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A timid young man asks the help of a retired masked wrestler to help him find his fiancée, who has been kidnapped by evil aliens. Zombie, robots action and comedy go hand in hand in this delirious silent tribute to "B" movies.
A bluesy mood piece featuring an eclectic line-up of musicians who busk in Montreal's metro, or subways. Bad News Brown, a charismatic harmonica player, acts as our witty impromptu host.
This short documentary explores homophobic language and its consequences among teenagers. Name-calling and cruel language hurt, say the teens who speak in this video. Homophobic language is a common verbal put-down among young people, but many adults feel uncomfortable responding. This video is a tool for teachers, counsellors and youth groups to explore the origins of the words, how young people feel about them and how to overcome the pain they cause.
Home movies and their unique place in popular culture are the subject of My Father's Camera. Director Karen Shopsowitz weaves the history of home movies together with footage shot by her father--amateur filmmaker Israel Shopsowitz. Equipped with her dad's old Super 8 camera, Karen traces the history of home movies from the 1920s through to the amateur explosion of the '30s and '40s and beyond. She interviews a lively line-up of scholars and collectors, such as early members of the Toronto Film Club, a Japanese-American archivist who sees home movies as an expression of cultural diversity and a collector who hosts popular Webcasts that highlight new acquisitions.
A woman (Lois Brown) who thinks money will solve her problems enlists the help of a homeless friend (Barry Newhook) to rob a bingo hall.
What begins as a character study of an eccentric man who passes out flyers for a living, becomes an intense five year journey of self-discovery and the search for fame.
Recording by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of Benjamin Britten's one-act opera, conducted by Nicholas Goldschmidt.
This rickety-sticky digital animation features a lusty naked lady who is hell bent on getting off. Frustrated by her limited cable offering, she searches every room of her home for an old beau: her life-size vibrator. A game of seduction ensues that appears to climax with our heroine riding her rocket date into space, but actually culminates when she discovers that her electronic lover has left an attachment behind…
Spam - The Documentary is a humorous and insightful look into the global culture of spam - one of the 20th century's most annoying and harmful inventions, a "pest" that touches us all.
A hobo Santa shows up on a conservative fathers doorstep one Christmas Eve and sings his way into their hearts and home.
What do two kids do after their TV explodes? On this quite extraordinary day, they turn into kids again. They burst into laughter for no reason and become so light they float off to a wonderful desert island. But you can't channel-surf on an island, and once the wonder wears off...
Terrance is a promising writer in need of a getaway to finish his book. Convinced by his sister-in-law that a little time at a nearby beach resort is the right answer, Terrance heads on a trip with his brother David...
On the right stills and video of the 2009 Canadian Rockies International Rodeo in Strathmore, Alberta. On the left stills and titles/text of rodeo bronzes from the Glenbow’s collection. Wong’s work is an impressionistic portrait, which explores this alternative part of Alberta’s history. It is not meant to be a documentary/literal portrayal of the gay rodeo but rather it situates it in the context of the story of the west and the construction of identities. Wong’s work uses these frozen gestures to explore the complexities of gender and sexuality. In-relation-to the bronzes, the videos introduce movement to their very static image and highlighting our constantly evolving and shifting society.
Sweeping in from the frozen vistas of the Arctic to the frenzy of rush-hour traffic, from deep within the Canadian Shield to the orbiting Radarsat satellite, Postcards from Canada takes us on a whimsical trip through this magnificent nation.
This experimental dance film employs a bastardized version of the 1930s three strip Technicolor process. Shot entirely on black and white film through color filters, the images were recombined into full color through optical printing techniques, one frame at a time. The gestures in this dance work explore the psychological fracturing and reunification in representations of the female body.
One of several works commissioned for The Colin Campbell Sessions and inspired by the makings of video art pioneer Colin Campbell for the Tranz Tech festival. Cockburn's video draws formally on Campbell's style while at the same time metaphorically expressing the artist's anxiety in making the video itself.
Something is cooking in the town of Grimsville, Ontario. A bunch of wayward youths take on Grimsville High, Squirrely's Pizza and the Moose Meat Ladies with their revolutionary underground grilled cheese sandwich club.
In this comical and absurdist take on a penny-arcade peep show, a disgruntled couple pays to watch a bizarre courtship dance between a man and woman clad in sticky, black, rubber body-suits. To the fascination of the watching pair, what begins as tentative touches evolves into a cheeky game of slaps, as the performers get more intimate...
A refugee from Somalia tries to rebuild her life in Canada. Then she is kicked out of her house together with her teenage daughters.
Sally is a portrait, a love ballad. The artist gazes at beautiful Sally as she relaxes in her bathrobe in the sumptuous suite of the China Club in Beijing. Always behind the camera, Wong is uninhibited as ever as he crafts an intimate portrait. Recorded in Hong Kong and Beijing.
An irreverent tribute to French Prairie culture.
A portrait of Eugene "Gene Boy" Benedict from Odanak Indian Reserve near Montreal, Quebec. At 17, adrift and beginning to lose his way, he accepted a dare and enlisted in the US Marines – and was sent to the frontlines of the Vietnam War. This film is the account of his two years of service and his long journey back to Odanak afterwards.
To The Tar Sands follows a group of nineteen young environmentalists as they cycle over 1,300 kilometres northbound across Alberta to witness the impacts of Alberta’s tar sands boom firsthand. They talk to farmers, moms and dads, an urban planner, oil industry workers, the chief of a First Nations community and others along the way asking “How has the tar sands boom affected you?” As the kilometres click away, they excavate into their own complicity with Alberta’s rush to develop the tar sands.
On a cold fall evening, Leila is left alone to tend the family convenience store. A series of strange clients keep her in a constant state of apprehension. Language and cultural barriers also contribute to the making of a nerve-racking evening.
Max is a very, very troubled man. He's affected by the Dissociative Identity Disorder. Assuming the perspective of a drug injected into Max's brain, a quest ensues to find the source of the problem.
"Shinto" is an examination of the meaning of objects. Do objects have powers or energies of their own? If so, can we see or feel it? While this may sound heavy and philosophical, the film is actually a lively argument between two neurotic gay men who have been together for too long. As they discuss whether or not to rid themselves of some extra junk, we watch a memory film of one of the character's childhood toy trucks being burned, and a handful of Asian film clips, meant to parody the characters' ridiculous, half understood adoption of Asian philosophy and spirituality.
Combining figurative abstraction with magic realism, this animated short depicts a world in which whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. It is a black and white evocation of the real world, transformed by the director's special sense of whimsy. With bold lines reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Inuit art, this cautionary tale is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things. We are all affected by the fate of the Arctic, which each year is disappearing a little farther into the ocean.
Originally filmed inside a train tunnel in Québec City, “930” presents a series of visual passages oscillating between light and darkness, intercut with moments of stillness.
An animated short film by Canadian director Michèle Cournoyer explores the impact of war on women, their bodies and their families. Bringing a feminist sensibility to a contemporary issue, it looks at what happens when war insinuates itself inside the very being of a woman—she who once gave life.
The language of anti-terrorism takes an unexpected form in this seductive propaganda video, which scores George W. Bush's notorious Patriotic Act of 2001 to Celine Dion's Love Theme to Titanic.
Three young Chinese-Canadian sisters, with a fertile imagination and living in poverty in the East end of Toronto, discover a dead rat, poisoned by their Mother, in their basement and this sets off a chain of events that lead to devastating results. The film is about sisterly bonds and the beauty and the tragedy of the imagination.
Jann Arden appears in a documentary with recordings from her 2009 tour in support of her album "Free." It was filmed in November 2009 in British Columbia and includes performances of twelve songs. This DVD was released in combination with her live album, "Spotlight," in 2010.
This documentary examines the social and cultural underpinnings of the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, in an attempt to understand the work's phenomenal success and influence. The program looks for answers in the author's sources of inspiration, from the folk legends of Norway to the field of linguistics of which Tolkien was a lifelong student. It finds that the deep chord the story strikes owes its resonance to the author's use of archetypal imagery and language. Many examples of these recurrent themes and images are given, with readings from the work and other literature. Interviews with the book's illustrators, the brothers Hildebrandt, speak to the power of the imagery in the classic story. Scholars, Tolkien's children, and the author himself provide insight into the mythic themes and the spell they have cast over the vast readership of The Lord of the Rings.
In this animated short, young Winston, who suffers from chronic asthma, isn’t able to participate in the everyday activities of his peers and classmates. He copes with the predicament through his vivid imagination, with paper and crayons. On one particularly rainy afternoon, Winston discovers that the magic of imagination has the power to transform and empower, and his skills and talents save the day.
Jerome's world turns upside down when his son disappears. This new ordeal rapidly sets aside an important business deadline he had the same morning. A race against the clock begins to find the lost child.
A roving search across endless colour-fields gradually reveals a solitary singer, struggling to be heard over distortion and doppelgangers.
Two men who are trying to sell a life in uniform to young people fall victim to their own wrath in this allegorical drama.
This is a short film about marbles who want to escape from a little girl, so they can play with boys instead.
Art, activism and disability are the starting point for what unfolds as a funny and intimate portrait of five surprising individuals. Director Bonnie Sherr Klein (Not a Love Story, and Speaking Our Peace) has been a pioneer of women's cinema and an inspiration to a generation of filmmakers around the world. SHAMELESS: the ART of Disability marks Klein's return to a career interrupted by a catastrophic stroke in 1987. Always the activist, she now turns the lens on the world of disability culture, and ultimately, the transformative power of art.
A young man prone to suddenly passing out ponders life, ghosts, and his ex-girlfriend while trapped in his house during an invasion of giant lobsters.
Mixes with still images, 1940s. A large collection of McLaren's surrealist illustrations. Silent film.
After a gruesome war which decimated much of the Earth's population, a white samurai awakens with no memory of his cruel past. He is sent on a great journey to retrieve the elixir of life, known as "The Tears of the Rabbit." Along the way, he encounters many sexy ladies, French ninjas, and the almighty Az. This is post-apocalyptic samurai action at its finest!
Directed by Michael Ostroff (Pegi Nicol: Something Dancing About Her (2004)) and produced by Mary Sexton (Gemini Award Winning Tommy... A Family Portrait (2001)), and Heather Eustace, To Think Like a Composer is a joyful and exuberant introduction to the world of Canadian composer, conductor, educator and renaissance man Stephen Hatfield. A documentary that reveals the creative collaborative excitement and tension as Hatfield and Susan Knight and Shallaway Youth Chorus of St. John's produce an opera performed by youth for adults. An opera based on the novel Ann and Seamus by Kevin Major. There are no patronizing platitudes in Hatfield's work. The opera deals with sadness, heartbreak, and the joy of existence - the Newfoundland ethos - as interpreted in a story of shipwreck, survival, and love on the Isle Aux Morts off the southwest coast of Newfoundland in 1828.
Constructed from Canadian prairie archival images taken between 1920 and 1940, this film lyrically explores a transgender son's relationship with his father and the family's relationship to their land.
In 'Gert's Secret' a 102-year-old superstar is born: Gert Stevenson is a happy survivor in one of society's unhappiest institutions: a nursing home. While other residents struggle to survive, Gert -- one of the most delightful characters to light up any screen -- has learned the art of living well. What is her secret?
With Antoine, filmmaker Laura Bari treats us to a sensitive portrait of a six-year-old boy, one like any other, except that he’s blind. We follow Antoine in his classes, playing with friends, skating, and visiting family. We accompany him on imaginary excursions as a detective, listen to him as a radio host, and sit shotgun as he drives his parents’ car. Antoine allows us access back into childhood since this isn’t a film about the struggles of a blind child but rather one about the real and imaginary world of childhood.
Canadian band Sons of Butcher's feature-length concert documentary, featuring live performances and skits.
A group of drowned men arise from Lake Winnipeg to individually visit the homes of lonely women. home. After various passionate trysts, the men grab trinkets and jewellery from the women's homes and and return to the waters of the lake.
This documentary short illustrates the thematic role of war in the works of filmmaker Norman McLaren, from his traumatic experiences in the Spanish Civil War to the Korean conflict, which inspired him to make Neighbours.