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Consumer Awareness (20)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • Air!
    Air!
    Paul Driessen 1972 2 min
    Although only 2 minutes long, this animated short makes the point that oxygen is the stuff of life whether on land, in the air or water, but that it is becoming scarcer as man-made pollutants crowd it out. This is a film without words in which plants, birds, fish and, finally, humans come to the same "breathless" end.
  • All the Right Stuff
    All the Right Stuff
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    Connie Littlefield 1997 22 min
    "I always have a good time. Lots of teenagers hang out at the mall. It's like walking around in a big TV set." Brendan, 13.

    All the Right Stuff is about kids, malls, media and money. This video puts the role of youth in today's corporate economy into perspective.

    Join Brendan on a tour through the local mall. With two hundred dollars of birthday money in his pocket, he's ready to do some serious spending on music, clothes, and video games.

    Teenagers represent a huge and lucrative market for advertisers. They may work in low-paying service sector jobs, but as Brendan says "I pay no rent. My income is one hundred percent disposable."

    Intercut with Brendan's shopping trip are interviews with shopkeepers, young people who talk about the pressure on them to consume and to sport all the right logos, and members of the bands Thrush Hermit and Hip Club Groove on how the music and clothing industries target young people.

    With poor job prospects and little access to the political process, teens come to see themselves primarily as consumers. It's a self-image marketers are only too happy to encourage and exploit.
  • Economics
    Economics
    Philip Eddolls 2020 3 min
    Economist Armine Yalnizyan offers a radically honest and deliciously sweet review of our absurdly dysfunctional economic system and what we must do in order to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
  • The Bronswik Affair
    The Bronswik Affair
    Robert Awad  &  André Leduc 1978 23 min
    This funny yet serious short film demonstrates the effectiveness of advertising and the marketing machine. Its comic appeal lies in the characters and the absurd situations they find themselves in, but it also shines a harsh light on our tendency towards needless consumerism prompted by a steady flow of commercials.
  • Class Project: The Garbage Movie
    Class Project: The Garbage Movie
    Martin Defalco 1980 23 min
    In this short documentary, a group of pupils aged 8 to 13 embark on a school project to find out all they can about garbage and its impact on the environment. The places they visit tell us a lot about the society we live in and about ecology, cities, art and history.
  • Every Dog's Guide to Complete Home Safety
    Every Dog's Guide to Complete Home Safety
    Les Drew 1986 10 min
    This hilarious short animation offers over 40 safety tips for homes with infants and young children. The film's hero is a very earnest, somewhat pompous, but endearing dog called Wally. A "professional" in home safety, Wally is assigned to a house with an infant whose parents have little safety consciousness. Accidents and near-accidents succeed each other with lightning speed, constantly putting Wally to the test.
  • The Energy Carol
    The Energy Carol
    Les Drew 1975 10 min
    This animated short borrows A Christmas Carol’s storyline to sketch a satirical exposé on energy waste and conservation. In this version, Ebenezer "Stooge", a power company CEO, has a bold motto: to waste is to grow. After his midnight meeting with the spirits of Energy Past, Present and Future, however, that motto is up for thorough review.
  • Hunger
    Hunger
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    Peter Foldès 1974 11 min
    In this animated short, director Peter Foldès depicts one man’s descent into greed and gluttony. Rapidly dissolving and ever-evolving images create a contrast between abundance and want. One of the first films to use computer animation, this satire serves as a cautionary tale against self-indulgence in a world still plagued by hunger and poverty.
  • Hand.Line.Cod
    Hand.Line.Cod
    Justin Simms 2016 13 min
    Set in the coldest waters surrounding Newfoundland’s rugged Fogo Island, this short film follows a group of “people of the fish”—traditional fishers who catch cod live by hand, one at a time, by hook and line. Filmmaker Justin Simms takes viewers deep inside the world of these brave fishermen. Travel with them from the early morning hours, spend time on the ocean, and witness the intricacies of a 500-year-old tradition that’s making a comeback.
  • Henry Ford's America
    Henry Ford's America
    Donald Brittain 1977 56 min
    This feature documentary studies the automobile and its pervasive effect on the history of North America. Focusing on the Ford dynasty, from the original Henry car through to Henry II, the film demonstrates how society has adapted to fit the needs of the automobile.
  • Marvin Parson’s Inner Wild Wilderness
    Marvin Parson’s Inner Wild Wilderness
    Fred Casia 2010 1 min
    Filmmaker Fred Casia, inspired by the iconic '50s-vintage View-Master stereo viewer and '60s-era TV nature shows, takes us on a weird and wacky 3-D safari through the jungle that is the human digestive system. With 2-D digital animation set into a diorama-esque stereoscopic space, Casia creates a small, bizarre gem.

    Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
  • Music Is Not a Luxury
    Music Is Not a Luxury
    Annette Mangaard 2012 5 min
    This short film pays tribute to Toronto philanthropist Earlaine Collins, recipient of the 2012 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts. Generous and thoughtful, Collins speaks of her bond with performers, the importance of giving, and how much has music meant to her and her late husband from their very first days together.

    Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
  • The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters
    The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters
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    Christine Welsh 2000 52 min
    For almost a century, the Coast Salish knitters of southern Vancouver Island have produced Cowichan sweaters from handspun wool. These distinctive sweaters are known and loved around the world, but the Indigenous women who make them remain largely invisible. Combining rare archival footage with the voices of three generations of woolworkers, The Story of the Coast Salish Knitters tells the tale of unsung heroines--resourceful women who knit to put food on the table and keep their families alive. Written and directed by Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh, this is a story of courage and cultural transformation--a celebration of the threads that connect the past to the future.
  • Staying Real - Teens Confront Sexual Stereotypes
    Staying Real - Teens Confront Sexual Stereotypes
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    Sophie Bissonnette 2010 24 min
    A documentary geared to 11 to 13-year-olds in which preteens and teens discuss the adverse effects of the sexual stereotypes they're bombarded with. They talk about how hard it is to develop their own personality and make friends when they don’t conform to media and advertising images. Produced in collaboration with the Montreal Women’s Y as a follow-up to Sexy Inc.: Our Children Under Influence, and directed by award-winning filmmaker Sophie Bissonnette, this film is a great way to kick off a lively discussion.
  • TV Sale
    TV Sale
    Ernie Schmidt 1975 10 min
    This animated short is an entertaining and incisive satire on some of the material that is disgorged via the "boob tube." The opening pitch of the television salesman establishes the tone of this pithy film: a solid-state model guarantees high-quality entertainment, and programs are always designed around products, not spectators.
  • Two and Two
    Two and Two
    Abraham Côté 2009 3 min
    A man reads a newspaper; a tree falls. A copy machine hums; a tree falls. As the hours go by, a forest disappears. Since 2004, the travelling studios of Wapikoni Mobile have enabled Quebec First Nations youth to express themselves through videos and music. This short film was made with the guidance of these travelling studios and is part of the 2008 Selection - Wapikoni Mobile.
  • The Weight of the World
    The Weight of the World
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    Glynis Whiting 2003 51 min
    This fascinating documentary looks at obesity. Stockholm’s Dr. Stephan Rossner, an obesity specialist, proves beyond doubt that obesity is a man-made epidemic. Super-sized fast foods and a $12 billion ad industry are proving to be lethal when mixed with a car-dominated culture, urban sprawl and labour-saving technologies. This film was launched by the NFB and the CBC in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and Physical and Health Education Canada.
  • Wapos Bay: Self-improvement (Cree Version)
    Wapos Bay: Self-improvement (Cree Version)
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    Melanie Jackson 2009 23 min
    In episode 22 from the Wapos Bay series, home renovation superstar Mike Holmes comes to Wapos Bay to fix Jacob and T-Bear’s house - and finds that they're not the only ones struggling with a home that’s falling apart. Talon’s school life is also falling apart, and as his homework piles up, he and Devon devise a not-so-foolproof solution to buy him a few extra days away from the classroom.

    Wapos Bay is a stop-motion animation series that follows the adventures of 3 kids from a Cree community in northern Saskatchewan.
  • Wapos Bay: Self Improvement
    Wapos Bay: Self Improvement
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Melanie Jackson 2009 23 min
    In episode 22 from the Wapos Bay series, home renovation superstar Mike Holmes comes to Wapos Bay to fix Jacob and T-Bear’s house - and finds that they're not the only ones struggling with a home that’s falling apart. Talon’s school life is also falling apart, and as his homework piles up, he and Devon devise a not-so-foolproof solution to buy him a few extra days away from the classroom.

    Wapos Bay is a stop-motion animation series that follows the adventures of 3 kids from a Cree community in northern Saskatchewan.
  • We Are What We Eat
    We Are What We Eat
    Aube Giroux 2004 24 min
    Set to beautiful, pastoral images, We Are What We Eat introduces us to people bringing together their love of good food and passion for environmental protection. We meet wheat and strawberry producers, along with a wine grower and a chef — each doing things at their own pace, while resisting the demands of agribusiness.