Discover Movies

"The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat – and therefore, act or stand in front of my camera. It’s only love: therefore it can’t harm you". Joyce Wieland.

The 4,000 inhabitants of the archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon describe it as a caillou—a tiny rock on which they live, lost in the shadow of Newfoundland. There is something mysterious and inexplicable about this extension of faraway France. In broad strokes, the film paints a picture of this insular population, revealing their history, daily lives and singular character.

A silent succession of black-and-white photographs of the city of Montreal.

An animated cartoon to help children explore why and how animals move as they do. A little boy discovers that he cannot compete with a monkey, a snake or a horse by imitating the way they move. He can only outdistance them when he climbs into a vehicle that can travel in any environment, proving that while other animals are trapped by their environment, humans, the inventors, aren't.

Canada struggles to preserve her borders after the Treaty of Washington in this feature documentary. The country's survival as a nation independent of the United States rests in the balance, as the film shows in its exploration of historical context, underlying factors, and possible alternatives. Part 9 of the series Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with the United States.

August 1945 - 1946. Japan surrenders. World War II is over, but the scars are deep. Canadian prisoners are released from Japanese war camps. In Canada, as elsewhere, the monumental task of rehabilitation begins.

A short 1960 documentary about physical fitness trends in the big city. Here you see modern man brought to bay by his own poundage, resolved to erase by exercise what rich food, idleness and age have put on.

This short film was an experiment in using video recordings and closed circuit television to stimulate social action in a poor Montreal neighbourhood. A citizen's committee filmed people's concerns and then played back the tapes for the community. Upon recognizing their common problems, people began to talk about joint solutions. It proved an important and effective method of promoting social change.

This short animation about the perils of tobacco smoking takes us to the kingdom of King Size, a land where "no smoking" is illegal. Here, intoxication dangers and health risks linked to cigarettes are blissfully ignored, and non-smokers are unwelcome. A humorous invitation for young people not to start smoking, or if they have, to relinquish the hazardous habit.

This short animation of linear symbols made from paper cutouts was created as a Canadian tourism publicity clip. Projected in New York's Times Square, the large signboard was made up of thousands of light bulbs activated by the film images. The film promotes the attractions of the country: the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Calgary Stampede, winter sports, the Canadian Rockies and more, all in McLaren's signature irreverent and playful style.

The magic island of Fogo, seen from the eyes of the kids and the reason why its inhabitants will never leave it.

The rise of National Socialism in Germany and Hitler’s anti-semitic policies and advocation of the superiority of the Aryan race resulted in several calls for a boycott of the games. Against this political backdrop, Jesse Owens’ haul of four gold medals is all the more significant. For a black athlete to demonstrate clearly his superior athleticism and so convincingly outperform his white counterparts was a massive slap in the face for Hitler and made a mockery of his racist theories during his Nazi showpiece games. Standing in the box at the Olympiastadion where Hitler sat to watch the games, Jesse Owens tells with pride that the flag of the US team was the only one not to be dipped as the athletes passed the Führer. (andberlin.com)

If you erase the people of downtown America, the effect is bizarre, not to say disturbing. That is what this film does. It shows the familiar urban scene without a soul in sight: streets empty, buildings empty, yet everywhere there is evidence of recent life and activity. At the end of the film we learn what has happened.

The city of Edmonton is under pressure to deal with the problems related to housing, development, and traffic.

This documentary focuses on the contest for the continental interior. It examines the American advantages and the problems plaguing Canada internally. It also looks at the Oregon and Maine boundaries, American anti-monarchism, and a potential sign of a transcontinental nation to come. Part 4 of the series Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with the United States.

The myths surrounding the Mi'kmaq god, Glooscap, are retold using the Cape Blomidon and Cape Split areas for the setting.

An amusing diagnosis of big-city growing pains, Boomsville is an ironic view of town planning, or rather, the lack of it, and what has happened to our cities as a result. Done in cartoon animation, the film traces the growth of the typical city, from a tiny settlement in the vast North American wilderness to the car-clogged metropolis that so many cities are today. Film without words.

This short film served as an invitation to the World's Fair that was held in Montreal in 1967. It was largely considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century with over 50 million visitors. The film presents impressions of the event and of Montreal at its liveliest and most exciting moment in history.

Animated short film in which the hero, a mischievous little man born from cut-outs, lends himself to several metamorphoses that reflect the human and humorous side of a child in the face of life.

This socially-driven film explores the impact of technological changes on the city of Saint-Jérôme, which faced a severe socio-economic crisis in the 1960s, mirroring issues in other Quebec cities. Citizens from all social classes come together in a monumental effort to address the crisis. The film serves as both a reflection of this situation and a catalyst for action, acting as a mediation tool between technology and those affected, and facilitating participation in the reorganization of society.

A film showing the new world created by the techniques and processes of the plastics industry. Transmuted from coal, oil or wood, synthetic substances can make thousands of new products, from silk threads to furniture. With a light and lively treatment, this film explores the colorful, versatile world of these synthetic materials.

Sailing ships on an open sea make an attractive sight, all the more to be valued because of their rarity. This film shows one of the Portuguese schooners that fished the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. From the moment the townsfolk turn out for the blessing of the ship and crew, to the time when the ship turns homeward with the season's catch--leaving one crewman in a Newfoundland grave--this film holds the viewer's attention on an ancient calling that will soon disappear.

Hand Tinting, a five-minute silent study of young girls dancing, swimming, and observing one another by Joyce Wieland, […] has a quality that is reminiscent of cognitive dilemmas in some of her other films but that has few counterparts in avant-garde cinema of the sixties.

There are three boxes in the same sphere. In one box, a human figure is having trouble fitting in. Sometimes he tries to conform, sometimes he tries to escape, and sometimes he just tries to do what he wants despite the box. In the next box, another figure is always trying to force the person in box one into whatever form that box is taking. And the last box is a television, which is cheering the other two on.

This triple screen animated short was one of the films screened at the revolving theatre in the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67. This was later shown at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square in London. The theatre's projectors had to be unbolted from the floor and moved to properly screen the film. The Canadian Pavilion at HemisFair '68, in San Antonio, Texas, also featured this film. It presents Canada’s English, Scottish and French colonial settler heritages, but notably excludes any Indigenous participation in the formation of the nation. Each identity is enacted through an upright piano engaged in a discordant, dueling piano cacophony.

Sociological study of the Quebec family seen through two important life events, namely a marriage and a death.

Produced for the NFB by Crawley Films Ltd. for the Canadian Department of Industry Trade and Commerce. This film provides a showcase for products manufactured in Canada, from aircraft designed for special duties, to pre-cast bathrooms that can be installed in one simple operation. There is heavy-duty machinery developed for the special needs of Canadian industry. There are women's fashions of universal appeal. All bear the 'Made in Canada' label and can be viewed in this film in colour and at close range.

A hand-made, scratched-on film experiment in intermittent animation. The images are a group of twenty-four visuals, all non-representational, which arrange and rearrange on the screen in many combinations. The result is a changing pattern of sound and image that has its own rhythm for eye and ear.

This is a "nowhere tour" of Montréal, a sort of parody of the world we live in, where all is confusion, aimlessness and noise. A recurring figure in the film is a Highland piper walking his beat on a lonely patch of ground beneath an elevated highway. The busload of sightseers encounters him as they do other objects of curiosity. At one point, the tour guide, a young woman, and the piper have a fling at dancing. It is a bus tour where everything is unexpected.

A young Japanese-Canadian businessman, now established in Montréal, recalls the time during World War II when the Japanese-Canadian community of Canada's west coast was uprooted and moved inland. There are some flashbacks to the events he describes, but the film is mainly about his home and family life in Montréal and his successful career as a chemical engineer.

Hybrid is a denunciation of Vietnam-War atrocities, photographs of which are spliced with scenes of gardeners cross-pollinating roses, an act depicted as mutilating but, ultimately, gorgeous.

When was Canada populated by Native Americans from the West? This film relates the discovery of the New World from the time of the Vikings, around 880, to Jacques Cartier.

"This film is one of the first French Unit productions of the “Société Nouvelle/Challenge for Change” program. When an old area of Montréal is to be demolished to make way for a new low-income housing development, is there anything the residents can do to protect their own interests? The film documents such a situation in the Little Burgundy district of Montréal and shows how the residents organized themselves into a committee that successfully influenced the city’s housing policy." - Anthology Film Archives

"The film systematically shows man destroying man. It is about war and inhumanity. Largely assembled from newsclips and elaborate montage of still photographs. While working on the film, I came to realize that the strongest thing about violence and the most abstract thing about violence is its sequential nature, that war has never stopped, and that it is just the leading of one conflict into another conflict. I could keep this film going forever...." —Charles Gagnon

A father hands his rickshaw driving duties over to his teenage son.

An award winning CBC documentary on the war in South Vietnam shot entirely on location. The participants speak for themselves. The filmmakers spend time with units from many services: army, marines, ARVN, air cavalry. They accompany an air force napalm and strafing attack. There are many scenes of Saigon streets and of peasant village life. Soldiers speak of their experiences and their mission to fight Communism in Vietnam. There are scenes of dead Viet Cong, and one showing a VC suspect being waterboarded.

A 1-Mintue animated short film to discourage smoking.

This short film offers a glimpse into the life of Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine, the Chief Justice who died prematurely but left French Canada a legacy of political freedom. Shot entirely in Montreal, the film begins on the day of his death, and flashes back to tense moments throughout his life. French with English subtitles.

An experimental mathematics film designed to elucidate the study of four-line conics.

A portrait of Hamilton, the Pittsburgh or Birmingham of Canada. This is a rich and colourful subject that encourages imaginative treatment on the screen. The heart of the city is the immense complex of furnaces and rolling mills, but nearby are the lake, the mountain, and the rich fruit farms. How the work of the steel mills touches the city and its surroundings is shown in many views during both day and night.

Françoise is a talented designer. Her boss does not underestimate her talent and seeks to give her a chance, though is Françoise right to live outside of her home? Shouldn't she return to her husband and child?

A collection of one-minute cartoons produced by the National Film Board of Canada animators for government sponsors. Showcasing a playful selection of animation techniques, the clips include reminders about t4levision programs, traffic safety rules, and admonition from the Department of Labour.

This documentary explores the years following Canadian Confederation, a delicate period in regard to American attitudes towards Canada. This was a critical time for the two countries, and the complex diplomacy of the Treaty of Washington is brought to life. Part 8 of the series Struggle for a Border: Canada's Relations with the United States.

A film without words of Old Montréal, with accompaniment by the Swingle Singers and their unusual and lively interpretations of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The colour camera gathers together varied impressions of the old city, ancient streets, monuments and memories.

"A film in which both sound and image were created with a minimum of photographic or electronic equipment. The images are a few simple geometric forms – squares, circles, lines, ellipses – arranged and counter-arranged to generate an increasing number of perceived images. Their appearance on the screen is as percussive as the sound that accompanies them." — National Film Board of Canada

Documentary on the revitalization of a housing complex in a working class neighborhood of Montreal. Modern housing has now replaced the old, sagging and overcrowded houses. There is fresh air, light and hope. Habitations Jeanne-Mance, a bold way to renovate a city: a perfect example of the collaboration that can exist at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tape recorder and television. Directed by Quebec cinema giant Claude Jutra (Mon Oncle Antoine), the film was produced with the collaboration of researchers studying all forms of education, from infancy to adulthood.

Documentary commissioned by the City of Vancouver focusing on areas in Vancouver considered to be an urban blight

A 20-second animated short film to discourage smoking.

Claude Léveillée expresses the frustrations of a taxi driver steering his vehicle through the obstacle course of downtown traffic. Accelerated camera action heightens the fury and the frenzy.

Fluxes is Arthur Lipsett's view of the human condition and the mixed-up planet where humans are found. As in his other films (Very Nice, Very Nice; 21-87), Fluxes has a disconnected flow of images that, in their erratic way, build up into a cutting indictment of the world the way it is. The film's only commentary consists of unrelated snatches of words and sounds.