8.3
Naturalist Bill Mason on his journey by canoe into the Ontario wilderness. The filmmaker and artist begins on Lake Superior, then explores winding and sometimes tortuous river waters to the meadowlands of the river's source. Along the way, Mason paints scenes that capture his attention and muses about his love of the canoe, his artwork and his own sense of the land. Mason also uses the film as a commentary on the link between God and nature and the vast array of beautiful canvases God created for him to paint. Features breathtaking visuals and exciting whitewater footage, with a musical score by Bruce Cockburn.
6
From the 1930's to the 1970's, pretty well every comedian or comic you might see on TV or the movies was Jewish. Jews came to dominate the world of western‐society comedy on radio, stage and screen alike.Why did Jews dominate comedy in this period? And why did that domination end? Were Jews just funnier back then? And if so, did that extend to your average Jew on the street? In this 90 minute documentary acclaimed director Alan Zweig will examine these questions and many others in this exploration of 20th century humour, cultural decay, and a search for a missing heritage.
6.5
A biography of powerful Hollywood agent and executive Lew Wasserman.
6.4
Documentary / Music/Musical - This rare documentary explores the early days of The Beatles with rare interviews, newsreels, press conferences and TV appearances. This celebration of Beatlemania presents a candid look at the Fab Four, detailing their thoughts of fame, the screaming fans and the media's fascination with their hair.
6.9
Denise Crosby takes a first look at the huge fans of "Star Trek" from around America and how the series has affected and shaped their lives.
The final volume of Time Warp digs deep into what makes us laugh over and over again as we reveal the greatest cult comedies and campy classics of all time.
An accomplished artist, a lifelong performer and a person with Down syndrome, Niall McNeil has built a unique family tree of blood and chosen relations made up of his closest friends and collaborators.
7.3
Australian pediatrician Helen Caldicott delivers a lecture on the potential medical and societal consequences of a nuclear war, and advocates for nuclear disarmament. The film includes newsreel records of the beginnings of the arms race and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as film records showing the Japanese who were severely scarred and burned in the bombings.
Muslim women are disconcerting, intriguing, polarizing—and straitjacketed by conflations of ideas in front-page stories. The film sits down with six Muslim Canadian women eager to talk about what shapes their identities.
5.9
This feature drama tells the story of Tom Paradise, a young 40-something refusing to grow up. Behind the wheel of his bus, he drives endlessly through the city dreaming of the landscape of the American West that forever impressed him. In love with freedom and Jack Kerouac's On the Road, he resists all the sensible people who try to persuade him to settle down. For Tom has only one idea in his head: to once again head south, riding the waves of love and fate.
7.6
Released in 1968 and often referred to as Canada’s first music video, The Ballad of Crowfoot was directed by Willie Dunn, a Mi’kmaq/Scottish folk singer and activist who was part of the historic Indian Film Crew, the first all-Indigenous production unit at the NFB. The film is a powerful look at colonial betrayals, told through a striking montage of archival images and a ballad composed by Dunn himself about the legendary 19th-century Siksika (Blackfoot) chief who negotiated Treaty 7 on behalf of the Blackfoot Confederacy. The IFC’s inaugural release, Crowfoot was the first Indigenous-directed film to be made at the NFB.
6.6
Go where only Madonna has gone before. From interviews with brother Martin Ciccone and exes Sean Penn and Warren Beatty to a tour of her hometown haunts, this all-access documentary takes you inside the pop megastar's world. Go on the set of Body of Evidence, out on the town with frenzied paparazzi and into the make-believe world of Madonna impersonators -- including Queerdonna. Never-before-seen footage gives a rare look at the Material Girl.
5.6
Sex, Drugs, Rock n' Roll, it's all just part of the story In 1978 Fleetwood Mac released an album that would go on to sell over 27 million records. Rumours was the high water mark in a career that has seen ups and downs that would have destroyed most bands. Yet somehow, Fleetwood Mac endures. FLEETWOOD MAC: UNBROKEN CHAIN looks at over thirty years of rock n' roll history, from the perspective of one of the world's most enduring bands.
7.1
This Oscar-nominated documentary short tracks the shift in the relationship of an individual to his work between the 19th century and today. Focusing on how nails are made, we first see a blacksmith laboring at his forge, shaping nails from single strands of steel rods. The scene then shifts from this peaceful setting to the roar of a 20th century nail mill, where banks of machines draw, cut, and pound the steel rods faster than the eye can follow.
Personal stories of what it was like to be a soldier during WW2, including vivid, eyewitness accounts of deadly combat situations on land, sea, and air, as told by over 50 Canadians who were there.
7.1
The territory of Akwesasne straddles the Canada-U.S. border. When Canadian authorities prohibited the duty-free cross-border passage of personal purchases - a right established by the Jay Treaty of 1794 - Kanien'kéhaka protesters blocked the international bridge between Ontario and New York State.
7.6
A triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources of inspiration used by Stanley Kubrick for his 2001: A Space Odyssey. Realistic animation takes you into far regions of space, beyond the reach of the strongest telescope, past Moon, Sun, and Milky Way, into galaxies yet unfathomed.
In this feature-length doc, director Ryan Sidhoo shines the spotlight on 12-year-old Elijah Fisher, 15-year-old Keone Davis and 18-year-old Cordell Veira as they navigate today’s youth basketball machine in pursuit of their own NBA dreams.
6.9
This feature-length documentary from 1974 takes viewers inside Fidel Castro's Cuba. A movie-making threesome hope that Fidel himself will star in their film. The unusual crew consists of former Newfoundland premier Joseph Smallwood, radio and TV owner Geoff Stirling and NFB film director Michael Rubbo. What happens while the crew awaits its star shows a good deal of the new Cuba, and also of the three Canadians who chose to film the island. (NFB)
The key ingredient in bird's nest soup is the hardened saliva of the swiftlet. Once a rarity and now a harvested agricultural product, demand for this Chinese delicacy attracts entrepreneurs to Southeast Asia, where the swiftlets make their edible homes. Howard Gan is one of these investors: a recently retired Chinese-Malaysian Canadian immigrant who spent over half his life in Montreal. Gan decides to return to extended family and oversee his investment. The swiftlet's idiosyncratic life cycle—building homes for their offspring, only to be displaced and forced to resettle—captures the imagination of Howard's artist daughter (filmmaker Emily Gan), who sees the parallels to her father's own life. She's keen to follow him on his adventure, hoping to understand his motivations for making this aviary his children's inheritance. Addressing themes of home and heritage, Cavebirds is a beautifully crafted father-daughter story that explores the changing values between generations and our desire to know where we come from. Winner of the Emerging Filmmaker Award at Hot Docs, the film is a quiet personal reflection on the complexities of migration and belonging.
John Ware Reclaimed follows filmmaker Cheryl Foggo on her quest to re-examine the mythology surrounding John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta, Canada, before the turn of the 20th century. Foggo’s research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present. Please note: This film contains explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.
Black Liberators WWII explores the untold stories of the triumphs and challenges of Black Canadian and Caribbean soldiers who served in the Canadian Army at the height of Nazism during World War II. This film is an homage to Canada's Black war heroes that sheds light on their bravery and commitment to freedom. Prejudice and racism may have marked their lives but, undaunted, these patriotic men and women stepped up to free the world from tyranny. Their rich, authentic first-hand accounts must be preserved to remind us all of the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers of all backgrounds. These stories must never be forgotten.
