Eye Witness No. 23

In the Air: At the Saskatoon Soaring Club prairie farmers take up the sport of gliding. Under the Water: Scuba diving and spearfishing at Cape Breton's Dolphin Skin Diving Club. On the Water: The Canadian Canoe Championship races at Ottawa.

The NFB's 27th Oscar®-nominated film.

Director Bill Mason's short film focuses on his friend and fellow filmmaker, Blake James. In his never-ending quest for freedom, Blake pilots his own plane. This film is Mason's view of his friend as a "hobo of the skies," but it is also an adventure that beckons the viewer to come along for the ride.

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason illustrates the joy and poetry of paddling solo. All the basic strokes used to control the canoe are rendered with perfect clarity through animated lines.

The two stories covered in this edition of the Eye Witness series include: Apprentices Learn While Building School, about young men in Chicoutimi finding purpose in apprenticeship programs; and Serial Attack on Spruce Budworm, about the low-flying planes of New Brunswick’s Forest Protection Limited buzzing the treetops with DDT.

Every summer, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets offers its top cadets the chance to participate in an elite flight-training camp. As the Crow Flies follows a group of these young men and women as they undergo seven weeks of training to get their pilot’s license in an intense program that normally takes six to eight months.

Shows Scottish settlers in the Highlands of Cape Breton, much like the Highlands of Scotland. Small flocks of sheep like the crofters of the old country wander on the hills and provide wool for spinning and weaving, while the plain-spired churches and the only Gaelic College in the world keep alive the faith brought from other highlands across the sea. Gaelic language is heard in the church, singing in community and casual exchanges between passers-by.

Take flight with this short film about the sport of gliding, and enjoy a captivating journey into near space, where all the beauty of earth and heaven meet at the wide-winged engineless craft poised between them. Filmed over the mountains of the Laurentians and the Canadian Rockies, the film offers breathtaking views and whets the appetite for adventure.

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason explains clearly how to locate a deep water channel by reading the rapids and how to apply paddling strokes and manoeuvres to steer the canoe where you want it to go. It also depicts what happens if you "wipe out" in a turbulent rapid and shows you how to survive the swim.

This feature-length documentary follows 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.

For more background info on this film, visit the NFB.ca blog.

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason demonstrates the basic doubles paddling strokes and how to apply them in various combinations. The application of each stroke in rapids is shown briefly and the emphasis is always on working as a well-coordinated team.

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason shows how to read the rapids and plan a course and follow it, with complete control of the boat, using the basic paddling strokes. Running rapids will always be a calculated risk, but risk diminishes with skill and knowledge. The strokes can be used in endless combination to reduce the risks of whitewater canoeing and increase the sheer joy and exuberance.