Ces hommes de passage - (Extrait)

In this short documentary, massive ships harking from all four corners of the world majestically glide by on the St. Lawrence River as riverside residents watch. But they know nothing of the secrets hidden in these floating leviathans laden with colourful containers - except for a select few who get to briefly join their voyage when they guide the ocean-crossing ships safely into harbour.

Nadine Beaudet's World of Passage captures poetic fragments of life on board as sailors perform their endless tasks.

This film is part of the The first edition. of the 5 Shorts Project, created by the National Film Board of Canada and produced in conjunction with Spirafilm, a Quebec cooperative dedicated to independent cinema.

The second edition can be found here.
The third edition can be found here.

A woman with a deep love of the land, Yolande Simard Perrault sees her life as having been shaped by a planetary upheaval in Charlevoix, Quebec, millions of years ago. As enduring as the Canadian Shield, she’s a woman of strength and spirit, a child of the crater left by the meteor’s impact. This documentary portrays a determined woman who’s the reflection of a land created on an immense scale. She was the creative and life partner of filmmaker Pierre Perrault, who gave up everything to be by her side. The film charts the influence of her unquenchable dreams and her contribution to the building of a people’s collective memory. In a stream of images and words, Simard Perrault recounts the splendours of the landscape and the people who shaped it. Generous and boundless, she embarks on a quest for identity that nurtures and perpetuates the oeuvre of the man who breathed new life into Quebec cinema.

Ghyslain Raza, better known as the “Star Wars Kid,” breaks his silence to reflect on our hunger for content and the right to be forgotten in the digital age.

Cordell Barker, director of the Oscar®-nominated films The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders, is back with Runaway. Set to the rousing music of Ben Charest (Triplets of Belleville), this animated short takes you on a journey that is both funny and disastrous.

This short documentary from the Canada Carries On series celebrates the contribution of Canada’s railroads to the war effort. The film includes a sequence from Buster Keaton's 1926 silent comedy The General, as well as a re-enactment of Lord Strathcona driving the final spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway Line.

This short animated film takes an amusing look at city dwellers' obsessive dependence on the automobile. Just as he does every morning, a man is preparing to jump into his car and head off to work when the remote control gizmo refuses to cooperate. The key won't unlock the door! Some helpful passersby suggest several solutions, but our stubborn hero turns a deaf ear. Will he get to work on time?

These vignettes from 1952 covered various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included a floating laboratory ship from the National Research Council, a visit by a group of Canadian veterans revisiting Normandy plus events at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

This installment in the Canada Vignettes series depicts the Canadian Forces Air Demonstration Aerobatics team at work.

These vignettes from 1954 cover various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are: Veteran Steamer Ends Record Service: On the mountain-circled Arrow Lakes of British Columbia, the Minto, an old stern-wheeler whose service dates back to the 1890's gold rush, makes her last round of calls. Inside Story of a Lady's Mink Coat: From raw pelts to fur auction, to dressing plant to fashion designer, we follow the several stages in the manufacture of a beautiful, luxurious mink coat.

This short documentary examines the complex range of issues affecting urban transport in developing countries. After examining cost and available technology, as well as the different needs of the industrialized middle class and the urban poor, the film proposes some surprising solutions.

This short documentary offers a step-by-step account of a fast freight train on a run from Toronto to Halifax, with glimpses of the vast amount of organization necessary in the operation of a country-wide transportation network.