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A look at the current global climate crisis and how we're adapting to these changes.
Metamorphosis (2018 )
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One fateful night, after leaving a bar in his home town of Nova Scotia, musician Scott Jones was subjected to a vicious and targeted attack which left him paralysed and in a wheelchair. Despite Scott knowing that this was a homophobic hate crime, the assault was not treated as such in the courts, or by the media. As Scott rebuilds his life, he is forced to make sense of the way the incident was handled while also struggling to make peace with his attacker. Taking place across the three years following this life-changing ordeal, close friend and filmmaker Laura Marie Wayne gracefully charts the impact of the attack on Scott’s life, both physically and mentally. The resulting documentary is a tender, heartbreaking and inspiring testament to one man’s strength and resilience.
Love, Scott (2018 )
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A famous rockstar unleashes a sinister force in the search of a new sound
Backmask (2024 )
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A young surveyer, new to Ontario, encounters the blackflies. Over and over again, he encounters those blackflies.
Blackfly (1991 )
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This documentary by filmmaker Raymonde Provencher talk about childhoods in Uganda, where they were forced to kill against their will as soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army. Now as adults, they're working as activists to help others through a support group for survivors of childhood slavery, never forgetting their own haunting experiences.
Grace, Milly, Lucy…Child Soldiers (2010 )
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Nigeria's film industry, Nollywood, is the third-largest in the world--an unstoppable economic and cultural force that has taken the continent by storm and is now bursting beyond the borders of Africa. "Nollywood Babylon" is a feature documentary detailing the industry's phenomenal success. Propelled by a booming 1970s soundtrack of African underground music, the movie presents an electric vision of a modern African metropolis and a revealing look at the powerhouse that is Nigerian cinema.
Nollywood Babylon (2009 )
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In this feature documentary, husband-and-wife team Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison (Being Caribou), along with their 2-year-old son and dog, retrace the literary footsteps of Canadian writer Farley Mowat. They canoe east from Calgary towards the Prairies (the geography of Farley's Born Naked and Owls in the Family) and then traverse the same paths that Mowat took more than 60 years earlier in Never Cry Wolf and People of the Deer. Their epic 5,000 km journey—trekking, sailing, portaging and paddling—ends in the Maritimes, at Mowat's Nova Scotia summer home.
Finding Farley (2009 )
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This film explores the distant relationship between an elderly amateur musician, the woman who lives in the apartment above him, and the leaky bathtub that is bothering them both.
Strings (1991 )
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Billionaire businessman Noel Noel is long on cash but short on social graces; so when he finds himself falling for the fairy Beatrice, he mistakenly thinks he can buy her love with material gifts. It takes a little girl named Zooey, her dog Snooze, and a blue-eyed reindeer to help Noel Noel learn the true meaning of love in this animated Christmas fable that features narration by Leslie Nielson (AIRPLANE, NAKED GUN) and music by French-Canadian songstress Ariane Moffatt.
Noël Noël (2003 )
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In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, sets the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness.
Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance (1993 )
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The Amendment is a powerful and inspiring true story of finding triumph over tragedy, injustice, and loss. In 1979, Brooks Douglass and his sister Leslie survived a devastating crime that rocked their community and took their parents’ lives. Initially sent into an emotional tailspin, Brooks regained his footing, became Oklahoma’s youngest state senator, and championed important victims’ rights legislation. It is not until his quest for justice brings him face to face with his parents’ killer that he finds the lessons of his father may hold the answer to finally finding peace.
The Amendment (2018 )
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Long Tack Sam was an internationally renowned Chinese acrobat and magician. He overcame isolation, poverty, cultural and linguistic barriers, extreme racism and world wars to become one of the most successful vaudeville acts of his time. His showmanship was unrivalled, yet he refused to appear in movies because of the way Chinese were portrayed at the time. A celebration of the spirit of Long Tack Sam's magic and art, this richly textured first person road movie is an exhilarating testament to his legacy and a prismatic tour through the 20th Century. It all begins in a small village in China... https://www.nfb.ca/film/the_magical_life_of_long_tack_sam/
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (2003 )
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When Michelle Wong's brother, Philip, committed suicide at the age of 36, she felt that she had to find out why. Her film, Pieces of a Dream, is her attempt to understand her brother's death and to deal with his loss.
Pieces of a Dream: A Story of Gambling (2003 )
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In the summer of 2000, federal fishery officers appeared to wage war on the Mi'gmaq fishermen of Burnt Church, New Brunswick. Why would officials of the Canadian government attack citizens for exercising rights that had been affirmed by the highest court in the land? Alanis Obomsawin casts her nets into history to provide a context for the events on Miramichi Bay.
Is the Crown at war with us? (2003 )
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This feature-length documentary traces the journey of the Haisla people to reclaim the G'psgolox totem pole that went missing from their British Columbia village in 1929. The fate of the 19th century traditional mortuary pole remained unknown for over 60 years until it was discovered in a Stockholm museum where it is considered state property by the Swedish government. Director Gil Cardinal combines interviews, striking imagery and rare footage of master carvers to raise questions about ownership and the meaning of Aboriginal objects held in museums.
Totem: The Return of the G'psgolox Pole (2003 )
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With a photojournalist's eye, director Craig Chivers focuses his lens on the day-to-day struggles encountered by Kay Rice, her partner Karl and six children, whose goal is to break the generational cycle of poverty. Shot in an intimate, cinéma vérité style, No Place Called Home follows the family as they move from town to town in search of affordable housing. "I know we're poor, but it's what we are, not who we are," says Kay, as she tries to make a fresh start by fixing up a rundown rental home. Unable to find steady work, the Rices rely on food banks and help from a local charity to make ends meet. When things turn sour with the landlord, Kay fears his veiled threats may mean losing her children and decides to take him to court. In capturing the stark realism of a life with few options, No Place Called Home puts a modern face on what it means to be poor in Canada.
No Place Called Home (2003 )
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This provocative documentary uncovers a lost chapter in Canadian military history: how the Armed Forces dealt with homosexual behaviour among soldiers, during and after World War II. More than 60 years later, a group of five veterans, barely adults when they enlisted, break the silence to talk about how homosexual behaviour "was even more unmentionable than cancer." Yet amidst the brutality of war, instances of sexual awakening among soldiers and officers were occuring. Initially, the Army overlooked it, but as the war advanced, they began to crack down: military tribunals, threats of imprisonment, discharge and public exposure. After the war, officers accused of homosexuality were discharged. Back home in Canada, reputations and careers were ruined. For the young men who had served their country with valour, this final chapter was often too much to bear. Based on the book Courting Homosexuals in the Military by Paul Jackson.
Open Secrets (2004 )
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An animator dissects his own body, extracting memories, emotions and fears that will nurture his work. As he cuts into his skin, various symbolic objects recalling his past emerge. Reaching the heart, he succeeds in identifying the burden he’s been dying to cast off.
The Subject (2018 )
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Amidst a grotesque but slickly animated menagerie of extreme plastic surgery, a man demands an operation that will realize his inner butterfly.
Caterpillarplasty (2018 )
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In a world of fixed positions and prescribed roles, expanding the definition of gender requires the courage to dive deep into understanding and acceptance. Written and directed by Christina Willings, Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their ideas of what it means to be fully human. Claiming your own sense of gender when everything around you insists that you comply and conform can be challenging, and sometimes scary—but family and friends are there to help. Free-flowing animated elements, ranging from images of octopuses to astronauts, draw together the kids’ shared experiences in beautifully rendered fantasias that celebrate the power of imagination and the flourishing force of self-determination. Playful, goofy, loving and brave, each of these remarkable young people—including Ladner, B.C.’s transgender advocate Tru Wilson—have found their own way to break free and show the world what it really means to be your true self.
Beauty (2018 )
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Quebec, on the cusp of the 1960s. The province is on the brink of momentous change. Deftly selecting clips from nearly 200 films from the National Film Board of Canada archives, director Luc Bourdon reinterprets the historical record, offering us a new and distinctive perspective on the Quiet Revolution.
The Devil's Share (2018 )
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Over five years, acclaimed filmmaker Andrea Dorfman follows the heartbreaking yet uplifting story of the girls of Meru and their brave steps toward meaningful equality for girls worldwide. In Kenya, one in three girls will experience sexual violence before age 18, yet police investigations are the exception. In The Girls of Meru, a multinational team led by Canadian lawyer Fiona Sampson and Tumaini Shelter head Mercy Chidi Baidoo builds the case of 11 girls to pursue an unheard of legal tactic. Together they created legal history.
The Girls of Meru (2018 )
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Follows the 100 musicians who make up the National Youth Orchestra of Canada over the course of two months of training and touring across the country.
That Higher Level (2018 )
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While dissecting a frog in Biology class, a 12-year-old boy speculates about what he would do if he were God.
If I Was God (2015 )
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Anne Marie Nakagawa's documentary examines what it means to have a background of mixed ancestries that cannot be easily categorized. By focusing on 7 Canadians who have one parent from a European background and one of a visible minority, she attempts to get at the root of what it means to be multi-ethnic in a world that wants each person to fit into a single category.
Between: Living in the Hyphen (2005 )
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Created over 75 years and three generations, Les Quatre Vents stands as an enchanted place of beauty and surprise, a horticultural masterpiece of the 21st century. See how Frank Cabot gave birth to one of the greatest gardens in the world.
The Gardener (2018 )
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Life is certainly stranger than fiction. Even if he’d tried, filmmaker Sheldon Cohen couldn’t have made up the events that led to his being rushed to an Emergency room one sunny summer afternoon. This is the true story of “a nice Jewish boy with Buddhist inclinations” who should have been the last person in the world to need cardiac surgery.
My Heart Attack (2015 )
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In her first feature-length documentary, director Mina Shum (Double Happiness) takes a penetrating look at the Sir George Williams University riot of February 1969, when a protest against institutional racism snowballed into a 14-day student occupation at the Montreal university.
Ninth Floor (2015 )
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A logging engineer, a centuries old tree, and the decision that questions both business and personal values.
Hadwin's Judgement (2015 )
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There is no indication that this typical online flirtation between two strangers would turn into a case of shocking international intrigue. For months, Sandra in Montreal and Amina, a Syrian-American, bond romantically and intellectually. Encouraged by Sandra, Amina launches a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus," representing a marginalized voice in the Middle East on politics, religion, and sexuality. Rapidly garnering worldwide attention, Amina becomes something of a star blogger. But when Syria enters the Arab uprising of 2011, Sandra receives word that Amina has been kidnapped, and soon the search for Amina becomes a global concern and an even larger mystery to solve.
A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile (2015 )
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Freaks of Nurture is an animated short about a neurotic mother-daughter relationship inspired by the filmmaker’s own unorthodox upbringing with her single-parent mom, who is also a foster parent and dog breeder. Self-deprecating and bursting with energy, the film reveals that no matter how grown-up we think we are, we never quite stop craving the love and support of a parent.
Freaks of Nurture (2018 )
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Following the end of a stormy love affair, Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka enlists in the First World War. After suffering serious injuries in battle, he experiences a series of memories and visions as medics transport him through the forests of the Russian front. Playful and imaginative, I'm OK explores the wounds of heartbreak and trauma. Inspired by the life and art of Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980).
I'm OK (2018 )