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This short film pays tribute to Acadian actress Viola Léger. One of the brightest stars in Canada’s artistic firmament, Léger is best known for her role as La Sagouine in the play of the same name by Acadian writer Antonine Maillet. She has performed it more than 2,500 times, winning rave reviews for her authentic and engaging portrayal. In this film, an in-depth interview combined with archival photos and videos captures the passion and vitality of a woman who, at the venerable age of 82, is ever willing to take on the roles still being offered to her.

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 2013 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

This short follows grand dame of the theatre Diana Leblanc as she prepares for a role in The Dybbuk (Soulpepper Theatre Company) and gets ready to direct an opera (Madame Butterfly). The film weaves together archival footage, photographs, and animation depicting Leblanc as a young ballerina, offering an intimate reflection on her life’s passions, challenges, and lessons.

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.

Here is what happened in a Toronto classroom when teachers occupied the children's desks and children became the teachers. The film grew out of another, Mrs. Ryan's Drama Class, where young children found their way into creative drama. There is food for thought in this impromptu reversal of roles.

The Perspective camera follows some Canadian students as they pursue acting careers by studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

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.

Claude Jutra's sweeping portrait of village life in 1940s Quebec has been called one of the greatest Canadian films of all time. Recalling a time when the local general store was the crossroads of life, the film illustrates the way a young boy sees the world and those closest to him – first through the eyes of a teenager, and later, as events change him, through the eyes of an adult. In French with English subtitles.

Backyard Theatre is a documentary about playwright Michel Tremblay and director André Brassard’s flavourful brand of Quebec theatre, which captured the earthy wit and joual (slang) of Montreal's East End working-class neighbourhood. The film features impromptu improvisation by the cast of Les belles-soeurs and Demain matin, Montréal m'attend, two genre-defining plays.

This documentary invites you to join acclaimed playwright David Fennario for a performance of his funny and touching one-man play Banana Boots.

The film recounts Fennario’s memories of Montreal’s Verdun and Point Saint-Charles districts, follows him on a journey to Belfast for the Irish premiere of his hit play Balconville, and details his move from major theatrical performances to community theatre, where he sought to "create theatre that can be used to fight back."

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.

This feature documentary follows Le Théâtre de La Mouette, a travelling puppet theatre company comprised of a husband, his wife and their 3 teenage sons. The family has crossed Canada from east to west, and north to the Yukon, taking their amusing play (with a serious ecological message) to remote towns and villages. This film traces their 7th trip in 10 years, this time to the Maritimes and Newfoundland.

This documentary short is a cinematic recording of Tales from a Prairie Drifter, a stage comedy about the North-West Resistance during the opening of the Canadian West. Highlighting the roles of Louis Riel, the Resistance leader, prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald and General Middleton, who was sent to quell the uprising, the play defines the First nations and Métis cause more succinctly than many history books. Here, the play is performed by the Regina Globe Theatre before an Indigineous audience of First Nations and Métis, whose reactions are recorded.