New Releases

Bill Reid Remembers
Alanis Obomsawin 2021 24 min
Bill Reid Remembers is a beautiful tribute from Alanis Obomsawin to her friend’s remarkable life and rich legacy. Despite spending his early life away from his nation’s culture, renowned Haida artist Bill Reid always kept Haida Gwaii close to his heart. While working for CBC Radio, he started learning how to make jewelry, then later sculpture, using Haida techniques and images, a move that would forever change his life and the Canadian artistic landscape. Reid’s powerful narration in the film—interspersed with Obomsawin’s own—recounts his complex childhood, his emergence as an accomplished artist, and his profound connection to his homeland. Decades after his passing, Bill Reid remains an enduring force and one of Canada’s greatest artists.
Theodore Ushev: Unseen Connections
Borislav Kolev 2022 1 h 17 min
Theodore Ushev, the auteur behind a number of renowned animated shorts, reveals his inner universe, formed by a half-century of personal experience acquired in a constantly changing world.
Unarchived
Hayley Gray & Elad Tzadok 2022 1 h 24 min
In community archives across British Columbia, local knowledge keepers are hand-fashioning a more inclusive history. Through a collage of personal interviews, archival footage and deeply rooted memories, the past, present and future come together, fighting for a space where everyone is seen and everyone belongs. History is what we all make of it.
Lay Down Your Heart
Marie Clements 2022 1 h 5 min
An intimate look into the mind of Niall McNeil, an artist and performer with Down syndrome, and his unique chosen family. In Lay Down Your Heart, Niall introduces us to his many “family members,” his multiple “children,” his renowned “ex-wife” and director of the film Marie Clements, and other bonds forged through open-hearted creativity.
What Rhymes with Toxic
Lynn Smith 2021 5 min
Chemical sludge is spilling into the lake. For the city councillor responsible, it’s just a big nuisance. For the wildlife, it’s a catastrophe. One turtle, in her desperate hour, summons up the courage to leave her home and speak truth to power. Turns out there’s more at stake than just the lake.
Nounours
Lou Rigoudy 2021 2 min
A story of a girl and her teddy bear as she grows up and they grow apart.
Inconvenient Indian
Michelle Latimer 2020 1 h 28 min
In this time of radical change and essential re-examination, Inconvenient Indian brings to life Thomas King’s brilliant dismantling of North America’s colonial narrative, reframing this history with the powerful voices of those continuing the tradition of Indigenous resistance.

Please note: This film was temporarily withdrawn from active distribution after the director’s Indigenous identity was called into question in late 2020, when the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, an Algonquin First Nation, denied any connection to her during a CBC investigation. After 2022 series of meaningful consultations involving all the Indigenous participants whose stories the film presents, as well as the NFB’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, the NFB, 90th Parallel Productions and producer Jesse Wente arrived at an accountable path forward for the film, one that acknowledges the collective contribution of the on-screen Indigenous participants. Inconvenient Indian premiered on APTN on April 8, 2022, and it has been made available on APTN’s online viewing platform.

Inconvenient Indian is available for educational distribution and community screenings, along with supplementary resource material that has been created to encourage reflection and discussion. Please contact the NFB Client Relations and Support team to find out how to obtain the film as an educational resource (classroom use) and for community screenings.
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Catherine Bainbridge 2017 1 h 42 min
RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World tells the story of a profound, essential, and, until now, missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring music icons like Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, RUMBLE will show how these talented Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.
Unspoken Tears (Trauma Through Words)
Hélène Magny 2022 1 h 15 min
How can refugee children integrate into Quebec’s school system, given the unspeakable violence they’ve experienced? Following a psychologist specializing in conflict-related trauma, Unspoken Tears pays tribute to the admirable resilience and survival strategies of these “small adults,” whose spirit the bombs and camps have not completely crushed, at a time when it is vital to raise awareness in Western societies of migration-related issues and children’s rights.
Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows
Mathieu Fournier 2022 1 h 19 min
In this Mathieu Fournier documentary on the first viral phenomenon of the digital age, Ghyslain Raza (the “Star Wars Kid”) breaks his silence and reflects on his story for the first time. In doing so, he also explores our collective experience living in an online world in which we have to make peace with our digital shadows.
Someone Like Me
Sean Horlor & Steve J. Adams 2021 1 h 19 min
TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains scenes depicting homophobia and violence, which may be disturbing to some viewers.

Someone Like Me follows the parallel journeys of Drake, a gay asylum seeker from Uganda, and a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community who are tasked with supporting his resettlement in Canada. Together, they embark on a year-long quest for personal freedom, revealing how in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist, survival itself becomes a victory.
The Silence
Renée Blanchar 2021 1 h 48 min
WARNING: This film discusses the topic of childhood sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised.

Why be silent about the most serious matters? Doesn’t silence perpetuate suffering? From the 1950s to the 1980s, Catholic priests sexually abused many young boys in the francophone towns of New Brunswick. These scandals only came to light when the victims were in their fifties, provoking shock and outrage in the media and the public. Why did the affected communities keep silent so long, preferring secrecy to justice and truth? Profiting from their positions of influence to impose a “pious silence” on their parishioners, authority figures built an abusive system that tells us as much about the type of oppression specific to the Acadian population as it does about the blanket denials issued by the Catholic Church. Called to confront the power of this collective silence, veteran filmmaker Renée Blanchar meets with survivors in an attempt to untangle the deeply rooted reasons for this secrecy. With The Silence, she takes us as close as she can to the humanity of these broken men, revealing the forces that, today as in the past, have the power to unite or divide Acadian communities.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers 2021 2 h 4 min
Follow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.
Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again
Courtney Montour 2021 34 min
Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.
The Magnitude of All Things
Jennifer Abbott 2020 1 h 26 min
Jennifer Abbott’s new documentary The Magnitude of All Things merges stories from the frontlines of climate change with recollections of the loss of her sister, drawing intimate parallels between personal and planetary grief.
Wintopia
Mira Burt-Wintonick 2019 1 h 28 min
Wintopia is an intimate father-daughter story and poignant search for the meaning of utopia. Following the quick and tragic death of Peter Wintonick, Canada’s “documentary ambassador to the world”, his daughter Mira Burt-Wintonick dives into her father’s obsession with untangling the contradiction that is utopia. The remains of his unfinished film and several hundred hours of raw footage shot over 15 years leads Mira to surprising places and connections with her father, compelling all of us to live life with purpose.
Stateless
Michèle Stephenson 2020 1 h 35 min
In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army on the basis of anti-black racism. Fast-forward to 2013: the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929, rendering more than 200,000 people stateless. Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows the grassroots campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris, as she challenges electoral corruption and fights to protect the right to citizenship for all people.
Standing on the Line
Paul Émile d'Entremont 2018 1 h 20 min
TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains the following subject matter: Suicide and self harm.

In both amateur and professional sports, being gay remains taboo. For some athletes, the pressure to perform is compounded by the further strain of deciding whether or not to come out of the closet. They set out to overcome prejudice in the hopes of changing things for the athletes of tomorrow.
Tales of Ordinary Fatphobia
Josiane Blanc 2019 24 min
What is fatphobia and what can be done to overcome it? With poetic illustrations and painful, compelling testimony, Tales of Ordinary Fatphobia offers multiple examples of the psychological effects of weight-based discrimination and bullying on adolescent girls.
What is Democracy?
Astra Taylor 2018 1 h 47 min
Featuring a diverse cast—including celebrated philosophers, trauma surgeons, factory workers, refugees, and politicians—What Is Democracy? connects past and present, emotion and the intellect, the personal and the political, to provoke and inspire. If we want to live in democracy, we must first ask what the word even means.
Borealis
Kevin McMahon 2020 1 h 33 min
In his new feature documentary Borealis, acclaimed director Kevin McMahon (Waterlife) travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment? Borealis offers an immersive portrait of the lifecycles of the forest from the perspective of the plants and animals that live there.
Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger
Alanis Obomsawin 2019 1 h 5 min
Alanis Obomsawin's 52nd film tells the story of how the life of Jordan River Anderson initiated a battle for the right of First Nations and Inuit children to receive the same standard of social, health and educational services as the rest of the Canadian population.
Becoming Labrador
Rohan Fernando , Tamara Segura , … 2018 1 h 10 min
In the stark Labrador interior, a growing number of Filipino workers have recently landed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, travelling halfway around the world for jobs they hope will offer their families new opportunities and a better life. Becoming Labrador follows a handful of those women and men as they make a place for themselves in Labrador while dealing with the unexpected costs of living far from their family.
Higher Than Flames Will Go
Monique LeBlanc 2020 1 h 43 min
A true cinematic tour de force, this auteur essay film is an adaptation of Plus haut que les flames, Louise Dupré’s 2011 Governor General’s Award-winning book of poetry. A moving meditation on the vital importance of taking care of our children—a task that remains essential to humanity’s salvation.
Martha
Daniel Schubert 2020 21 min
Even at a frail 90, Martha Katz has an impish energy that remains undiminished. She chides grandson-filmmaker Daniel Schubert over his choice of shirt during a visit to her Los Angeles home, but there’s trauma beneath the humour. At 14, Martha and her family were torn from their village in Czechoslovakia and shipped to Auschwitz. A visit to a Holocaust museum ignites painful memories, including a haunting personal encounter with one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious figures. For Martha, however, the emphasis is on a tough but rewarding postwar life in Winnipeg, which she fondly recalls in this warm, intimate portrait of an unrelenting survivor.
I Am Skylar
Rachel Bower 2019 15 min
I Am Skylar is the emotionally compelling story of an articulate 14-year-old girl who is thoughtfully defining her future and the woman she is to become. Surrounded by a family and a community who show her unconditional love as she follows her personal path, Skylar faces the complexities of being a transgender girl on the cusp of puberty with refreshing honesty and unshakeable dignity.
Pauline Julien, Intimate and Political
Pascale Ferland 2018 1 h 17 min
With a meticulous selection of interviews, performances and photos drawn from a vast and rich archival collection, Pauline Julien, Intimate and Political follows the iconic Quebec singer and eternally free spirit on a journey through key moments in the province’s history.
John Ware Reclaimed
Cheryl Foggo 2020 1 h 12 min
Please 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.
Kenbe la, Until We Win
Will Prosper 2019 1 h 23 min
Set in the lush Haitian countryside as well as the icy landscapes of Quebec, Will Prosper’s documentary Kenbe la, Until We Win chronicles the inspiring journey of Alain Philoctète, an artist and activist who dreams of developing a permaculture project in his native country even as he fights an ongoing battle with cancer.
Far from Bashar
Pascal Sanchez 2020 1 h 13 min
Several years ago, after taking part in the mass uprisings against Bashar al-Assad, Adnan al-Mahamid had to flee Syria with his wife, Basmah, and their four children. Now settled in Montreal, the family opens their door to filmmaker Pascal Sanchez. They’ve adjusted to life in a peaceful city, but Adnan and Basmah still fear for loved ones back in Syria whose status and whereabouts remain unknown. The war that’s thousands of kilometres away continues to haunt them, surging suddenly to the fore in a conversation, Skype call or Facebook feed. Far from Bashar chronicles an endearing family as they go about their lives, tormented by a distant and seemingly interminable conflict.
The Apollo of Gaza
Nicolas Wadimoff 2018 1 h 18 min
In 2013, an ancient statue of Apollo was found in the waters off Gaza—before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Is it the work of forgers, or a gift from the gods to a Palestinian people desperately in need of hope? Soon the rumours start to swirl, while behind the scenes local and international players start jostling—some driven by historical preservation and others by purely commercial interests. Filmed in Gaza and Jerusalem, The Apollo of Gaza plays out like a mystery built around a national treasure that is the stuff of dreams. The Apollo of Gaza is an engaging reflection on the passage of time and the fragility of civilizations, as well as a poetic and philosophical meditation that immerses us in the often-misunderstood realities of life in a place that continues to pay a heavy price for the seemingly endless Israeli-Palestinian conflict—a place where life doggedly carries on, resisting. Like a meteor streaking across the sky, the statue of Apollo brings a moment of light and beauty to Gaza. Can it help restore dignity to a people, revealing a glorious history and fostering pride in a nation often misrepresented and demeaned?
Open Sky: Portrait of a Pavilion in Venice
Katerine Giguère 2020 25 min
An intimate portrait of the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, an architectural gem designed by Milan’s famous Studio BBPR and recently restored, along with its gardens, by the National Gallery of Canada.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up (52 minutes)

Tasha Hubbard 2019 52 min
On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.
The Dispossessed

Mathieu Roy 2017 3 h 2 min
The Dispossessed examines the global food crisis from the viewpoint of farmers in various countries, exploring how their situation relates to the economic crisis, rural exodus, and dwindling natural resources.
Metamorphosis
Nova Ami & Velcrow Ripper 2018 1 h 24 min
A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper's film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another. Metamorphosis captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life. But this crisis is also an opportunity for transformation. Through a tidal flow of stunning images, Metamorphosis carves a path from the present to the future, and offers a bold new vision for humanity and the world.
The Whale and the Raven
Mirjam Leuze 2019 1 h 41 min
Director Mirjam Leuze’s The Whale and the Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.
This Is Who I Am
Manuel Ibanez 2018 11 min
A young First Nations woman struggles with her identity in the big city. After a series of events, she realizes she can still be Anishinaabe, and in fact, it is her responsibility.
Highway to Heaven
Sandra Ignagni 2019 16 min
This short symphonic documentary offers a glimpse into the unique religious co-existence found along No. 5 Road in Richmond, British Columbia. Highway to Heaven takes audiences into many of the temples, mosques, and churches that call No. 5 home, revealing unity despite difference across these diverse cultural spaces. In a world struggling with religious violence and intolerance, filmmaker Sandra Ignagni has crafted a gentle portrait of a rare landscape using attentive imagery and an acoustic tapestry of prayer.
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
Tasha Hubbard 2019 1 h 38 min
On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.
What Walaa Wants
Christy Garland 2018 1 h 29 min
Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in an Israeli prison, Walaa is determined to become one of the few women in the Palestinian Security Forces—not easy for a girl who breaks all the rules. Following Walaa from the ages of 15 to 21 with an intimate POV, What Walaa Wants tells the compelling story of a defiant young girl who navigates formidable obstacles, disproving the negative predictions from her surroundings and the world at large.
A Delicate Balance
Christine Chevarie-Lessard 2018 1 h 15 min
Filmed from the point of view of its young subjects, A Delicate Balance takes an introspective look at the lives of four dancers on the cusp of adolescence—that critical time in one’s life when childhood fantasies begin to collide with the realities of being an adult. A tender and captivating documentary in which students of the École supérieure de ballet du Québec candidly tell their stories and share their hopes and dreams.
Conviction
Nance Ackerman , Ariella Pahlke , … 2019 1 h 17 min
Conviction envisions alternatives to prison through the eyes of women behind bars and those fighting on the front lines of the decarceration movement. Not another ‘broken prison’ film, this collaboration is a ‘broken society’ film—an ambitious and inspired re-build of our community, from the inside out. The film compels viewers to examine why we imprison the most vulnerable among us, and at what cost.
Angel Peacock
Peter Svatek 2019 24 min
Dawod is a 12 year old Yazidi boy. The Yazidi are a small Kurdish-speaking sect from northern Iraq that dates back to Mesopotamian times – who have been persecuted for almost as long. ISIS has been waging a campaign of genocide against them since 2014. Over 10,000 men have been killed. Thousands of women kidnapped, raped and trafficked. The survivors are in camps in Kurdistan and a lucky few have been brought to Germany and Canada. Dawod and his mother Naro were held captive by ISIS for months. They managed to escape by running through forests for 9 days and nights without food or water. They made it to one of the refugee camps and from there to Canada, arriving in London, Ontario in January 2018. This is the story of Dawod's arrival in and introduction to his new homeland and way of life.
Sovereign Soil
David Curtis 2019 1 h 31 min
Set in the northern wilds surrounding the tiny sub-Arctic town of Dawson City, Yukon, Sovereign Soil is an ode to the beauty of this ferocious, remote land and the wisdom of those who’ve chosen to call it home.
Beauty
Christina Willings 2018 23 min
Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their own sense of what it means to be fully human. Whether it’s dealing with bullies, explaining themselves to their parents, or navigating the uncharted waters of relationships, Bex, Lili, Fox, Tru and Milo talk about their experiences and struggle to live in authenticity.
The Song and the Sorrow
Millefiore Clarkes 2018 42 min
The Song and the Sorrow follows Catherine as she journeys to understand her father and face her own struggles with mental illness. Through archival footage and intimate interviews with friends, family members, and musicians who knew and played with Gene—including Anne Murray, Lennie Gallant, and the late Ron Hynes—the film reveals a troubled and loving man who was never at ease with fame or money.
Ice Breakers
Sandamini Rankaduwa 2019 15 min
Josh Crooks is a promising teen hockey star in a sport where Black players like him are chronically underrepresented. Ice Breakers reveals the buried history of a pioneering Black hockey league in Atlantic Canada, as Crooks discovers that his unshakable passion is tied to a rich and remarkable heritage.
Winds of Spring
Keyu Chen 2017 6 min
Unfolding with the rhythm of the seasons, Winds of Spring tells the tender story of a young girl who, driven by the irrepressible need for self-fulfillment, decides to leave the family nest. Keyu Chen employs her signature style of fluid transitions and fine, spare lines inspired by Chinese ink painting in her delicately crafted first film.Keyu Chen makes use of fine lines and fluid transitions in her delicately crafted first film, which tells the tale of a young girl who, driven by the irrepressible need for self-fulfillment, dreams of leaving the family nest.
The Phone
Iris Boudreau & Francis Papillon 2019 2 min
Iris has finally acquired a cell phone—her first. Cathon would love to help her learn how to use it, but Iris insists on figuring it out all by herself. How did people communicate before the telephone was invented, anyway?
High Wire
Claude Guilmain 2019 1 h 22 min
High Wire examines the reasons that Canada declined to take part in the 2003 US-led military mission in Iraq, shining a spotlight on the diplomatic tug of war that took place behind the scenes with our neighbours to the south, who have often adopted an interventionist foreign policy to serve their own economic and geopolitical interests. Canada’s historic refusal could have had disastrous consequences, but a number of key players and other analysts remind us of the terrible price we pay when diplomacy fails.
Stories Are in Our Bones
Janine Windolph 2019 11 min
In this layered short film, filmmaker Janine Windolph takes her young sons fishing with their kokum (grandmother), a residential school survivor who retains a deep knowledge and memory of the land. The act of reconnecting with their homeland is a cultural and familial healing journey for the boys, who are growing up in the city. It’s also a powerful form of resistance for the women.
The Zoo
Julia Kwan 2018 11 min
The Zoo follows the parallel lives of a polar bear cub in a popular city zoo and a Chinese boy who visits him until they’re both in their twilight years.
Lucien’s Happiness
Nathalie Hébert 2019 23 min
To better understand the essence of happiness, filmmaker Nathalie Hébert speaks with Lucien Comeau, a musician and “philosopher of the everyday” who lives in Tracadie-Sheila, New Brunswick. This simple, informal portrait nonetheless moves beyond conventional, preconceived ideas to offer profound insights into the meaning of life and success.
Hedgehog's Home
Eva Cvijanovic 2017 10 min
In a lush and lively forest lives a hedgehog. He is respected and envied by the other animals. However, Hedgehog’s unwavering devotion to his home annoys a quartet of insatiable beasts. Together, they march off towards Hedgehog’s home and spark a tense and prickly standoff.

Exquisitely directed by Eva Cvijanović and based on the classic story by Branko Ćopić, a writer from the former Yugoslavia, Hedgehog’s Home is a warm and universal tale for young and old that reminds us there truly is no place like home.
Where the Land Ends
Loïc Darses 2019 1 h 29 min
Against the backdrop of the camera’s meditative wandering through the places that created Quebec, Where the Land Ends explores and questions the historical narrative, as a group of young people who were not old enough to vote in the 1995 referendum express their views. They seem to have decided, on their own, to create a new “Terre des Hommes” (Man and His World).
My Yiddish Papi
Éléonore Goldberg 2017 7 min
A young woman decides not to answer a phone call from her grandfather, unaware that it will be his last. When he dies, she is overwhelmed with guilt and regret and can’t sleep. But then she remembers a promise made long ago: to illustrate his wartime adventures as a member of the French Resistance.

In co-production with Picbois Productions.
If I Was God...
Cordell Barker 2015 8 min
In this short animated film, a Grade 7 boy’s mind starts to wander while dissecting a frog in Biology class. What would you do if you suddenly found yourself charged with God-like powers? Would you use them for good? For bad? Perhaps a little of both? The possibilities seem endless. Oh to have the power to toy with life and death, to create monsters who can punish those who torment him daily, or better yet, to create that one perfect day with Lily, the love of his 12-year-old life!
Animal Behaviour
Alison Snowden & David Fine 2018 14 min
Dealing with what comes naturally isn’t easy, especially for animals.

In Animal Behaviour, the latest animated short from the Oscar®-winning team of Alison Snowden and David Fine (Bob’s Birthday), five animals meet regularly to discuss their inner angst in a group therapy session led by Dr. Clement, a canine psychotherapist. The group includes Lorraine, a leech who suffers from separation anxiety; Cheryl, a praying mantis who can’t seem to keep a man; Todd, a pig with an eating disorder; Jeffrey, a bird with guilt issues; and Linda, an obsessive-compulsive cat.
The Devil's Share
Luc Bourdon 2017 1 h 42 min
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.
Way of the Hunter
Robert Moberg 2018 16 min
Deep in the Great Bear Rainforest, against the backdrop of British Columbia’s breathtaking wilderness, a former hunter comes to terms with his past and looks with hope towards the future. Exploring one man’s evolving relationship with the natural world, Way of the Hunter tells the compelling story of Robert Moberg, a hunter who ultimately traded his gun for a camera.
Freaks of Nurture
Alexandra Lemay 2018 6 min
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.
I Like Girls
Diane Obomsawin 2016 8 min
In this animated short from Diane Obomsawin, four women reveal the nitty-gritty about their first loves, sharing funny and intimate tales of one-sided infatuation, mutual attraction, erotic moments, and fumbling attempts at sexual expression. For them, discovering that they're attracted to other women comes hand-in-hand with a deeper understanding of their personal identity and a joyful new self-awareness.
A Better Man
Attiya Khan & Lawrence Jackman 2017 1 h 17 min
Illuminating a new paradigm for domestic-violence prevention, A Better Man offers a fresh and nuanced look at the healing and revelation that can happen for everyone involved when men take responsibility for their abuse. It also empowers audience members to play new roles in challenging domestic violence, whether it’s in their own relationships or as part of a broader movement for social change.
Threads
Torill Kove 2017 8 min
In her latest animated short, Academy Award®-winning director Torill Kove explores the beauty and complexity of parental love, the bonds that we form over time, and the ways in which they stretch and shape us.
Our People Will Be Healed
Alanis Obomsawin 2017 1 h 36 min
Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th film, reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education. The Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre in Norway House, north of Winnipeg, receives a level of funding that few other Indigenous institutions enjoy. Its teachers help their students to develop their abilities and their sense of pride.
Unarmed Verses
Charles Officer 2016 1 h 25 min
This feature documentary presents a thoughtful and vivid portrait of a community facing imposed relocation. At the centre of the story is a remarkably astute and luminous 12-year-old black girl whose poignant observations about life, the soul, and the power of art give voice to those rarely heard in society. Unarmed Verses is a cinematic rendering of our universal need for self-expression and belonging.
Birth of a Family
Tasha Hubbard 2017 1 h 19 min
Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie, and Ben were only four of the 20,000 Indigenous Canadian children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or live in foster care. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, and their family begins to take shape.
World In a City
Brett Story 2016 13 min
World in a City is a portrait of Toronto and the steps Torontonians are taking to create a society that welcomes and encourages new immigrants to flourish. Join photographer Colin Boyd Shafer as he celebrates diversity in this short film, Canada’s contribution to the Big Cities project, an exciting international collaboration that uses documentary storytelling to outline both the challenges facing growing urban areas and the bold solutions to these ongoing problems.
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.
Mabel
Teresa MacInnes 2016 20 min
Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.
Uniquely Viola
Rodolphe Caron 2016 1 h 15 min
Eighty-five-year-old Viola Léger has been embodying La Sagouine, the famous character from Antonine Maillet’s eponymous 1971 play, for over 40 years. Filmmaker Rodolphe Caron follows the veteran Acadian actress as she prepares for a new series of performances, inviting her to talk about her long and successful career.

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