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Poetry (21)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • Alden Nowlan: An Introduction
    Alden Nowlan: An Introduction
    Jon Pedersen 1984 28 min
    This short documentary introduces us to Alden Nowlan, winner of Canada’s 1967 Governor General’s Award for poetry. His empathy for ordinary people was evident in his work as a poet, journalist, short-story writer, novelist and playwright. Nowlan’s writing is admired far beyond his native Maritimes, but he never forgot his roots, which he drew on for inspiration. This film, shot just before his death in 1983, records him reminiscing and reading from his work.
  • Aloud/Bagatelle
    Aloud/Bagatelle
    Donald McWilliams 1983 6 min
    Canadian poet Earle Birney indulges his love of trains in this performance of his sound poem To Swindon from London by Britrail. In fluent "trainish," he interprets the experience of excursions by rail. Imagination sparked by the rhythm of wheels and the clink of couplings, Birney hums, hisses and hoots his way through archival footage of vintage trains and the English countryside. A must for language, animation and train buffs.
  • Alchemists
    Alchemists
    Heidi Blomkvist 1991 11 min
    This short animation is a visual fantasy, a gripping tale that is "larger-than-life" in its themes: life, death and rebirth; creation and destruction; permanence and impermanence, spontaneity and control. Bold swoops of liquid colour surge with variations on Mozart's Requiem to a startling denouement. Alchemists will provoke reflection on creativity, relationships and the environment. Without words.
  • The Big Swing
    The Big Swing
    Paula Gillgannon 2011 1 min
    The macabre tale of a child trying to overcome her fear of the swing.

    Produced as part of the 7th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
  • A Cloud's Dream
    A Cloud's Dream
    Andrew Hicks 2011 1 min
    Watch as one cloud’s imagination soars from the familiar to the unknown on a captivating journey from dusk until dawn. Animated using partial audio waveform data, A Cloud’s Dream is a stereoscopic particle simulation that explores various cloud formations.

    Produced as part of the 7th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship.
  • Cold Fronts
    Cold Fronts
    Murray Siple 2010 5 min
    Director Murray Siples' love/hate letter to Vancouver weather captures both the mundane and the thrilling experience of living on the West (wet) Coast. The winter rain colours every aspect of city life, but people cope, wielding umbrellas like swords, clutching coats and hats against the constant deluge.

    A personal take on one man's experience of the winter, Cold Fronts is a kaleidoscopic view of the collision point between nature and the city.
  • A Day in Forillon
    A Day in Forillon
    Michel Bouchard 1978 7 min
    This short film illustrates a day in the life at Forillon National Park. Situated on the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, the park offers spectacular views of sea, mountain and forest. A monumental landscape not to be missed. A film without words.
  • How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels
    How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels
    Craig Welch 1996 11 min
    The main protagonist of this short, surreal film is a man obsessed with control. In an automated world drained of all emotion, he is tortured by vague longings. Will he be able to transcend his obsessions and fears?
  • HA'Aki
    HA'Aki
    Iriz Pääbo 2008 4 min
    In this short abstract-impressionist film the animation and music were made simultaneously in an organic process of symbiotic creativity. Filmmaker Iriz Pääbo tells the highly subjective story of a complete hockey game using a new cinematic vocabulary she calls "animbits." Pääbo readily admits she is not the biggest fan of Canada's national game, so the great, though highly underappreciated NHL stalwart of the '60s and '70s, Eric Nesterenko, was her hockey muse in this artistic journey. A lyrical and wonderfully unorthodox interpretation of hockey.
  • Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen
    Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen
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    Donald Brittain  &  Don Owen 1965 44 min
    This informal black-and-white portrait of Leonard Cohen shows him at age 30 on a visit to his hometown of Montreal, where the poet, novelist and songwriter comes "to renew his neurotic affiliations." He reads his poetry to an enthusiastic crowd, strolls the streets of the city, relaxes in this three-dollar-a-night hotel room and even takes a bath.
  • Metamorphosis
    Metamorphosis
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    Nova Ami  &  Velcrow Ripper 2018 1 h 24 min
    A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper's film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another. Metamorphosis captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life. But this crisis is also an opportunity for transformation. Through a tidal flow of stunning images, Metamorphosis carves a path from the present to the future, and offers a bold new vision for humanity and the world.
  • Move Your Mind
    Move Your Mind
    Hubert Davis 2010 5 min
    Faith. Heart. Imagination. These are the principles to which director Robin Phillips - known especially for his theatrical productions of Shakespeare - has devoted himself.

    In this impressionistic short documentary directed by Hubert Davis, Phillips discusses the importance of expanding the realm of the imagination, seeking truth through art, and recognizing the presence of artists in all walks of life.
  • Mise en Scène
    Mise en Scène
    Chelsea McMullan 2012 7 min
    This short film is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to award-winning director, writer and composer Des McAnuff. Set to the song The Wind and the Rain, it begins with Des unaccompanied and builds to a grand finale in true Shakespearean tradition. A tribute to a time of limited means and creative ingenuity, the piece blends film and theatrical language to create a surreal mise-en-scène.

    Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.
  • 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.
  • Petra's Poem
    Petra's Poem
    Shira Avni 2012 4 min
    In this short film, Toronto artist Petra Tolley, who has Down syndrome, performs a soliloquy that encapsulates her distinctive take on the social self. Drawing from her emotional experiences, she illustrates what it feels like to be “in the middle.” Employing rotoscopy, hand-drawn animation techniques and subtle stereoscopic 3D, the film captures Petra as she engages the camera with unflinching directness and dignity.
  • Still Waters: The Poetry of P.K. Page
    Still Waters: The Poetry of P.K. Page
    Donald Winkler 1990 38 min
    This short film encapsulates the life of P.K. Page, a Canadian woman who has reached international stature as both a painter and a poet. Through an exploration of her life and art, the film shows how her powerful works have extended beyond their inherent confines into the realms of anthropology and ecology.
  • Song of Eskasoni
    Song of Eskasoni
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    Brian Guns 1993 28 min
    Eskasoni is the home of celebrated Mi’kmaq poet Rita Joe. This Cape Breton village is enjoying a revival of Indigenous traditions and spirituality which inspires much of Rita Joe's writing. For twenty years her poetry and her presence have touched thousands with dignity. This video is a celebration of the spiritual pride of the Mi’kmaq as embodied in Rita Joe's writings and her life.
  • Stories from Our Land 1.5: Tide
    Stories from Our Land 1.5: Tide
    Ericka Chemko 2011 3 min
    This beautiful short film captures the majesty of ice sculpted by wind and water. By using time-lapse imagery, Iqaluit filmmaker Ericka Chemko reveals the dynamic intertidal dance of water and ice in the Arctic.

    Stories from Our Land: 1.5 gave 6 Nunavut filmmakers the opportunity to each create a 5-minute short. Each film had to be made without the use of interviews or narration while telling a northern story from a northern perspective. The project was a collaboration between the NFB and the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.
  • Trawna Tuh Belvul
    Trawna Tuh Belvul
    Martin Rose 1994 14 min
    This animated short film is an interpretation of Earle Birney's poem “Trawna Tuh Belvul by Knayjim Psifik.” Using finely crafted cut-out animation, the film retells a memorable experience of the journey from Toronto to Belleville, Ontario.
  • Unarmed Verses
    Unarmed Verses
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    Charles Officer 2016 1 h 25 min
    This feature documentary presents a thoughtful and vivid portrait of a community facing imposed relocation. At the centre of the story is a remarkably astute and luminous 12-year-old black girl whose poignant observations about life, the soul, and the power of art give voice to those rarely heard in society. Unarmed Verses is a cinematic rendering of our universal need for self-expression and belonging.
  • Window Horses
    Window Horses
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    Ann Marie Fleming 2016 1 h 29 min
    This feature-length animated film centres around the story of Rosie Ming, a young Canadian poet invited to perform at a Poetry Festival in Shiraz, Iran. Rosie lives in Vancouver with her over-protective Chinese grandparents, and has never been anywhere on her own. But once in Iran, she finds herself in the company of poets and Persians, all of whom tell her stories about her past, the Iranian father she had assumed abandoned her, and about the nature of poetry itself. This is a film about love, finding your own path, and learning how to forgive.