This documentary describes the final 3 months leading up to the opening of Moulin à images, an impressionistic performance-event celebrating Quebec City's 400th anniversary. Director Robert Lepage works with a member of the Ex Machina team, leading a group of talented and creative young people who were invited to build this monumental panorama.
This film by Mariano Franco and Marie Belzil demonstrates the scope of the Lepage project, highlighting the contribution of every artist. The Image Mill Revealed is an adventure in art for the viewing audience.
Throughout his imposing career in the energy and financial sectors, Michael Koerner has dedicated himself to philanthropic work of similarly epic proportions. In his personal life, long-standing passions still burn as bright and steady as the North Star. Driven by generosity and an unadulterated curiosity, he seems heroically intent on evading the limelight.
Produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
In this short documentary about The Tragically Hip, director David Battistella uses a split-screen and acid-etched colours to distil the iconic Canadian band’s essence. After decades together, through hotels, highways, gigs and recording sessions, The Hip’s members have forged a powerful brotherhood. "These guys are my life partners, musically" says bass guitarist Gord Sinclair. The Hip's brand of straight-ahead rock and roll has catapulted the band to international stardom, and ensured them a place in Canadian musical history, but at heart, they remain a bunch of guys from Kingston, Ontario, making music together just for fun.
This film was produced for the 2008 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
This animated short by Theodore Ushev is like a whirlwind tour of Russian constructivist art and is filled with visual references to artists of the era, including Vertov, Stenberg, Rodchenko, Lissitsky and Popova.
A legend in his own mind, as well as a few other places, actor Eugene Levy's (American Pie, Best in Show) eyebrows alone deserve a place in the hallowed halls of national treasures. Join director Robin Neinstein as he engages Levy in an infotainment interview that goes horribly wrong. This film was produced for the 2008 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
In this fusion of fiction and documentary film, a Special Investigator catches a break when Peter A. Herrndorf volunteers to come in for questioning on an ongoing case. The Investigator quickly finds himself in a charming game of cat and mouse however, as he must determine whether this self-professed immigrant kid could really be the nation-building super hero he's been pursuing all these years.
This documentary introduces us to Mark Rowswell, a Canadian comedian virtually unknown in his own country who has an enormous following in mainland China, where he is known as Dashan.
The film provides a unique look at China through the eyes of a man who has become fully at home in Chinese culture—his appearances on national television have been known to draw up to 600 million viewers. It shows Rowswell performing, talking about his art and popularity, and discussing the West’s role in the development of the new China.
Eric Charman is the life of the party, and not only because he's usually the person organizing it. As a lifelong patron of the arts, Charman has raised money for the Victoria Symphony, the Pacific Opera Victoria, and, most significantly The Victoria Conservatory of Music. The life of a bon vivant is not nearly as effortless as it seems. Over the past 40 years, Charman has presided over 400 charity auctions. In this short film created for the 2008 Governor General Awards, director Carl Bessai captures the effervescent Eric Charman doing what he does best - throwing a party.
This feature documentary follows William Thorsell as he sets out to renovate Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum. He thinks big, opting for a bold architectural gesture that will inject a shot of amphetamine into the staid and sensible veins of Canada's biggest burg. Enter Daniel Libeskind, the celebrity architect linked to the Ground Zero site and other prestigious building projects. Smartly tuned to contemporary debates on public architecture, The Museum charts their grand scheme in an entertaining tale of ego, art and steel beams.
A feature documentary on Nigeria’s successful movie industry. The creative duo of Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal – the same team who made Discordia – profile the Lagos-based dream machine. Operating on low budgets and tight schedules, “Nollywood” specializes in a unique form of African B-movie that draws upon both traditional voodoo stories and contemporary urban themes.
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.
This revealing portrait of NFB filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin was shown at a gala ceremony in 2008, where Obomsawin received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Her work has captured some of the most startling events in Canadian history, including the armed standoff between the Canadian Army and Mohawk warriors in 1993. Her films cross a spectrum of social issues, but they are always human. Obomsawin explains in the interview, "For me, a real documentary is when you're really listening to somebody; they are the ones that will tell you what the story is, not you."
Ages 15 to 17
History and Citizenship Education - Modernization of Quebec Society (1929-1980)
History and Citizenship Education - Quebec Society Since 1980
Ask students to draw inspiration from the creative process of Robert Lepage and come up with an idea for an architectural projection on the theme of history and the city. Have them choose a location and assemble a bank of images related to that space. Though it is only a simulation, this activity is important in terms of the developmental process: students will be able to explain what fed their choice of imagery in relation to the theme.