Manouane River Lumberjacks

This short documentary brings to the screen a great seasonal event in the Québec spruce forest—the log drive. In lyrics set to a sprightly tune, ballad singer describes this annual spectacle. A vast aggregation of logs moves downstream on a river, spurred by dynamite and sharp-tipped cant hooks, tossed and twirled by the boots of leaping men.

This short documentary looks at how modern technology affects the forestry industry and the role of the forester in ensuring the sustainability of this great natural resource. It was in the '60s that people started to realize that the forests did not provide an endless supply of wood, and thanks to recent developments in the science of forestry, people are learning how to manage the resources more effectively.

In Abitibi, hundreds of kilometres from the city, thousands of workers go North, as did Jos Montferrand and François Paradis. Working as brush cutters, these 21st-century lumberjacks discover Quebec's boreal forest. Far from their families, they spend 5 or 6 months a year in logging camps that mirror a new Quebec, those of French-Canadian descent and neo-Quebecers from Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. All have come to earn a living in the forest. Filmmaker Stéphanie Lanthier invites us to spend an entire season inside this northern micro society. Using a direct cinema technique in the style of Pierre Perrault, she documents the lives of the brush cutters.

Easily one of the most often-requested films in the NFB collection, this lighthearted animated short is based on the song “The Log Driver’s Waltz” by Wade Hemsworth. Kate and Anna McGarrigle sing along to the tale of a young girl who loves to dance and chooses to marry a log driver over his more well-to-do competitors.

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All along the North Shore from Saint-Tite-des-Caps to the bay of Sept-îles, logging starts with the construction of the camps. But the good logs once used for the legendary log cabins are now turned into planks, beams and rafters in the sawmill that has replaced the side axes and board saws. It takes three seasons to harvest the logs. First the autumn for felling the trees with the chain saws that have taken over from the bow saws and two-handed saws. Then the winter snows to make it easier for the horses to haul the logs to the ice-covered rivers. And finally the wild waters of spring that carry the logs to the wooden schooners that will take them to the mill.

This very short film from the Canada Vignettes series offers an animated history of logging on the British Columbia coast.

In this compelling film, David Suzuki investigates the frightening phenomenon of forest dieback caused by acid rain and proposes some solutions.

This documentary examines the battle strategies of citizens, scientists, loggers, environmentalists and First Nations people who are fighting over the liquidation of public forests and, with it, a way of life.

This feature-length documentary tells the story of two very different men brought together by New Brunswick's decision to hand the management of millions of acres of Crown land to six multinationals. One man is an Acadian woodlot owner retired after nearly 40 years in a pulp mill; the other is a painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick.

The activitists travel to Finland, home of UPM-Kymmene, one of the largest licence holders of New Brunswick Crown lands, to urge company officials to practise responsible forestry. They also go head-to-head with the provincial government to secure a new community-based forestry policy that is environmentally sustainable and produces more jobs than the highly mechanized techniques used today.

This short documentary dispels the myth that Canada has an inexhaustible supply of usable wood and forest resources. In documenting the use and misuse of forest resources in Northern Ontario, it shows the efforts of the government and industry to find better ways to find a sustainable solution. The film also serves as a reminder that this is not just a problem for Northern Ontario - a crisis in the forest industry would affect one out of every ten Canadian jobs.

In his new feature documentary Borealis, acclaimed director Kevin McMahon (Waterlife) travels deep into the heart of the boreal forest to explore the chorus of life in Canada’s iconic wilderness. How do trees move, communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment? Borealis offers an immersive portrait of the lifecycles of the forest from the perspective of the plants and animals that live there.