Discoveries from Canada World Cinema

A woman agrees to a marriage of convenience with a refugee.

This is the story of a mother and son--a witch and a giant. To celebrate his 16th birthday the witch bakes her son a chocolate cake. But chocolate cakes are for boys and today this giant becomes a man.

Imelda is now 100 years old, and she knows that the end is near. Her son Jean, a notary, helps her make that final leap from this world to the next.

When a bus-load of women's college soccer players get stranded on their way to a bikini car-wash fundraiser, they decide to set-up shop in front of an abandoned gas station on the edge of town. Little do they know the place is the stalking-grounds for a homicidal maniac mechanic named Moe.

Andie saves Ryan from a car wreck, sparking a tumultuous year that might just prove life could be great.

A professional race car driver's obsession with winning races causes communication problems between him and his wife that threaten to separate them.

A holiday special based on Phoebe Gilman's award-winning book, this is the heartwarming story of a boy named Joseph, his beloved Grandfather and his special friend, Mazel the mouse. A celebration of Jewish culture and traditions, Something From Nothing is a warm-hearted, Hanukkah classic about love, hope and renewal.

Co-directors Michelle Shephard and David York take an intimate journey with the mother of a young Canadian woman named Amina who left home to join the war in Syria and become a member of ISIS. From Canada to Europe and Turkey and back again, they work various channels seeking what a CSIS officer calls the “exfiltration” of Amina from inside the so-called Islamic State and into the custody of Canadian officials.

Classic short film depicts the Klondike gold rush at its peak, when would-be prospectors struggled through harsh conditions to reach the fabled gold fields over 3000 km north of civilization. Still photographs juxtapose Dawson City today against its bustling height in the gold rush.

Kevin, an angry boy on Earth, is mad because he has to move away from his friend Donna. Declaring that he doesn't care, he decides to run away and ends up in The Land Without Feelings, which is ruled by Professeur Coldheart. The Care Bears, along with Donna, go into the Land Without Feelings to save Kevin.

Two young women find themselves in an impossible situation. With no one to turn to and against all odds, the pair take the road trip of their lives. Based on the story Melody by Lisa Moore, from her 2002 collection of short stories, Open.

Tales of Two Who Dreamt is set in a housing block in Toronto and pivots on representation and self-representation. Here, a Roma family rehearses the stories of their past for the upcoming hearing on their residency status.

Steve (Brett Kelly, who also directs) has a wonderful relationship with his girlfriend, Amy (Caitlin Delaney) — until he accidentally backs over her with his car and kills her. Desperate not to lose his great love, he uses an ancient book of magic to revive her. Unfortunately, she comes back to life as a flesh-eating zombie. Now, Steve must keep his neighbors from discovering the truth — and keep Amy from eating his friends!

A young man deals with problem siblings and a heated affair.

Once in a while a person comes along and flat changes it all. For the world of snowboarding, Craig Kelly was that guy. Craig Kelly led the charge, and led it with more class, skill and energy than anyone else would have or could have. Craig Kelly was snowboarding's original captain, and remained on top until his tragic death by avalanche in 2003.

On January 8, 1989 a Pickering, Ontario flea market was robbed. Witnesses reported the robbers consisted of one white male and four Blacks. Later that day, police disrupted a Scarborough church service, arresting one South Asian boy and four Black youths including a girl of thirteen. All were later released when it was proven that they were in church when the robbery occurred. Julien Didier was twenty at the time and the oldest of the arrested. This tape follows his experience of the events.

Features clips from 21 documentary and animation film classics, interviews with NFB filmmakers past and present, and incisive commentary from film critics and historians on the role and influence of the NFB during its first half century of existence.

Behind these bars lies an unbridled fury. Caged Terror-a tale of madness, infidelity and revenge. Everyone needs to get away from it all, and the country is the most tranquil place to escape life's everyday battles. Or is it? Richard and Janet, a city couple, find that just the opposite is true as their weekend getaway is transformed into a frightening and primitive wilderness. Camping for the night in a seemingly abandoned farmhouse, the two are suddenly joined by strangers who have been secretly watching them all afternoon. Strangers who will soon cage Richard like a trapped animal and ravage his wife. Strangers who will drive Richard berserk in the cold and inhuman isolation of Caged Terror.

Ethel's childhood ends abruptly when her mother flies away, leaving Ethel alone to care for an isolated homestead and her younger siblings. As a merciless winter descends upon them, Ethel must decide whether to resign herself to fate or to try her luck in the wide world...

Twenty-five years after she moved away, Canadian filmmaker Kristina Wagenbauer (a participant in the 2019 Talent Lab) returns to her native Russia to visit her grandmother – her Babushka – with whom she spent part of her childhood, in this film brimming with tenderness and humour. The two women reflected in the mirror bear an undeniable resemblance, and each seeks to recognize herself in the other. Plumbing her memories, Wagenbauer hopes to re-establish a lost bond of intimacy and to confront the wounds of the past. Babushka has survived the Second World War, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the void that her daughter and granddaughter left behind when they moved abroad, and, more recently, the death of the love of her life. Despite all of this, she holds to life with a strong spirit of resilience.

Ethnologist Marius Barbeau introduces us to indigenous mythology. Masks, dances, songs, and totems are used to give the audience a highly suggestive representation of the "biblical" history (Mr. Barbeau's word) of Indigenous tribes.

Famed Fighter Eric Mitchell makes the career move of the century and decides to fight a 5'11 grizzly bear. But soon he will learn, the quicker he rises, the harder he falls!

A restaurant critic stumbles upon a threatening object inside her dish.

Hélène, a woman living alone in a suburban house in 1976, is confronted by her past when her husband suddenly reappears after going away for a year and a half to write a novel.

A fascinating clash of philosophy, classical studies and Pop Culture, this film capsulizes a number of "Media Prophet" Marshall McLuhan's conclusions about media.

Michel Beaulieu can't catch a break. He just lost his job as car courier after an encounter with a difficult client, his wife Lucy decided to take break from him and she threatened to take his visitation rights to their daughter away. In desperation, Michael agrees to fulfill the mission of a shady loan shark by kidnapping a gambler who owes him a large sum. Turns the man is the arrogant businessman because of whom he lost his job.

A man who appears to be madly in love buys flowers for his girlfriend, but it is soon revealed that he is a murderer who has gone insane after the woman he loved has died years ago.

March 12, 2020. COVID-19 has just been declared a global pandemic, confinement measures are being implemented all across the world. Fanny, Samuel, Marianne and Daniel, four Montrealers from very different backgrounds, must now adapt to this new reality. What they believe to be a temporary situation will turn into a long ordeal that will change their lives forever. Between reality and fiction, Première vague is a portrait of the first 100 days of the pandemic in the city of Montreal, Canada.

A blood feud divides a small town in rural Newfoundland.

A wooden rocking chair serves as a tool to delve through the history of Quebec in the last century.

A mysterious light arrives between a man and his neighbour's door, leading to a one-way rivalry which may change the world forever.

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.

A strike at a sawmill in a small Canadian town puts Steph and Piston out of work. They want to resurrect their band but Marie-Lou, Piston's ex-wife and the band's former lead singer is not enthusiastic about the idea. Meanwhile Steph is having realtionship trouble with Rose, an older woman that he's been seeing and drifts first to Marie-Lou and then to Charles, who once left town but is now back.

30-year-old Quebec City native Gisèle lives a quiet life as a secretary without happiness with her parents and siblings. One day, tired of being teased by her office mates, she decides to consult a marriage agency to find her soul mate.

Guillaume is a good young man. He has never taken hard drugs in his life, doesn't plan on trying, and has an honest job. Everything goes chaotic when he witnesses his father's attempted suicide over a heavy gambling debt. In order to pay out his father's debt in a record time, Guillaume follows his best friend, Manu, into the difficult world of drug dealing.

Four wedding professionals kicked off an intricate crime spree after one seeks revenge on an ex. It becomes a way out of their troubled lives for a drug-addicted emcee, a gambling chef, a meek decorator, and a gifted photographer.

Brother Marie-Victorin, founder of Montreal’s Botanical Garden, is bored with heaven and decides to return earth to help former agronomist turned beekeeper Albert save Quebec’s flora from a multinational that is poisoning the Earth with chemicals.

A young man must choose between the life expected of him and the passion that makes him feel alive.

While gift shopping at an "enlightened" toy store, a mother and son are out of luck finding the latest Spider-Man and Transformers toys-because all this eccentric shopkeeper proudly sells are Rick Mercer-themed toys that are meant to inspire the next generation of Canadian youth.

An influencer comes across a VIP party invite not meant for her and dives headfirst into the side of the industry where secrets are worth killing for.

Carl's Motel is set over the course of 15 minutes in a motel room where Jack grapples with the choices he has made and is forced to come to terms with his own personal turmoil. This film is inspired by Sam Shepard's Coalinga 1/2 way.

To avoid total bankruptcy, a down-on-his-luck show-business legend puts on one last show.

In 1951, the body of Maxime Montenegro was found on the banks of the Lachine Canal a few days after his mysterious disappearance. Detectives Antonio Gratelli and Eduardo Ramirez were at the heart of the investigation. The trail led them to the victim's widow; Suzanne, an enigmatic and seductive woman who would become the prime suspect in the tragedy, along with Daniel Legrand, her new husband and mafia boss.

At the dawn of his first deployment to Afghanistan, a charismatic and endearing soldier decides to train the Phoenix, his 13-year-old son’s soccer team.

At the point when Brittany selects an auto hustling school, her deranged teacher Andrew becomes hopelessly enamored with her and attempts to turn over everyone in her life.

Les Immortels, a group Paul formed with his friends Katia, Éric and Benoît, wins a contest organized by record company Cosak, and the grand prize is a contract to record their first CD. Although Giroux, Cosak’s owner, believes in the talent of Les Immortels, that’s not the case with his associate, Patrice Dubois, who makes things difficult for the young musicians.

A short film about grief/ai.

Filmed 2 years before his death, this documentary portrays New Brunswick folk artist Joseph Sleep (1913-1978) in his later life. He was born at sea and worked with and around boats, fish, carnivals, and animals most of his life. While convalescing during an extended period in the Halifax infirmary in 1973, he was encouraged to paint. What began is therapy and a pastime developed into a way of representing a lifetime of images and experience

One day in the land of Oz, Cap'n Bill enlists the aid of the Scarecrow to help him take young Trot to her new home in Jinxland, only to find it’s been taken over by an evil king.

A married man and his family take in his brother, who is coming out from a religious order. They decide to realise the old family dream, migrate to Florida. But it won't be as easy as they think.

A bloody drama and an apocalyptic vision of the universities, and more generally of Québec society.

The film is an abstract allegory, showing two penguins with different ideas abot sea creatures that are their food or their shadows, depending on the perspective. Basically, sense-twisting animation.

The Madballs are a zany animated rock band who rock and roll their way across the galaxy. Music is illegal on their home planet so they make a break for it on Earth.

A film based on the tragic death in 1985 of Nancy Eaton, department store heiress, brutally murdered by her childhood family friend.

This film follows the aftermath of the Oka crisis, which brought Indigenous rights into sharp focus. After the barricades came down, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was created, and travelled to more than 100 communities and heard from more than 1,000 representatives. For two-and-a-half years, teams of Indigenous filmmakers followed the Commission on its journey.

A young boy still recovering from his mother's recent death teams with his two best friends to turn a regular pooch into a stunt-performing super-dog in this affectionate comedy for the whole family. Losing a parent is never easy, but for 11 year old Daniel it's been especially hard; when his father dives into work in an attempt to keep his grief at bay, Daniel starts causing mischief around the neighborhood with his best friends William and Colin. When the kids catch wind of a canine.

Film by Janet Webb.

The authors showcase unique information that disproves previously held stereotypes. It turns out that the roots of Ukrainian hockey go back over a century. Ukrainian hockey players from immigrant families gained world fame while playing for teams in their new homeland. Meanwhile, they continued to maintain their language and culture. Throughout the 100-year existence of the NHL, more than fifty Ukrainians became champions of the League. This is the largest number of champions representing a non-North American nationality. Even the best hockey player of all times, Wayne Gretzky, is of Ukrainian descent.

A man deals with agoraphobia.