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"This feature documentary is considered to be the forerunner of the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. The film offers in inside look at 3 weeks in the life of the Bailey family. Trouble with the police, begging for stale bread, and the birth of another child are just some of the issues they face. Through it all, the father tries to explain his family's predicament. Although filmed in Montreal, the film offers an anatomy of poverty as it occurs throughout North America." - NFB

This documentary examines some of the important events in Canada during the Depression years: the Moose River mine disaster, the great drought on the prairies and the introduction of a transatlantic air service between Canada and Europe. The film also looks at the major world events that influenced Canada: the abdication of the king of England; civil war in Spain; Hitler's rise to power and Canada's declaration of war on Germany. Part of the Between Two Wars series.

This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.

From dawn to night, Montreal is a living reality, with many faces, many occupations, and the uncertain and blurred colors of industrial cities. The film illustrates different aspects of this reality: the cosmopolitan Montreal, the anthropological Montreal and the plastic Montreal. Images: Electric wires; poles; view of houses and cars; airplane; bridge; men working on construction; mechanical crane pulley; mechanical crane in the street; men walking on constructions (scaffolding); skyscraper; park; lovers lying in the grass; canoe; children in a park; children on a boat; sailboats; bathers; factory chimney; quarry; CN locomotive; public market; traffic of cars and pedestrians; lights shining in the evening; fireworks

In this experimental collage film, Arthur Lipsett reworks over fifty years of newsreel footage into a surreal audiovisual montage of twentieth-century life. Juxtaposing images of scientific progress, political figures, spectacle, warfare, and everyday leisure, the film becomes a fragmented “time capsule” exploring the rituals and contradictions of modern technological culture.

A misfit desperately looking for the murderer who has just killed his wife.

At the microphone with Max Ferguson, radio satirist, as he creates his weekday-morning program. Filmed inside his CBC broadcasting booth, this film watches and records as Max ad-libs his way through zany interpretations of news events. His only script is the morning paper and with it he tilts at humbug with a flair that has made him a national figure.

In 1968, a convoy set off to transport a Calandria, the 70-ton core of a Canadian nuclear reactor, to Rajasthan in India. Even the largest semi-trailers could not keep up with this transport, which drove over specially reinforced roads and through city walls that had been demolished to make room.

This early work from Pierre Perrault, made in collaboration with René Bonnière, chronicles summer activities in the Innu communities of Unamenshipu (La Romaine) and Pakuashipi. Shot by noted cinematographer Michel Thomas-d’Hoste, it documents the construction of a traditional canoe, fishing along the Coucouchou River, a procession marking the Christian feast of the Assumption, and the departure of children for residential schools—an event presented here in an uncritical light. Perrault’s narration, delivered by an anonymous male voice, underscores the film’s outsider gaze on its Indigenous subjects. The film is from Au Pays de Neufve-France (1960), a series produced by Crawley Films, an important early Canadian producer of documentary films.

A humorous animation film about a fellow who builds his house in the best suburb he can afford. He has a picture bride, a picture window and a garden as pretty as a picture, but he wanted something special and, like Jack and the Beanstalk, he finally got it! What he got is a moral for all.

This feature documentary studies the different faces of Montreal’s Greek community in 1969. Instead of giving voice to the businessmen and well-integrated few, the film highlights the cultural and economic problems encountered by new immigrants and their families.

The success of this first full-scale nuclear power station on the shores of Lake Huron has shown the way for the economic large-scale production of electricity from uranium. This film describes the plant at Douglas Point, Ontario, and the process by which the uranium atom is split, employing heavy water with a special property, deuterium, giving the name CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) to the Canadian system of atomic energy production. Produced for the NFB by Crawley Films Ltd. for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.

Documentary about the personal and professional life of La Bolduc, a singer of French Canadian music.

After reading Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', living doll Fanfreluche enters the extraordinary realm of Wonderland to embark on her own adventure.

A health problem causes a business leader to think about what will happen to his company after his death.

Joyce Wieland: “Hollis and I came back to Toronto on holiday in the summer of '67. We were staying at a friend's house. We worked our way through the city and eventually made it to the island. We followed each other around. We enjoyed ourselves. We said we were going to make a film about each other - and we did”. A & B in Ontario was completed eighteen years after the original material was shot. After Frampton's death, the film was assembled by Wieland into a cinematic dialogue in which the collaborators shoot each other with cameras.

By using film as a means of communication, the people of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, voice some of their daily concerns and thoughts about the future. Some of the problems discussed are the fishermen's unions, the fish plant, able-bodied men on welfare, the problems of education, and the issue of the consolidation of schools.

This documentary short is the first film made by an all-Aboriginal film crew, training under the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. It was shot at Akwesasne (St. Regis Reserve). Two spokesmen explain historical and other aspects of Longhouse religion, culture, and government and reflect on the impact of the white man's arrival on the Indian way of life.

This short film realistically portrays the conflict Henry Hudson experienced when he went in search of an open water route to the Orient, and no one would follow him. What he discovered instead was an inland sea, a discovery that ended in tragedy.

A film biography of Dr. Norman Bethune, the Canadian doctor who served with the loyalists during the Spanish Civil War and with the North Chinese Army during the Sino-Japanese War. In Spain he pioneered the world's first mobile blood-transfusion service; in China his work behind battle lines to save the wounded has made him a legendary figure. This hour-long documentary film pieces together his remarkable career.

A many-faced view of humanity, of global man in all his forms and interests. Produced originally in 70 mm (with stereophonic sound) for showing at Man and His World, the Montréal fair that succeeded Expo 67, this film employs the multi-image technique. People of all places, origins, cultures, secular and religious, are here united and seen side by side, creating an impressive, inspiring and challenging portrait. The film's title appears in seven languages. Film without words.

This short documentary shows the reactions of European immigrants as they land in Halifax at the beginning of the 1960s. From the port, we follow them on a snowy journey by train to Montreal.

This short documentary introduces us to a town where no one pays rent: Simoom Sound in central British Columbia, where loggers live on sturdy river craft. Every week there are visitors: the general storekeeper, the flying postman and most importantly, the forest ranger, who is ever alert to the threat of fire.

A light, humorous look at the motor car and the great North American itch for a place on the road. From the comparative peace of Honest Joe's used-car lot, this film hustles you onto our public speedways, where hot rubber erases any distance between all points. Slow-motion and pop-on-pop-off photography make this a provocative, revealing study of motormania unlimited. A 1960 black and white production. (Also released under the title 1/3 Down and 24 Months to Pay.)

From a festival of folk dances at the 1966 Canadian National Exhibition, an exciting selection of Canada's best amateur groups. The dances range from the seductive Hawaiian to the familiar Cossack.

A discussion about the effects of welfare on Fogo Island residents.

An Academy Award winning multi-image large-format film showcasing life in Ontario without narration or dialogue but accompanied by the classic song "A Place to Stand, a Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!)" Produced for the Ontario Department of Economics and Development, it premiered at the Ontario Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal.

At the end of the year 1961, three young students, Denys Arcand, Denis Héroux and Stéphane Venne, decide to direct a feature-length film centered on the perks of student life. The film mixes fiction and reality in the style of cinéma vérité. "Alone or with others" is often considered the first indepent film of Québec.

This very short documentary from the Hinterland Who’s Who series introduces viewers to the chipmunk.

The Way Out Electronics Company markets a new colour television set, complete with "fourth dimension", which transmits physical objects across the air and gives the viewer power over the action on the screen. The chief salesman of the company arranges a demonstration for a wealthy eccentric. As he flips the channels the unseen eye of the camera catches the beautiful women of Paris taking off their clothes.

Three separate sequences related to Christmas, animated in different styles: cutout animation of children dancing in the snow to "Jingle Bells," stop-motion animation of toys come to life, and cel animation of a man who seeks the ideal star to top his Christmas tree.

The story of a young university student who deals with love in the midst of the Quebec separatist movement in the 1960s.

Quebecois lumberjacks have to face harsh working and living conditions to earn a living and support their families.

An indecisive young woman with an abnormal devotion to her father can't decide on which of her two boyfriends she should end her relationship with.

Rousing tales of the North-West Mounted Police are brought to life through photos and artists' sketches. In 1873, the North-West Mounted Police were established to maintain law and order in the North-West Territories. They undertook a trek from Fort Dufferin, south of Winnipeg, to Fort Whoop-up, near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta. The force raised the flag and proclaimed the Queen's Law, ensuring that the Canadian West would not become a lawless, American-style frontier.

In 1961, philosopher Roland Barthes collaborated with filmmaker Hubert Aquin to produce a film, for Canadian television, intended to reveal the poetics of sport and spectatorship. The question 'what is sport' is answered by Barthes' eloquently scripted commentary. The recurring theme of purging violence from society into the spectacle of sport runs through the film.

A nonsense song, sung by Burl Ives and given unrestrained interpretation by the cartoonist. Of course, by the time the song ends the old lady has swallowed much more than a fly. Written by Canadian folksinger Alan Mills.

A look at the Hutterites, an Anabaptist religious community similar to the Amish or the Mennonites in rural Alberta.

Education is increasingly affected by technological advance. How the changes affect the child are shown in this far-ranging study of what is new in educational theory and practice. Appearing in the film are several leading educators and innovators, including Dr. Jerome Bruner of Harvard University and host-narrator Dr. Marshall McLuhan.

The first film the Simon Fraser Film Workshop did, shot on the streets of Vancouver in 1966, it was their first cross-pollination involving the theatre and film people.

The film 1933 made between 1967 and 1968 offers a street scene shot in New York City in the late 1960s from a loft window on the second floor.

A look at the relationships among the Fogo Island merchants and fishermen, and at the demoralizing effects welfare has on them.

By using film as a means of communication, the people of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, voice some of their daily concerns. In this film, Islander Chris Cobb sings his own songs and recites his poems about the old days and the recent changes on Fogo.

A frustrated, despairing housewife and young mother of two, imprisoned by her domestic world and ignored by her succesful husband, becomes increasingly bereft of hope and a means of escape.

This short film recreates the story of David Thompson – a man who, over the course of his lifetime, mapped a-million-and-a-half square miles of uncharted territory. His achievement remains unsurpassed.

In this experimental short film, Pierre Hébert explores perception using scratch animation, a technique employed by Norman McLaren. The title also refers to the acclaimed animator’s 1959 work of the same name.

Shows a campaign launched in Halifax in 1967 to probe the core of poverty in that city--low incomes, ill health and inadequate housing affect more than twelve thousand people in the central area. The project combines the efforts of local agencies with those of government agencies to alleviate these conditions.

Pantomime evoking the history of movement in humans performed by Suzanne Rivest.

This feature-length documentary looks at the Canadian-British-American struggle for the Ohio valley during the War of 1812, and how it contributed to American and Canadian nationalism. It also examines a few of the myths that emerged from the war with a very sardonic eye. Part 3 of the series Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with the United States.

Through concrete soundtrack and evocative images, this animated short invites the audience to reconstruct the genesis of an event and give it a dimension commensurate with their imagination or courage.

An exciting exploration of the weather and how man may one day learn to control it. For this film a great deal of extraordinary colour footage of the sky was put together, including a demonstration of rain-making. There are views of the geysers of the sun, of bright streamers of northern lights, of wind-stirred clouds, and even the awesome fury of a hurricane.

This film tells the story of the Red River settlement, now the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The pioneer venture of Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, to establish a colony brought opposition from the North West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company’s powerful rival. A fine cast of actors portrays the ensuing dispute.

By using film as a means of communication, the people of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, voice some of their daily concerns. In this film, some of the problems discussed are the lack of fish and the inability to market any species but cod.

Depicts the trail ride held each summer on the Blood Indian Reserve in southern Alberta. Shows boys from the city as they mix with boys from the reserve, learning the tricks of range riding from Rufus Goodstriker.

This feature documentary is a profile of Canadian press tycoon Roy Thomson, whose single-minded attention to business brought him riches, power, and even a baronetcy in England. A native of Timmins, Ontario, Thomson had a tremendous career as publisher, television magnate, financier, and owner of many newspapers, including leading London dailies. The film is a frank study of an equally frank man.

Constructed from found and stock footage, Barbara’s Blindness is a meditation on vision and adversity, drawing humour and pathos from a moralising educational film.

Glimpses into the lives of three artists: Erhabor Amokpae of Lagos; Cid de Sosa Pinto of Sao Paulo; and Gord Smith of Montréal. Each artist provides his own commentary on how he lives, works, thinks and feels.