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Alberta as Seen by NFB Filmmakers
Discover this program of films made in Alberta between the 1930s and the 2020s, offering a wide-ranging look at the lives and experiences of the unique communities in this province.
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John Ware ReclaimedCheryl Foggo 2020 1 h 12 minPlease note: This film contains explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.
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. -
A Short Film About Tegan & SaraAnn Marie Fleming 2018 4 minIn this joyful portrait, filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming animates the formative days and musical career of Calgary-born identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Their remarkable journey over the past 20 years has often intersected with notions of identity—as artists, as individuals, as sisters, as queer women, and as leading activists in the LGBTQ community. Their musical progression parallels and amplifies their commitment to bringing the marginal to the mainstream.
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Death of a SkylineBryan Smith 2003 41 minA bulldozer tears into the side of a wooden grain elevator. The magnificent prairie landmark crumples to the ground. Once, more than 5,000 Alberta grain elevators graced the skyline. Today they're being razed to make way for modern concrete structures. Are these "prairie cathedrals" being destroyed due to obsolescence or corporate profit? In this film, a lively cast of characters reveals the story of these disappearing landmarks. The citizens of Mayerthorpe, Alberta fight to save their elevator as demolition day approaches. A Montana couple, Bruce and Barbara Selyem, race to photograph elevators across the continent before they are ripped down. Pete Kirk salvages grain-worn wood from demolition sites to build furniture and recycle a piece of prairie history. With archival film clips, interviews and dramatic footage of tumbling grain elevators, Death of a Skyline explores the history and significance of these familiar prairie structures. Wooden grain elevators have been at the heart of North America's economic, cultural and physical landscape for more than a century. As they continue to fall, will all that remains be memories of a vanishing way of life?
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Return HomeMichelle Wong 1992 29 minFirst-generation Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Michelle Wong returns to her birthplace, St. Paul, Alberta, to get reacquainted with her aging grandparents. Her visit becomes an emotional journey into the past and into herself as she documents their stories, their lives. Return Home touchingly explores intergenerational relations while capturing the spirit and experiences of early Chinese-Canadian immigrants and their role in Canadian history. Also available in a Chinese version.
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Foster ChildGil Cardinal 1987 43 minAn important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards. “Foster Child is one of the great docs to come out of Canada, and nobody but Gil could have made it,” says Jesse Wente, director of Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office. “Gil made it possible for us to think about putting our own stories on the screen, and that was something new and important.”
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Like the TreesKathleen Shannon 1974 14 minThis short film is told in the first person by Rose, a Métis woman from northern Alberta who has left a difficult life in the city to rediscover her roots by returning to her Woodland Cree community. Rose reveals the racism, isolation and health issues she faced when trying to make a life for herself outside her home community, and how she is able to help others now that she has reconnected to her culture. The film is part of a 1970s series of eleven films title Working Mothers by producer/director Kathleen Shannon, exposing inequality for women in accessing education, childcare, and equal pay. These films led to the creation of Studio D at the National Film Board, the world’s first feminist production studio.
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StampedeClaude Fournier 1963 27 minThis short documentary offers a look at Stampede Week in Calgary and the show’s main performers – the cowboys and their horses. After the herds come thundering in, the focus shifts to one cowboy in particular, and we follow him as he travels from rodeo to rodeo, always reaching for the grand prize on the back of a bucking bronco.
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CorralColin Low 1954 11 minWestern ballads played on guitar are the only sounds used in this romantic portrait of a cowboy. He rounds up wild horses, lassoing one of the high-spirited animals in the corral, and then goes for a glorious plunging ride across the spectacular Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta.
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The Banff-Jasper Highway1940 11 minA travel film showing the magnificent scenery of the Rocky Mountains as seen from the highway linking Banff and Jasper National Parks.
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Mountain Magic1938 10 minVisitors to Jasper Park can enjoy the spectacular beauty of the Rockies. Holiday thrills include trail riding as well as tennis and swimming.
