Discoveries from Canada World Cinema

A young girl with a special gift comes of age during one of the most desolate periods in American history in this dark Dust Bowl fantasy inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."

The true story of a judge who lives a double life, and stays married to two women for more than 15 years.

When upcoming Washington D.C. political strategist, Candace, is sent back to her Wyoming hometown to help the local mayoral candidate, she never expected to find her best friend’s brother, Derek, running for office! The second last thing she never expected was to fall for him!

Set in the well-off confines of a British Columbia boarding school, this affectionate film follows the trials and tribulations of a group of students as they cope with sex, death, rebellion and loneliness.

Borderline, a film version of the novels Borderline and La Brèche, tells the story of Kiki at various stages of her life. With her mother institutionalized, she is raised by her grandmother, where left to her own devices, she takes refuge in school. Her life before 30 is a far cry from fairy-tale. Sex and alcohol are her only outlets and her daily reality. She goes through men one after another.

After finding out their roommate has a dislike for their favourite movie, Billy takes matters to the extreme by planning the death of their roommate in a poorly executed fashion.

Wellness expert, Juliet, pitches Christmas memory candles to her boss in hopes of earning a promotion and enlists the help of boutique candle store owner, Tom, to create new candle scents. Tom, who thinks the wellness industry is a scam, refuses at first but agrees when he realizes the money will help make his daughter’s Christmas wish come true.

Three generations of Delaney women explore the highs and lows of modern-day dating, learning that love and romance can be found at any age…and sometimes where you least expect it.

Kevin is an Irish Moss farmer committed to his traditional way of doing things at the expense of a more lucrative life for himself and his pregnant wife. When he finds a bag of money washed up on the shores of Prince Edward Island, his decision to keep it secret turns his quaint fishing village into a growing crime scene as the money’s owners come calling. Adapted from Adam Perry's award-winning short film A Blessing from the Sea.

What were Catherine and Louis thinking when they chose a cat with distinctive white spots? It would have been much easier to replace if they had picked the all-back one. Now, they will have to tell their daughter Sophie that Nugget's dead. Unless..

Casey has rejected her privileged upbringing and restores old boats for a living. She lives a cozy life with her beautiful social worker girlfriend Alex until her stuffy family demands that she come home for Christmas – without Alex. Casey is a longshorewoman who seems to have everything she wants; she and her girlfriend Alex are very much in love. But there’s nothing like the holidays to bring out the drama of the average family. Casey lives just across the bay from her upper crust New England family. The proximity seems no accident: Casey can’t quite let go, despite her family’s judgmental and inescapable hold on her otherwise independent and unconventional life. When the family reunites for Christmas, the unwrapping of presents takes a back seat to the unraveling of emotions.

This story of espionage and counter-espionage is based on the novel by Ian Adams. Suspicious circumstances surrounded the mysterious death of a Canadian diplomat. At the height of The Cold War in October 1964, John Watkins, Canada's former ambassador to Moscow and a close friend of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, is kidnapped and held in a hotel for questioning by the RCMP at the urging of the CIA. Several days into the interrogation he died. The official obituary claimed that he suffered a heart attack in the company of friends during a farewell supper celebrating his illustrious career.

This meditative French-Canadian film tells the story of a young woman's search for the father she has never known. Marie Chapdelaine (Carole Laure) grew up in a remote area of Quebec without ever knowing her father, a lumberjack. She moves to Montreal, settles in there with a job as a topless dancer and begins her search for him. Eventually, with the help of his former mistress, they find the lumber camp he was working in, only to discover that he was killed in a labor dispute.

A divorced mother suspects that she and her two children may be in danger because of her insanely jealous new husband

Stuck in the attic, Phillip, (Joseph Ziegler) recounts several different tales to an unknown listener in order to explain the dangers of the world.

Mallory's life turns upside-down after her young son, Billy, is drawn to Samantha, a strange woman who whispers to him at the local climbing gym. Billy refuses to reveal what she said, and now he’s acting up, Samantha is spying on her, and her husband, Reese, is behaving like he is hiding a secret from her. Little does Mallory know, because of memory loss, that she kidnapped Billy from his mother years ago.

After an outspoken hotel manager is framed for murder, clearing her name becomes a matter of life and death when she uncovers a secret crime ring within the elite hotel.

Goddess Snow and her close friends Ceara Lynch, Princess Rene, Astro Domina, Princess Meggerz and Sarah DiAvola have built a supportive underground punk scene of fetish content creators, empowering each other, their clients, fans and the rest of the adult population to engage in the fight for a shame-free, consensual, and safe exploration of one’s sexuality. Dancing between the worlds of online fetish content creation, and in-person domination sessions, Goddess Alexandra Snow has built a thriving empire which supports the empowerment of women, sex workers, and anyone who has ever felt like a misfit.

A teen comedy follows a group as it tries to have one last night of summer fun, only to be usurped by the world's worst undercover cop.

For Alex, making it through high school as a socially awkward teen is hard enough. Trying to survive while having an insatiable online porn addiction makes it even harder. Or as it turns out , not hard enough.

A TV news cameraman's appetite for fine wine, fast cars and beautiful women draws him into the grip of a heroin smuggler.

When Stephanie inherits a watch, she learns that it allows her to travel back in time five minutes, once a day. But as she uses it more and more, her life, and romance with her coworker Hunter, doesn't shake out the way she hoped.

Two young adults venture into a storm sewer in search of something interesting. They succeed.

A crew of student filmmakers embark on a road trip when they discover odd events and people acting strangely around them. Soon, they realise that sinister doppelgangers have invaded the town.

Threatened with separation, two young brothers escape from an orphanage and make a perilous journey from New York to Boys' Town in Nebraska.

Set in the Cloudy Falls residence, a run-down apartment complex in Niagara Falls that seems destined to be torn down, the film tells the story of a handful of its tenants, chosen randomly by the narrator, Rita, the building’s glib superintendent. They include Terry, an uptight, middle-aged gay man who grows enamoured of the erratic, young drifter squatting next door; Brigit, a spiritual debunker who exposes psychic frauds on her little-seen YouTube channel; Riley, a compulsive liar whose many tall tales are starting to catch up to her; and the collection of neighbours who surround them.

Four friends set out by boat for an idyllic vacation on a private, remote island. But unknown to them, a weaponized shark has escaped from a top secret military lab nearby, a shark that was genetically engineered with hate in its blood, and programmed to hunt any human within range. Now, these friends must band together to battle an all new brand of predator who will stop at nothing to remain at the top of the food chain.

"The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar" tells the story of Emery Prometer, a proud bush worker in Ottawa Valley, resisting government aid to support his family. The film compassionately depicts their struggles and the resolve of Emery's daughter, Rosie, (Margot Kidder in her film debut) to break the cycle of poverty through education. This '60s NFB standout authentically portrays their dignity amid hardship, showcasing Canadian filmmaking despite hurdles from private broadcasters' cost concerns. The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar won eight Canadian Film Awards, including Best Picture (John Kemeny, Barrie Howells), Director (Peter Pearson), Cinematography (Tony Ianzelo), Screenplay (Joan Finnegan) and Lead Actor (Chris Wiggins).

When a marriage is threatened by a long excursion for work, domestic trouble is buffeted by family and friends.

Abandoned cars rest silently in fields for decades, still holding secret conversations within their bodies.

A hardened and embittered man turns his life around with the help of a farm boy in this uplifting family tale. Down on his luck and dependent on booze, Native American Fish Hawk (Will Sampson) changes his fate when he accepts a job hunting down a bear that's been killing local livestock. His temporary residence with the Boggs family brings young Corby (Charles Fields) into his life, and the boy's friendship gives Fish Hawk a new reason to live.

Fleeing from some other children who want to beat him, Olivier meets the ghost of a Pirate who every hundred years tries to find a parchment. Olivier agrees to help him. But in doing so he is captured by a bunch of pirates. The other children of the village discover a door thru time and space in an old haunted house and decide to rescue Olivier from Captain Monbars' pirates.

When his best friend dies of an heart attack due to permanent stress at work, the Japanese businessman Yutaka Soto quits and fulfills himself a dream: he buys a ranch in Montana to live on. However the ranch turns out to be due for demolition and the welcome by the people is less than friendly: Hotel owner Cord Wingate wanted the ranch himself and now sabotages Yutaka. Only veterinarian Jessy and an old Cowboy help him. -- Tom Zoerner

Looks like Bob and his fellow computer Sprites may have finally met their match. Supervirus Daemon is spreading her infection throughout the entire Net and edging ever closer to the City of Mainframe. Bob joins forces with old enemies in an attempt to foil her destruction of Mainframe and must reach into the past to find the answer.

When a demanding lover inspires her to write, an idle woman must fake the relationship in order to complete her new book.

A troubled youth vandalizes a church and winds up in a close association with the woodcarver whose work he destroyed.

An alien is sent to Earth and is tasked with a mission to invade, seduce, and terminate a family of colonizers in 19th-century Saskatchewan.

Liam, a fireman, and Amy, a quilting teacher, team up to make a Christmas quilt for Liam’s sister’s wedding, but their burgeoning romance is threatened by Liam’s intention to travel to South America after the wedding. As they navigate their feelings for each other and their aspirations, they must decide what is truly important in time for the holiday season.

A woman falls in love with a man who is charming and seems too good to be true until his deadly secrets are revealed.

In the summer of 2015, former US Marine and world record weightlifter Janae Marie Kroczaleski was publicly outed as being transgender. The reaction was universal: her sponsors abandoned her, she was disowned by her parents and banned from competing. This film follows Janae as she attempts to find her place in society. Initially wanting to strip off the muscle and become a much smaller looking woman, she found herself unable to lose the muscle she so desperately gained. She now finds herself living one day as an alpha male and the next day as a delicate girl. Will Janae be able to handle her muscle relapses? Will her passage from being a male bring her the peace she's looking for? Will society accept a 250lbs muscular woman? Is her path personal redemption or physical and psychological disaster?

Terrorists hold a group of people hostage during a Millenium Eve party aboard the Orient Express. Only an action movie star and a gymnast can save them.

In a quiet Ontario town, a small Bed and Breakfast dwells with a perverse secret. David Beck, a closet sociopath, but seemingly normal man, runs the B & B with his wife Samantha, a fiery woman with masochistic tendencies. The harmony of the house is disrupted when a young girl's body is found on the edge of town and veteran police Detective Anthony Dolan suspects David of the murder.

Things get a little crazy when an obsessed fan, who has been rejected during the audition process numerous times, kidnaps the cast of The Real World and brings them to a new house. Here, he films them, using highly sophisticated camera equipment that is wired to explosives, just in case the cast doesn't play along.

Known as a “fixer” for difficult clients, a talented party planner must help a young CEO plan the Christmas party of the year to dazzle the mayor and save his company. Wil the “fixer” fix something more than just the company?

When food correspondent, Carly, gets a shot at her own show, she is sent to Angel Heights to help Grant open his diner and film it as a Holiday special for her TV show. Will Grant and Carly open their hearts too?

Oskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.

"The Apology" explores the lives of former "comfort women," the more than 200,000 girls forced into sexual slavery during World War II. Today, they fight for reconciliation and justice as they struggle to make peace with the past.

Mrs. Lemay has been separated from her husband for 11 years, but takes him back after the death of her partner.

In a lawless futuristic society, a rebel must prevent a tandem of renegades from destroying Los Angeles. An ex-star pilot is forced to stop a mad criminal and his gang after they've hi-jacked a huge space freighter with the intent of crashing it into Los Angeles destroying what is left of civilization. Time is running out.

Two social outcasts in 19th century Eastern Europe, Alexandre and Ulysse, become friends and settle down to live alone on the edge of a marsh that is reputedly haunted by demons, monsters and goblins. These two men have been outcasts all their lives. Alexandre was raised in a nomad family that traveled from town to town, being rejected by the people of his homeland. Due to his physical abnormalities, Ulysse has always been pushed aside ever since his childhood. When a strange murder is committed in a nearby village, the peasants turn their suspicions on Alexandre and Ulysse, because they are different. In the eyes of the villagers, they are demons that must be hunted, burned and killed.

When Robin Walker returns home for her father's funeral, she's forced to confront the damaged family she left behind, as well as her own personal demons; resulting in the reveal of an unsettling secret.

After a mysterious death at the Abbey, Sister Talia finds herself caught in the center of the internal investigation. With strict orders from the newly elected Mother Superior, she must uncover the truth behind the death and ensure the Abbey remains undisturbed. Things take a sharp turn when another sister is found murdered and Sister Talia is forced to find the killer. As she discovers larger secrets plaguing the Abbey, Sister Talia must reconcile her past life in order to follow through with the task at hand. For Sister Talia, all that she knows about the Abbey and her Sisters is about to come into question, as she discovers sometimes the good kill.

Dave is young and rebellious. A self-proclaimed King, influenced but not unconscious. As he sets out to find the stranger who danced with his girlfriend grabbing her ass, as if nothing had happened, he decides to take justice into his hands. Between violence, heartbreak and friendship betrayal, Dave will put his finger through the wringer and rush forward, unable to stop.

Rachel, a beautiful young artist, is savagely murdered at her secluded lakefront house by a group of soulless killers. Enraged and shocked by his sister’s senseles murder, Rachel’s brother, Travis, vows to avenge her murder and punish her killers one by one – even if it costs him his soul. Guided by his sister’s ghostly voice that commands him to take brutal revenge, Travis hunts down each of the killers and punishes them in gruesome fashion. Sickened by the horror of his own murderous actions, and driven by his murdered sister’s vengeful spirit, Travis discovers a fate much worse than murder…

At Christmas, the tables turn on on a selfless single mom when a local radio station takes over her love life thanks to an innocent call from her young son.

Noir thriller from Vancouver plays out a destructive friendship between a depressed housewife and her childhood friend to an ugly conclusion.

Red Fever is a witty and entertaining feature documentary about the profound -- yet hidden -- Indigenous influence on Western culture and identity. The film follows Cree co-director Neil Diamond as he asks, “Why do they love us so much?!” and sets out on a journey to find out why the world is so fascinated with the stereotypical imagery of Native people that is all over pop culture. Why have Indigenous cultures been revered, romanticized, and appropriated for so long, and to this day? Red Fever uncovers the surprising truths behind the imagery -- so buried in history that even most Native people don't know about them.

POLICE OFFICER JIM BYRNE, Canada's most honoured Safety Education Specialist brings you his famous TEN RULES, with which he has personally tested more than 25,000 students. Learn key strategies now taught in many schools and used by police working with the full NEVER BE A VICTIM Institutional Study Program. Develop your own personal streetproofing skills so you can train and test your family. Robert Gordon, who created this remarkable program in partnership with Metropolitan Police introduces this family video library against a backdrop of today's troubled society. TEACHING LIFE SKILLS FOR A SAFER COMMUNITY OFFICER JIM'S TEN RULES FOR STREETPROOFING • STRANGER MYTHS • ABDUCTION • BEING FOLLOWED • DANGEROUS PLACES • AVOIDING CARS AND VANS • GOOD TOUCHING-BAD TOUCHING

Marc Labrèche, the Director of this documentary, himself an author, actor and host, meets other creators to ask them these questions that inhabit him. Do artists have an expiry date? Do we create our best works in our youth or, on the contrary, does experience allow us to develop a greater mastery of our medium? In this respect, are there important differences between the different forms of art such as music, cinema and literature?