calligraphy being his freedom and the mandala his discipline. As he reveals his spiritual journey into Eastern religions and the importance of the mandala, we see the circle become a dominant motif in his art, and discern the influence of Chinese and Tibetan art on his own landscape-based work. Director David Rimmer's experimental voice asserts itself sensitively. Pace and imagery —water droplets, leaf and tree forms, a door which opens— sublimely convey the mystery and pulse of the artist's paintings, process, and perceptions.

Passing On, a lyrical, typically confessional effort that encapsulates what's preceded it. Hoolboom's dance with death — a motif acknowledged in the medieval woodcut segues between segments — resonates in double-exposed shots of anonymous people simply crossing a square, some of them "real," others shown as faint, literal "ghosts" coexisting with those still in the temporal present. In voiceover Hoolboom talks about the "conspiracy of chromosomes" that make up the human being, but the phrase is ironic; for him, nothing is more real, or human, or felt, than what that conspiracy has created.

This film tells the story of the efforts of the first Canadian to attempt to fly a human powered heavier than air aircraft

An offering is passed repeatedly between a Japanese monk and a young novice as their relationship evolves from their initial encounter through their final parting.

A short video satirizing queer theorists' Instrumentalization and abstraction of trans people in the 1990s.

A Canadian documentary about composer André Mathieu. Nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 15th Genie Awards in 1994.

In Keep Moving, three men work to make ends meet and to understand how they have arrived where they are. Two are single fathers coping with parental responsibilities. Frank is a founding member of Act Up, who dedicated himself to the organization over the years, and who has paid a price in the course of his commitment. Bob juggles businesses, trying to make a new start, while Mike wrestles with a past that encompasses family tragedy, alcoholism and drug addiction. Keep Moving considers how these men understand their histories while pressing forward, and how they received and pass on fundamental values.

Trailer Song is about the human need for self-sufficiency and autonomy. Absolute independence from the culture that keeps us warm and fed is a fantasy, and Trailer Song is a musically rendered version of that fantasy. The office worker buys a trailer and gives up urban life. She sings: "....With fresh butter I churn and bread that I bake, Taste it, try it. Do you see a mistake? Dandelion tea, It's so easy to brew, If you care to come here, I'd give some to you..."

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is a small steel town on Lake Superior. Bob Goddere is an openly gay man who has lived there for years and hosts dances for the local gay and lesbian community in his basement. This is his story and the story of what gay-life in one small Canadian town is like.

A short three minute documentary by Donald McWilliams regarding the film How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels (1996) directed by Craig Welch

Newton was the greatest of all the natural magicians, learned in matters musical, theological and in Apocalyptic literature. He believed bodies were composed of "certain aetheral spirits or vapours"; one ... is the ether, "the succus nutritius of the earth, or primary substance"; the second substance disseminated through the first, is light.

The director traces her family tree across the globe.

One-minute of found footage of Mutt and Jeff from 1926 is literally reconstructed via paper prints from photocopies and pen and ink drawings.

"This two-part video is a newcomer’s portrait of Montréal. I spent my first winter in Québec in a cold, dark, first floor apartment. I sat in the kitchen beside the electric heater, drinking coffee while watching the electric meter, wondering how I would pay my bills. At night, I looked at the illuminated “Q” on the Hydro Québec building and imagined how much it cost to keep it lit. In the second section, a man looks for meaning in the tile patterns of the Champ-de-Mars metro station. I took his search to an end more absurd than anything I could hope to enact. The moral of these two tales is: “Don’t lose you sense of humour”. It’s from this cliché that the video derives its title." - Nelson Henricks

There is a cultural revolution going on in Canada and Faith Nolan and Grace Channer are on the leading edge. These two African-Canadian lesbian artists give back to art its most urgent meanings--commitment and passion. Grace Channer's large and sensuous canvasses and musician Faith Nolan's gritty and joyous blues propel this documentary into the spheres of poetry and dance. Long Time Comin' captures their work, their urgency, and their friendship in intimate conversations with both artists.

In his native village of Fauquier, in northern Ontario, the poet Pierre Albert is organizing an ultimate gala to celebrate the impending death of the last of the Franco-Ontarians. What final testimony will the prominent artist he has invited pronounce? Will his father, Antoine, and the rest of the community rally behind this strange undertaking? As so many Franco-Ontarians, Antoine Albert has had to struggle hard just to raise his family and Pierre's concerns are quite alien to him. In fact, like so many others, he has never chosen to define himself as a Franco-Ontarian. Be that as it may, the Spectre, a playful character, true incarnation of the franco-ontarian collective consciousness, has decided to help the poet in his own inimitable fashion. The Last of the Franco-Ontarian is a passionate and unprecedented homage to a people and its culture. In French with English subtitles. (NFB)

Dwayne Fever, part owner of Cabin Fever Antiques, has fallen in love with his business partner, Sharon. His daughter, Zoey, is grossed out by what she views as geriatric lust.

Two young men engage in sexual acts in an enchanted forest lit by disco lights, while nuns and teddy bears voyeuristically look on with delight.

Around the world, the fisheries are in trouble. Among the new, suggested solutions is co-management: a system in which gorvernments devolve some of the authority for managing fish stocks to local communities. One of the best-known and most successful examples of co-management is found in Norway's Lofoten Islands, where a tradition of self-regulation is backed up by a national commitment to supporting scientific fisheries research. What lessons can be drawn from the Lofoten experience? This film will encourage fishing communities to see that there are alternatives, however imperfect, to the current global fisheries crisis.

This short documentary serves as a portrait of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, one of Canada's most important painters. We meet him at the Bisley Rifle Range in Surrey, England, where he's literally shooting the Indian Act in a performance piece called "An Indian Shooting the Indian Act." It's in protest of the ongoing effects of the Act's legislation on Indigenous people. We then follow him back to Canada, for interviews with the artist and a closer look at his work.

Interview with Canadian dancer-choreographer William Douglas, who discusses his struggle to come to terms with AIDS, and his awareness of the disease's potential effects upon his life and art. Speaking from Montréal and his family's vacation home in Nova Scotia, he looks back upon his work as a choreographer, noting the impact Merce Cunningham's choreography has had upon him, and tracing the development of his own style. He talks about his love of dancing and teaching dance, and how this love has helped him transcend his fears for the future. His partner José Navas also contributes to the discussion. Excerpts from Douglas's works Anima, we WEre WARned, and Thorn are intercut with the interview.

A series of images stuck together, punctuated with music and high contrast effects.

“Panic Bodies consists of six parts or chapters, varying in length and style. Each suggests a new approach to these returning questions: what does it mean to have a body; to be a body, and what does this body want? Hoolboom appears in the framing chapters, and in between others take his place, submitting their bodies to a probing research. The treatment and effects of AIDS reform these subjects, but also the sexual body with all its desires and questions, and the almost dying body that can temporarily leave the world to be absorbed by what is called ‘the white light’ in Eternity… The fifth chapter is entitled Moucle’s Island and features Vienna avant filmmaker Moucle Blackout. It rhymes her movements with the gestures of a small child, and then projects her into a dreamy sexual reverie.” Esma Moukhtar, Montevideo Catalogue

A wildly surrealistic computer-generated animation in which a young man is psychologically brutalized by circus characters into believing he is a clown.

On April 4, 1957, Herbert Norman, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt, leapt to his death from a Cairo rooftop. During his remarkable life, Norman helped set the course of post-war Japan and played a key role during the Suez crisis. But with all of his talents and achievements, there was something haunting Herbert Norman and following him to every corner of the globe: the accusation that he was a Soviet spy. This documentary takes us back to a time when the Cold War was heating up and when the mere accusation of communist sympathies could destroy a man's career. Using de-classified documents, interviews with key players and dramatizations filmed around the world, the film reconstructs the ordeal that Norman endured for seven long years, as a US Senate subcommittee relentlessly probed his past beliefs and current loyalties.

Reverses the role of hunter and hunted. It is a simple story about a bear who gets a hunting license and goes to the city to hunt man. It is animated by drawings of pencil crayon on white paper.

This critical/fictional narrative examines the Norse mythological warrior woman (Valkyrie) and attempts to locate evidence of her contemporary existence.

At the edge of the world a Child learns from her Grandmother that she is descended from the fairies. She longs to know more but her Grandmother is silent. To find the story of her past, the Child enter the land of The In-between and travels to the beginning of time when Fairies roamed the earth. But the story she finds is not the one she wants. In a fit of anger she sends her Grandmother down into the sea to find the magic story she wishes for. Filled with remorse, she plunges into the sea to bring her back. As the Child sinks, the sleeping world of fairies begins to stir and the long lost secrets are awakened. The Water’s Tale is a story of the interconnection between a woman and the past – herself as a child and the burden of history through the ages.

A retrospective documentary of the life and work of Jennifer Hodge, a black filmmaker living and working in Ontario and Quebec. Film includes footage of her funeral service, her family, friends and coworkers; clips from her films; and a memorial weekend at her family's home, Innisfree.

A hybrid of DeSade and Dali, House of Pain is a nightmare that takes place between sleep and death, where the performers appear as mute hallucinations. The film features a hallucinogenic blend of the domestic and perverse.

A poetic and tender letter where humour and imagination unfold in the story of endearing, carefully drawn characters who are half-human, half-creature.

Short animation directed by Scott Higgs

A monologue about AIDS, rendered in split-screens generously furbished with images from Terminator 2, science flicks, Michael Jackson and home movies. The opening section of Panic Bodies (70 minutes 1998).

A rich and little-known part of Canadian history unfolds through the stories of the first Chinese women to come to Canada and of subsequent generations of Chinese Canadian women. It is an amazing tale of courageous women who left behind their families, knowing they would never see them again and of girls who were shipped off to the New World to marry men they had never met. These are the women who fought against the many forms of racism they faced in Canada while, at the same time, challenging sexism within their own communities. By passing on language, culture, and values to their children, these women defined what it means to be Chinese Canadian. Beautiful old photographs from family albums, the recollections of seven women who grew up in Canada in the first half of the 20th century, and the memories of narrator and director, Dora Nipp, whose grandfather came to Canada in 1881 to build the railway, create a remarkable story of stunning impact.

The Passion Returns is a tribute to the '92-'93 Toronto Maple Leafs. This proud group restored dignity and tradition to the blue and white sweater during an unforgettable springtime journey. This is a look back over the 1992-93 Toronto Maple Leafs season including the playoffs where they came within a game of the Stanley Cup final. Highlights, and Interviews with players, management, and media.

How do you translate music into images? The possibilities are endless... But how do you avoid illustration? The aim of this experimental short film was to bring the viewer into the music. If jazz is a form in which musicians call out to each other, engage in dialogue and develop a musical idea in turn and together, the cinematographic approach here was inspired by this dynamic. With the aid of a miniature camera, the viewer is taken to the source of the sounds. The lens is fixed to the bow of the violin, under the skin of the Darabouka, flush with the vibrating strings of the cello and guitar. The viewer is transported into a new universe, where the musicians' dialogue becomes a conversation in images, an exchange of shots, a shamanic dance.

Politics of Walking is about a contemporary nomadic identity formed through the experiences of traveling by foot. The video is visually divided into three major sections: introduction, middle and conclusion.

This musical documentary by Serge Giguère focuses on Gilles Garand, a passionate promoter of Quebec’s heritage and an ardent champion of workers’ rights. Garand is a lively figure -- a harmonica and accordion player, a CNTU servicing representative, and an organizer of La Grande Rencontre. Filmed in Montreal, Quebec City, and France, the film offers a rare opportunity to hear the masters of Quebec traditional music, Aldor Morin and Philippe Bruneau, who are featured at La Grande Rencontre.

Phoenix Is a Cunning Cunt offers a look into the life of Phoenix, a misunderstood transsexual youth navigating the trials and tribulations of everyone's worst high-school nightmares. S/he is self-assured in exploring pronouns and family roles and shows us a snippet of "hir" daily struggle toward personhood

Filmed in the Indian Himalayas and in Canada, A Song for Tibet tells the dramatic story of the efforts by Tibetans in exile, including the Dalai Lama, to save their homeland and preserve their heritage against overwhelming odds. Since the invasion of their territory by China in the late 1950s, Tibetans have been struggling for cultural and political survival.

Elizabeth Sutton, a lecturer from Toronto and Peter Breen, a professor of cultural studies from St. John's, Newfoundland, come together in his town for a secret liaison. All is bliss. But within twenty-four hours, the affair has collapsed. A clash of languages, cultures, and values force them to come to terms with each other's sense of morality.

In 1995 when Thirza Cuthand was 16 she felt like the only lesbian at her Saskatoon high school. This turned out to be untrue, but the lack of visibility in her high school coupled with the lack of representation of queer teenagers in the 90's made her make her first video, a comedic short about teenage lesbian loneliness and trying to bribe classmates to come out with the promise of candy.

The story of Scott Symons, a larger-than-life writer who has exiled himself to a beautiful Moroccan seaside town for over 25 years. Some of the best known names in Canadian culture reflect movingly on a man who is obsessed with love, Canada, and the erotic possibilities of birds and furniture.

This twenty eight minute documentary traces the process of a modern dancer who studies Classical East Indian Dance with Priyamvada Sankar, legacy of the legendary Balasaraswati. Through sharing the modern dancer's learning process, the audience is guided into an understanding and appreciation of Bharata Natyam Dance.

The story is the closure, the film is how pain and anxiety are carried by the wind. There is no use trying to exert control, it only causes the pain/anxiety to linger. It must run its natural course. The Mistral can be beautiful and terrible, if it catches onto you/your soul becomes wrapped in its temper. It dances over the water changing its course to make your light unpredictable, terrible but beautiful ... solo or in tandem. The story is the jazz by which these events take place. To exert any force over the film would not be the story. I am consumed by the flame.