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Economy and Development (1500-present) (18)
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Available in English Options
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Challenger: An Industrial RomanceStephen Low 1980 57 minThis feature documentary follows the development of Canadair's super-executive jet. A totally new type of aircraft, it is faster, cheaper to fly, and more comfortable than any other business jet. Would it make it off the drawing board and into the air? The film captures the spirit of the Canadian air transport industry and its attempt to compete with its American counterparts. -
City of GoldColin Low & Wolf Koenig 1957 21 minThis classic short film from Pierre Berton depicts the Klondike gold rush at its peak, when would-be prospectors struggled through harsh conditions to reach the fabled gold fields over 3000 km north of civilization. Using a collection of still photographs, the film juxtaposes the Dawson City at the height of the gold rush with its bustling taverns and dance halls with the more tranquil Dawson City of the present.
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Catapult CanadaBill Maylone 1985 1 minThis short stop-motion animation takes a humorous look at the theme of transportation. Forget trains and planes—the best way to get across the country is by catapult!
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Engine 371Kevin Langdale 2007 9 minThis animated short looks at the building of Canada's transcontinental railroad with wit and whimsy. Engine 371 illustrates the struggle humans have with nature and how this fundamental tension united a country. A film without words.
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Five for FourNorman McLaren 1942 2 minThis animated short by Norman McLaren serves as a wartime savings campaign. Symbolic figures, drawn directly on 35mm film stock, move and dance against a simple painted background. The score is "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie," by Albert Ammons.
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The Films of Fogo IslandDerek Norman & Jeff Webb 2019 43 minIn 1967, NFB and MUN made a series of 27 films on Fogo Island that pioneered using film as a tool in community economic development.
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Japan Inc: Lessons for North America?Kalle Lasn 1980 27 minThis short documentary is an absorbing study of Japanese business and industry. Discipline and productivity in Japan are much more regimented than in many other parts of the world. For the 110 million Japanese, survival means doing things together, rather than asserting a North American-style individualism. Japan's industry has automated and computerized at an unparalleled rate. Open-concept offices and collaborative work styles offer a model of the changing style of modern work that could inspire the West to modify their processes as well.
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Labour Front1943 21 minThis newsreel on the mobilization of manpower during World War II shows how the workers on production lines produced a tremendous volume of materials for the Allied war effort. It points out that after the war these workers expect to find the opportunities of peace.
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The Last GlacierRoger Frappier & Jacques Leduc 1984 1 h 23 minSchefferville, a single-industry town, is closing down because the mine that gave it birth has ceased operation. There is a general exodus. The film singles out Raoul and Carmen, for whom the demise of the town signals the irrevocable breakdown of their marriage. Professional actors mix smoothly with the local population to heighten the documentary aspect of this drama. The resulting docudrama illustrates the vulnerability of the citizens of these artificially created towns. With English sub-titles.
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Our Town FaroMitch Miyagawa & David Oppenheim 2004 8 minThis short film is about the small town of Faro located in the Yukon wilderness. In the 1970s, Faro was poised for success as a mining town but when metal prices plummeted and the mine shut down, the place was destined to become a ghost town. But Murray Hampton, a mining engineer who became the mayor, was determined to bring things back to life.
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On Strike: The Winnipeg General Strike, 1919Joe MacDonald & Clare Johnstone Gilsig 1991 19 minThe dramatic story of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919 told through the recollections of the men and women who were there. This presentation traces the events leading up to the strike; the issues, the personalities and the divisions among the people of Winnipeg. It culminates with the riot of June 21, 1919 in which death and serious injury resulted.
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Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit PhotographerCarol Geddes 1997 50 minThis documentary, by filmmaker Carol Geddes, is a unique portrait of George Johnston, a photographer who was himself a creator of portraits and a keeper of his culture. Johnston cared deeply about the traditions of the Tlingit people, and he recorded a critical period in the history of the Tlingit nation. As Geddes says, his legacy was "to help us dream the future as much as to remember the past."
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Samuel de Champlain (Québec 1603)Denys Arcand 1964 14 minFootage of Québec City locations and the artwork of well-known Quebec animator Frédéric Back are used to tell the tale of Champlain’s life in New France – from his first explorations and settlement to his death in 1635.
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Small Is Beautiful: Impressions of Fritz SchumacherDouglas Kiefer , Barrie Howells , … 1978 29 minThis film is a short documentary portrait of economist, technologist and lecturer Fritz Schumacher. Up to age 45, Schumacher was dedicated to economic growth. Then he came to believe that the modern technological explosion had grown out of all proportion to human need. Author of Small Is Beautiful - A Study of Economics as if People Mattered and founder of the London-based Intermediate Technology Development Group, he championed the cause of "appropriate" technology. The film introduces us to this gentle revolutionary a few months before his death.
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Silence Is GoldJulien Fréchette 2012 1 h 17 minThis feature documentary takes us through the twists and turns of judicial proceedings pitting Canadian mining companies Barrick Gold and Banro against author Alain Deneault, his co-writers and publisher Éditions Écosociété, following the 2008 release of the book Noir Canada, which raised troubling questions about the controversial practices of Canadian mining companies in Africa. Silence is Gold is a legal and political thriller that captures years of intense psychological tension.
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The Skiff of Renald and ThomasBernard Gosselin 1980 57 minFive men work together in a communal effort to build a skiff on Ile-aux-Coudres, an island in the St. Lawrence River. It is built in a traditional fashion, all the more remarkable because no blueprint is used. The film does not merely record a building tradition, it reveals the character of the craftsmen, who are influenced by a pre-industrial way of life underscored by spontaneity and wit.
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Terra NovaRoger Blais 1964 18 minAmong these lively impressions of Newfoundland today, colored by history and by the sea, there are scenes of historic events, fishing on the high seas and squid jigging inshore, mining deep underground, and operations of the giant pulp and paper industry.
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Tomorrow's World1943 19 minFrom the Canada Carries On series, this documentary emphasizes the importance of conservation and rationing, and the increased industrial production, during World War II. It suggests that "tomorrow's world" will be more prosperous and better planned because of the war efforts.
