The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content
My List
Your request could not be processed.
This film is already in your list

Sexuality and Reproduction (16)

  • About Conception and Contraception
    About Conception and Contraception
    Ishu Patel 1972 11 min
    Animated drawings illustrate how conception occurs and the way that various birth control devices, surgical methods, and the pill function in effecting contraception. The film is without spoken commentary and is designed to be used by professional personnel. Film without words.
  • Abortion: Stories from North and South
    Abortion: Stories from North and South
    Gail Singer 1984 54 min
    Women have always sought ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies, despite powerful patriarchal structures and systems working against them. This film provides a historical overview of how church, state and the medical establishment have determined policies concerning abortion. From this cross-cultural survey--filmed in Ireland, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, and Canada--emerges one reality: only a small percentage of the world's women has access to safe, legal operations.
  • Bevel Up: Chapter 5 - Street Youth
    Bevel Up: Chapter 5 - Street Youth
    Nettie Wild 2019 5 min
    Street nurse Elaine Jones hands out coloured condoms and encourages a young woman to get a pregnancy test. Elaine also meets a 16-year-old, new to the city and shooting heroin for the first time, and works to connect her with services.

    *Watch the complete documentary.
    *View all 10 educational playlists.
    *Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter.
  • The Best Time of My Life: Portraits of Women in Mid-life
    The Best Time of My Life: Portraits of Women in Mid-life
    Patricia Watson 1985 58 min
    An upbeat, positive film about a group of women dealing with mid-life and menopause. The women come from a wide range of backgrounds, careers and lifestyles. Some are married; some are divorced. Interviews alternate with sequences showing the women both at home and in the workplace. Based on the women's experiences, the film effectively dispels popular myths and fears about life during and after menopause.
  • Changes
    Changes
    Moira Simpson 1989 18 min
    This film explores the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty. Imaginative, animated sequences illustrate the amazing physical changes the body undergoes. Myths are dispelled and youngsters are encouraged to feel pride in themselves and their emerging sexuality.
  • Democracy on Trial: The Morgentaler Affair
    Democracy on Trial: The Morgentaler Affair
    Paul Cowan 1984 58 min
    Paul Cowan's film captures the spirit of the legal battle over abortion waged by Dr. Henry Morgentaler in Quebec and in federal courts between 1970 and 1976. Using a combination of newsreel footage, interviews and re-enactments, this docudrama unravels the complexities of the case that began as a challenge to Canada's abortion laws and turned into a precedent-setting civil rights case.
  • Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide?
    Discussions in Bioethics: Who Should Decide?
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Beverly Shaffer 1985 14 min
    One of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern medical technology. This film deals with questions arising from advances in pre-natal diagnosis. Joanne, a victim of spina bifida, discovers that her unborn child has the same disease. A decision whether to terminate the pregnancy must be reached quickly. When her husband says that all he ever wanted was "a normal baby," Joanne counters with "What is normal?"
  • Doctor Woman: The Life and Times of Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw
    Doctor Woman: The Life and Times of Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Mark McCurdy 1978 28 min
    Elizabeth Bagshaw was a forerunner of the women's movement. As one of the first women to practise medicine in Canada, she had to overcome society's bias against women in medicine. During her seventy-year career she helped to instigate change in public opinion on that issue, as well as the issue of birth control. The film captures the personality of this remarkable woman through a contemporary interview and re-enactments of episodes from her youth. The sepia tones of the re-enactments are in keeping with the film techniques of the time, giving the viewer a strong sense of the period. The film is of special interest to persons interested in the evolution of women's roles in Canadian society.
  • Doctors with Heart
    Doctors with Heart
    Tahani Rached 1994 1 h 52 min
    Tahani Rached’s powerful documentary enters the doors of an AIDS clinic in Montreal. We meet a group of dedicated doctors struggling to provide health care to their patients. This 1994 film explores legal and ethical problems surrounding HIV/AIDS and the struggle against fear, rumours and prejudice. It is still relevant today. In French with English subtitles.
  • Head Full of Questions
    Head Full of Questions
    Moira Simpson 1989 19 min
    The first film in the Growing Up series tells curious pre-adolescents the facts they want to know, with an appealing mix of humour and imagination. Topics discussed include sexual attraction and sexual intercourse, fertilization, the growth of an embryo and birth of a baby, as well as a brief look at AIDS and at birth control. Detailed information about relationships is presented through the loving connection between two animated characters, Fred and Anna. The two hosts engage the students in discussion, encouraging them to ask questions and share their thoughts and feelings.
  • I Hear You
    I Hear You
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Koumbie  &  Chelsea Innes 2019 1 h 40 min

    I Hear You is a non-conforming medical drama about a group of gender oppressed women and non-binary people, who each struggle with sexual health issues, and the newly graduated doctor who believes she can help them as they all navigate the frustrations of the Western medical system and their own personal limitations to find hope and help on the other side.

  • Karate Kids
    Karate Kids
    Derek Lamb 1990 21 min
    This short animated film originally aimed at young people in developing countries deals with a sensitive topic: the transmission of AIDS. Set in the marketplace of almost any Third World town or city, the film is an adventure story about a group of homeless street children who learn about AIDS: how to prevent it, how to care for people with AIDS and how condoms work to prevent the transmission of AIDS.
  • Mother and Her Child
    Mother and Her Child
    Vincent Paquette 1947 1 h 0 min
    This film follows a young couple from the time they suspect pregnancy to their child's first birthday. The value of good prenatal habits and medical care is emphasized. Good tips are also provided on day-to-day baby care.
  • A Mother and Daughter on Abortion
    A Mother and Daughter on Abortion
    Gail Singer 1987 12 min
    This short film documents an intimate conversation between a mother and her adult daughter on the subject of abortion. They speak candidly about their personal experiences in trying to obtain the procedure, and how, in different decades – before and after the 1969 amendment to the federal law – each got caught up in the system and its rules. A useful discussion-starter on the complex issues relating to abortion.
  • Mother-To-Be
    Mother-To-Be
    Anne Claire Poirier 1969 1 h 15 min
    Can a woman fully achieve self-realization while at the same time giving herself to the role of wife and mother? This is one question raised in this film documentary. Introspective, partly biographical, the film delves into the emotions of joy, anticipation and anxiety that a young mother experiences during the last several weeks before the birth of her second child. There is some footage from Czechoslovakia concerning maternity: a natural childbirth in a hospital delivery room and state nursery care for the children of working mothers.
  • The Sterilization of Leilani Muir
    The Sterilization of Leilani Muir
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Glynis Whiting 1996 46 min
    A single IQ test and misguided 'science' irreparably changed the life of a 14-year-old Canadian girl. This documentary follows Leilani Muir's search for justice and explores how eugenics (improving hereditary qualities of a race through the control of reproduction) became acceptable in the early 1900s.

    Please note: This film contains explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.