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Welcome to Canada! (Ages 9-11)

26 films
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This playlist was designed to welcome all newcomers to Canada and offer a (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) glimpse of all the country has to offer, from it’s awe-inspiring landscapes to treasured stories that have been passed down for generations. Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici. Films in This Playlist Include The Railrodder The Boy and the Snow Goose Canada Vignettes: The Log Driver’s Waltz Cosmic Zoom A Day in the Pacific Rim Hothouse 8 – Meltdown The Juggler Juke-Bar Marianne’s Theatre Hothouse 8 – Orange The Rink The Ride Zea Sunday Sleeping Betty Islet Loon Dreaming Asthma Tech The Dingles …

Up next: The Boy and the Snow Goose
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Welcome to Canada! (Ages 9-11)

This playlist was designed to welcome all newcomers to Canada and offer a (sometimes tongue-in-cheek) glimpse of all the country has to offer, from it’s awe-inspiring landscapes to treasured stories that have been passed down for generations.

Pour visionner cette sélection en français, cliquez ici.

Films in This Playlist Include
The Railrodder
The Boy and the Snow Goose
Canada Vignettes: The Log Driver’s Waltz
Cosmic Zoom
A Day in the Pacific Rim
Hothouse 8 – Meltdown
The Juggler
Juke-Bar
Marianne’s Theatre
Hothouse 8 – Orange
The Rink
The Ride
Zea
Sunday
Sleeping Betty
Islet
Loon Dreaming
Asthma Tech
The Dingles
Getting Started
The Girl Who Hated Books
How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly
I Want a Dog
Science, Please! Part 1
Science, Please! Part 2
The Underground Movie

Playlist

  • The Railrodder
    The Railrodder
    Gerald Potterton 1965 24 min
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  • The Boy and the Snow Goose
    The Boy and the Snow Goose
    Gayle Thomas 1984 10 min
    This animated short tells the story of a young boy who finds an injured snow goose and nurses it back to health. Constant companions through the sun-filled days of summer, the two sadly separate in the fall when the bird obeys the call to join its flock for the annual flight south. Will the friendship endure?
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  • Log Driver's Waltz
    Log Driver's Waltz
    John Weldon 1979 3 min
    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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  • Cosmic Zoom
    Cosmic Zoom
    Robert Verrall 1968 8 min
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  • A Day in Pacific Rim
    A Day in Pacific Rim
    1978 6 min
    This short film illustrates a day in the life at Pacific Rim National Park. Located on Vancouver Island, the park houses giant trees, drooping moss and beautiful ocean views that provide breathtaking material for an eager eye.
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  • Meltdown
    Meltdown
    Carrie Mombourquette 2012 1 min
    In this short animation, a polar bear must try his luck finding a job in the big city when the last of his Arctic ice environment disappears. It’s hard fitting into the human world, however, so this bear finds a more creative solution to his predicament.
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  • The Juggler
    The Juggler
    Thomas Vamos 1980 12 min
    A juggler in a park opens his magic box and takes out 3 balls. The audience marvels at his dexterity, until one ball escapes. The mutinous ball takes on magical properties as it draws the juggler into a series of adventures with many levels of meaning: appearance, fantasy and love. Without words.
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  • Juke-Bar
    Juke-Bar
    Martin Barry 1989 10 min
    This animated short introduces a juke box into a greasy spoon diner overrun with cockroaches. The cockroaches get caught up in the music as their lives are transformed by the arrival of this new machine. But the restaurant's owner has a plan: will he be able to outsmart his uninvited guests?
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  • Marianne's Theatre
    Marianne's Theatre
    Co Hoedeman 2004 15 min
    In Co Hoedeman's animated short about a troupe of marionette acrobats, everything that can go wrong does. No matter what the ringleader does, each act goes awry until we begin to wonder who's really running the show. Even when Marianne, the master puppeteer, emerges at the end of the show to take her final bow, those little acrobats still seem to have a mind of their own. Brilliantly executed, this film dissolves the boundaries between theatre and animated film to create a magical experience.
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  • Orange
    Orange
    Sylvie Trouvé 2009 1 min
    This animated short poses some interesting questions: what if buildings pulsed, trees tapped out beats, or shadows could whistle a tune? Through the creative interpretation and animation of the city's natural rhythms, Orange orchestrates a contagious urban dance.

    Produced as part of the 5th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
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  • The Rink
    The Rink
    Gilles Carle 1962 10 min
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  • The Ride
    The Ride
    Gerald Potterton 1963 6 min
    From Gerald Potterton (director of the cult classic Heavy Metal), this short film depicts the daydream of a chauffeur awaiting his employer. On a hot summer day, he begins to imagine that it's winter—the residential street where he's parked transforms into snowy mountains, and a series of comic misadventures begin. As the car is replaced by a toboggan, it carries the tycoon away on a dizzying ride. The chase includes some unforgettable antics in the snow, including a piggyback ride on an incredulous skier.
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  • Zea
    Zea
    André Leduc  &  Jean-Jacques Leduc 1981 5 min
    A superb visual trick that will mystify its audience, this animated film transforms the commonplace into magic.
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  • Sunday
    Sunday
    Patrick Doyon 2011 9 min
    In keeping with their Sunday tradition, after mass a family flocks to grandma and grandpa’s house, where the chaotic discussion soon begins to resemble a raucous gathering of crows on power lines. The local factory has shut its doors and, naturally, the adults can’t stop fretting about their money woes. On this particular grey Sunday, a young boy drops a coin on some nearby train tracks out of sheer boredom. Picking the coin up after a train has run over it, he discovers to his astonishment that an amazing transformation has taken place... Sunday, Patrick Doyon’s first film, is a magical tale that imparts important lessons about life as seen through the eyes of a child.
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  • Sleeping Betty
    Sleeping Betty
    Claude Cloutier 2007 9 min
    In this animated short, Sleeping Betty is stuck in bed, victim to a strange bout of narcolepsy. The King calls on his subjects to rescue her and they all respond to the call: Uncle Henry VIII, Aunt Victoria, an oddly emotional alien, a funky witch and a handsome prince. But will a kiss really be enough to wake the sleeping princess? The film, drawn in ink, is a classic example of the anachronistic and playful world of Claude Cloutier.
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  • Islet
    Islet
    Nicolas Brault 2003 7 min
    Combining figurative abstraction with magic realism, this animated short depicts a world in which whales fall out of the sky and fish turn into balloons. It is a black and white evocation of the real world, transformed by the director's special sense of whimsy. With bold lines reminiscent of the stark simplicity of Inuit art, this cautionary tale is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all things. We are all affected by the fate of the Arctic, which each year is disappearing a little farther into the ocean.
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  • Loon Dreaming
    Loon Dreaming
    Iriz Pääbo 2002 7 min
    This animated short makes us see the world through the eyes of a loon. We dive down deep into the waters in pursuit of fish, launch skyward from the water and fly high over the busy highways and sprawling subdivisions that scar the natural world--before gently splashing down on a secluded lake.
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  • Asthma Tech
    Asthma Tech
    Jonathan Ng 2006 7 min
    In this animated short, young Winston, who suffers from chronic asthma, isn’t able to participate in the everyday activities of his peers and classmates. He copes with the predicament through his vivid imagination, with paper and crayons. On one particularly rainy afternoon, Winston discovers that the magic of imagination has the power to transform and empower, and his skills and talents save the day.

    Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
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  • The Dingles
    The Dingles
    Les Drew 1988 7 min
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  • Getting Started
    Getting Started
    Richard Condie 1979 12 min
    This hilarious short animated film stars a man who procrastinates. Our hero attempts to practice a piece of music on the piano, but distractions get in the way. When he finally sits down to play, pandemonium breaks loose.
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  • The Girl Who Hated Books
    The Girl Who Hated Books
    Jo Meuris 2006 7 min
    This animated short about literacy introduces us to Meena, a young girl who hates books even though her parents love to read. Books are everywhere in Meena's house, in cupboards, drawers and even piled up on the stairs. Still, she refuses to even open one up. But when her cat Max accidentally knocks down a huge stack, pandemonium ensues and nothing is ever the same again.

    Part of the Talespinners collection, which uses vibrant animation to bring popular children’s stories from a wide range of cultural communities to the screen.
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  • How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly
    How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly
    Munro Ferguson 1995 5 min
    The dinosaurs were headed for trouble. They ate nothing but junk food. They never brushed their teeth. They stayed up all night. And though they loved jumping off cliffs, they didn't like the landings much. The early mammals tried to warn them. "Keep that up and you'll all be extinct!" they said. But the dinosaurs just laughed... and over time, they evolved into birds.
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  • I Want a Dog
    I Want a Dog
    Sheldon Cohen 2003 10 min
    In this animated short by Sheldon Cohen, young May wants a dog more than anything else in the world. She thinks about dogs all the time; she talks about them, reads about them and covers the walls of her bedroom with dog pictures. But every time she asks her parents for a puppy, they tell her to wait till she's older. But sticking to her motto of "If at first you don’t succeed, try again," May comes up with an ingenious idea to change her parents' minds. Based on the book by Dayal Kaur Khalsa.
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  • The Underground Movie
    The Underground Movie
    Les Drew 1972 14 min
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  • Science Please! Part 2
    Science Please! Part 2
    2001 15 min
    The Science Please! collection uses archival footage, animated illustrations and amusing narration to explain various scientific discoveries and phenomena.
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  • Science Please! Part 1
    Science Please! Part 1
    2001 15 min
    The Science Please! collection uses archival footage, animated illustrations and amusing narration to explain various scientific discoveries and phenomena.
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