Football Story

This feature documentary follows one of the greatest Canadian baseball players of all time, Ferguson Jenkins, through the 1972-1973 season. From the hope and innocence of spring training to the dog days of an August slump, the camera gets up close and personal at the home plate and records the intimate chatter on the mound, in the dugout and in the locker room. It provides a glimpse into the rewards and pressures of sports stardom and the easy camaraderie of the quintessential summer sport.

This feature documentary uses animation, archival stills and live-action footage to detail the history of women's participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball. Zany and affectionate, it features 7-year-olds learning the rules and skills of the game and 50-year-olds hitting home runs, from the early days of the Bloomer Girls to the heyday of the Colorado Silver Bullets.

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

This documentary short shines a light on British Columbia’s soccer culture. With a special focus on the successful Vancouver Italia team, the film celebrates the province’s most popular sport.

This short film highlights how the sport of lacrosse, which has changed little over time, is regaining popularity. Watch how the game is played, how lacrosse sticks are made by Mohawks at a factory in Cornwall, and how the Canadian Lacrosse Association helps instruct teams.

This documentary by director Paul Cowan is about four athletes and a team that competed in the 1976 Olympics. They had trained courageously to be among those who would mount the podium to receive a medal. None of them did, but was it worth the effort? I'll Go Again answers the question.

This documentary uses frequent dramatic re-enactments to trace the tale of the Edmonton Grads women's basketball team, which was formed in 1915 and disbanded in 1940. During that time, the team was Canadian Champion (1922-1940), North American Champion (1923-1940), and World Champion (1924-1940). Their phenomenal record of 502 wins and 20 losses remains unrivalled by any team in any sport. Shooting Stars is a thorough historical look at female athletes in an era when sports were a man’s game.

This documentary is a zany portrait of the particular fever that hits the city of Ottawa, Ontario, during Grey Cup finals. The film is as much about the football game, where the Hamilton Tiger Cats face the Saskatchewan Roughriders, as it is about Ti-Cats fans and their infamous "Oskee Wee Wee", the magic chant with which they exhort their team to victory.

This short documentary focuses on the offence play required for the sport of lacrosse. It makes up the first part of a two-part series of training films for those interested in mastering the sport. The film uses close-ups, slow-motion, and stop-motion techniques to clearly illustrate tricks and moves that might otherwise be missed during a live demonstration.

This short documentary focuses on the defensive play required for the sport of lacrosse. Combined with Part One: Offence, these two films make up a complete training guide for those interested in the sport. The films use close-ups, slow-motion, and stop-motion techniques to clearly illustrate tricks and moves that might otherwise be missed during a live demonstration.

These vignettes from 1954 cover various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are: Ball Stars Start Young: In Vancouver's Little League, baseball players, diamond and equipment are junior size, but not the boys' coaches or the eagerness of teams and fans. An Auto a Minute: This is just about the rate of output seen in one of Ontario's automobile assembly plants. A Railroad Goes to Sea: Swapping steel rails for ocean waves is routine for British Columbia's Pacific Great Eastern Railway, travelling the forty-mile leg between Vancouver and Squamish by railway barge.

This feature-length documentary tells the story of the Asahi baseball team. In pre-World War II Vancouver, the team was unbeatable, winning the Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were sent to internment camps. The former Asahi members survived by playing ball. Their passion was contagious and soon other players joined in, among them RCMP officials and local townspeople. As a result, the games helped break down racial and cultural barriers. This remarkable story is told with a combination of archival footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments.