Here Is Canada

A brief look at the history of Canada followed by a demonstration of the growth and strengths which Canada developed under the pressure of World War II. Included are glimpses of the resources, industries, people and lifestyles.

The NFB's 20th Oscar®-nominated film.

This short documentary offers a narrated tour—from a helicopter—of the ten Canadian provinces in 1966. The result is a big, beautiful and engrossing bird's-eye portrait of the country. Nothing here is quite the same as seen before, even Niagara Falls. Canadians will be thrilled by this panoramic view of familiar territory. This film was produced for international distribution on the occasion of the Canadian centennial.

Go head-to-head with an icebreaker. Plunge down a twisting mountain gorge. Soar through the clouds in the nosecone of a jet, then speed along with a dog team as it races across a frozen Arctic lake. A sweeping, moving tribute to Canada's stunning geography and rich cultural heritage, Momentum leaps off your screen--and touches your heart. Filmed entirely in IMAX, this film wowed audiences from around the world when it premiered at Expo 92 in Seville, Spain, the greatest world's fair of the last quarter century.

This lively satire uses animation and a pseudo-documentary style to depict Canada's search for a national identity. The National Scream explains, amongst other elements of Canadiana, how and why the beaver became the country's symbol.

This short film illustrates the Canadian national anthem through the use of contemporary and archival footage. A stunning rendition of the anthem is performed by a 57-piece orchestra, and the film features English subtitles with the anthem’s complete lyrics.

This short animation takes us on a humorous tour through the varied phases and faces of Canadian history, but the goal of defining a national identity doesn’t prove simple. The film sees Canadians as pragmatists, adaptable to whatever circumstances they encounter. It’s a boisterous, bubbling analysis of the Canadian character and although it may not answer the question of the film’s title, it certainly has fun trying.

A jetliner spans the miles, sheering through clouds to open sky and scenic vistas of the provinces below. Glimpses of town and country, of people of many ethnic origins, of a resourceful and industrious nation--impressions it would take days and weeks to gather at first hand--are brought to you in this vivid 1800-kilometer panorama.

Filmed for the most part from a low-flying aircraft, this documentary short presents a breathtaking view of Canada from coast to coast. Showing the varied terrain, from craggy coast to towering glacier, the film illustrates Canada’s pristine wilderness as well as today's industrial and urban realities.

Canada the Land was specially commissioned for the Canada Pavilion at the Osaka World Fair in 1970.

This film presents a breath-taking view of Canada from coast to coast. Besides showing the varied terrain, from craggy coast to towering glacier, the film illustrates something of the development of the land from its virgin state to today's intense and complex industrial exploitation. Filmed for the most part from a low-flying aircraft, there is evidence of space everywhere: in the caribou streaming across the snowy tundra, in the serried ranges of the Pacific mountains, in the distant horizons of lakes and seas, and in the spacious grain fields of the prairies. Equal to the grandiose natural scenes are the projects of Canadian industry, such as Quebec's great Manicouagan power dam, and the endless ribbon of the Trans-Canada Highway. This view of the land is surprising in its diversity.

An amusingly drawn cartoon about a highly proficient lady bricklayer, graduate of Specialists' School, whose work takes her high up in the world, and her erstwhile friend, whose equally dedicated professionalism brings him lower. She builds towers of bricks while he tunnels down below ground. What develops in the story involves other unlikely characters, plausible enough in this cartoon context.

The camera follows the Trans-Canada Highway from east to west, revealing the people, the resources and the geography of Canada. Included are some of the engineering feats accomplished in the building of the highway.