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Family Life (34)

  • Affairs of the Art
    Affairs of the Art
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    Joanna Quinn 2021 16 min
    How many obsessions can one family have? In Joanna Quinn and Les Mills’ Affairs of the Art, we reconnect with Beryl, the working-class heroine who not only reveals her own obsession with drawing but exposes the addictions of her eccentric family, which include pickling, screw threads and pet taxidermy.
  • Aftermath: The Legacy of Suicide
    Aftermath: The Legacy of Suicide
    Lisa Fitzgibbons 2001 50 min
    This documentary looks at how children deal with a parent who has died by suicide. Meet 3 people who lost their fathers to suicide at an early age but learned the truth much later, after years of confusion, grief and guilt. In French with English subtitles.
  • Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior
    Bearing Witness: Luke Melchior
    Dan Curtis 2003 51 min
    This feature documentary is a portrait of Luke Melchior (1973-2021) who, at 26, had already lived longer than most people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a progressive wasting of the muscles. Knowing his life would be relatively short had made Luke feel an urgency about making a lasting contribution. Living independently, with the help of 3 homecare workers, he ran a web-based business selling outdoor gear, and chaired the board of the Disability Resource Centre in Victoria, BC, where he was a passionate advocate for the rights of the disabled.

    Bearing Witness consists of 3 films, each approximately one hour long, on people with life-threatening illnesses. The series also profiles Jocelyn Morton, who died of liver cancer at 44, and Robert Coley-Donohue, who died of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) at age 74.
  • Borderline
    Borderline
    Fergus McDonell 1957 28 min
    This short film is a portrait of Nora Fenton, a 15-year-old girl who is sent to a home for problem teens because of her persistent defiance of parental authority and self-injurious behavior. Typifying the problems of emotional adjustment experienced by many adolescents, this story of conflict and rebellion shows how understanding, affection and firm parental guidance are the factors most needed in helping teens weather their most turbulent years.
  • Child, Part 3: Debbie and Robert: 12-24 Months
    Child, Part 3: Debbie and Robert: 12-24 Months
    Robert Humble 1974 28 min
    Trial and error and challenge, and the beginnings of communication. Robert is a little older than Debbie; both are of the same family. Both like to experiment, to copy and explore, but sometimes their aims run counter to one another. Their behaviour in this film is typical of the second year of life and illustrates the process of learning that goes on through every waking hour, and the kind of guidance a parent can give.
  • Child, Part 4: Kathy and Ian: Three-Year-Olds
    Child, Part 4: Kathy and Ian: Three-Year-Olds
    Robert Humble 1977 28 min
    By the age of three children become aware of themselves as unique. This happens through their continuing interaction with parents, siblings and friends. This film explores these relationships and the resulting development within the child.
  • The Children of Refus Global
    The Children of Refus Global
    Manon Barbeau 1998 1 h 14 min
    In 1948, Paul-Émile Borduas' Refus global manifesto proclaimed the end of the "reign of fear" embodied by the Duplessis regime. Fifty years later, all the history books mention this document which laid the foundations of modern Quebec. Daughter of one of the signatories, filmmaker Manon Barbeau takes a fresh look at this period. She went to meet the sons and daughters of Barbeau, Borduas, Mousseau and Riopelle, "children of Refus global" who, like her, suffered the consequences of their parents' revolutionary gesture. None of them emerged unscathed from a childhood made up of worries and abandonment, but also of a richness that only art can bring. Especially when it appears to us, as it does here, in the light of emotion.
  • Dark Intent
    Dark Intent
    Mireille Dansereau 2000 51 min
    A poetic meditation by a man and a woman whose teenage son has threatened to end his lifee. What drives someone to that terrible extreme? In an effort to understand and demystify the phenomenon of suicide, the two parents search for answers within themselves. Their personal reflection is intercut with dramatic sequences, archival footage, animation, interviews and first-person accounts that look at suicide from an emotional, rational, cultural, social or medical perspective. Mireille Dansereau has made a sobering film that nevertheless expresses an abiding faith in life. In French with English subtitles.
  • Freaks of Nurture
    Freaks of Nurture
    Alexandra Lemay 2018 6 min
    Freaks of Nurture is an animated short about a neurotic mother-daughter relationship inspired by the filmmaker’s own unorthodox upbringing with her single-parent mom, who is also a foster parent and dog breeder. Self-deprecating and bursting with energy, the film reveals that no matter how grown-up we think we are, we never quite stop craving the love and support of a parent.
  • From Sociable Six to Noisy Nine
    From Sociable Six to Noisy Nine
    Judith Crawley 1954 21 min
    The film looks into the meaning of various forms of conduct in children from six to nine years and suggests ways in which parents may guide them through a challenging, often trying phase of development. In a family with three children we observe how the parents cope with often baffling situations.
  • For John
    For John
    Dale Montour 2003 51 min
    This documentary focuses on John Diabo, a cherished member of a tight-knit family in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. In 1998, John, tortured by drug addiction for over a decade, ended his life at the age of 31. Through moving testimony and family photographs, this film tells the intimate story of his life… and death.
  • HARVEY
    HARVEY
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    Janice Nadeau 2023 9 min
    A short film adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, HARVEY depicts a young boy who candidly recalls the spring day when his world turned upside down. Filled with original little touches and told through the eyes of a child with an overflowing imagination, this luminous work by Janice Nadeau, featuring elegant music by Martin Léon, poetically examines bereavement and coping with the loss of a parent.
  • In the Garden on the Farm
    In the Garden on the Farm
    Kristin Catherwood 2020 8 min
    As social-distancing measures set in during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kristin Catherwood moved back to her family’s farm to stay with her widowed father. Spring brings the usual urgency to plant the year’s crops, and Kristin starts thinking about planting her vegetable garden—a garden that brings deep memories of her mother and grandmothers.
  • Jump, Darling
    Jump, Darling
    Phil Connell 2019 1 h 30 min

    A rookie drag queen, reeling from a break-up, escapes to the country where he finds his grandmother in steep decline, yet desperate to avoid the local nursing home.

  • Ludovic - Visiting Grandpa
    Ludovic - Visiting Grandpa
    Co Hoedeman 2001 11 min
    It's summer and Ludovic is invited to his grandfather's farm. The little teddy bear finds Grandpa very saddened by the death of Grandma, and Ludovic is fascinated by a room filled with mementos. Grandma's portrait comes to life, and Ludovic is able to kiss and hug her. This poignant tale evokes the closeness and understanding between a grandfather and his little grandson who gradually learn to accept the death of a loved one.
  • Love in Quarantine
    Love in Quarantine
    Millefiore Clarkes 2020 10 min
    When COVID protocols impose restrictions on human interaction, Millefiore Clarkes seizes the opportunity to reflect on the nature of love itself, juxtaposing her own existential quest with those of a teenager grappling with identity and self-worth in a time of social distancing, and a woman who finds surprising new romance despite pandemic isolation.
  • love, amma
    love, amma
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    Prajwala Dixit 2022 14 min
    After being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a young mother writes a letter to her daughter about their family’s collective journey to acceptance.
  • Multiple Choices - The Agony and the Ecstasy
    Multiple Choices - The Agony and the Ecstasy
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    Alison Burns 1995 13 min
    Raising kids in this society is an often daunting task. Each of us has different reasons about why we choose--or don't choose--to be parents. Participants discuss their parent-child relationships, single parenting by choice, homosexual or lesbian parents, and teenage parenting.
  • Mystery of the Secret Room
    Mystery of the Secret Room
    Wanda Nolan 2016 5 min
    This animated short introduces us to Grace, a 10-year-old girl who uses her creative superpowers to navigate the emotional landscape of her mother's depression. It's an inspiring portrait of family, adversity, and resilience.

    Using hand-drawn animation to bring two distinct worlds together – the muted, solid world of reality and the saturated palette of Grace's imagination – the film offers a textured story full of surprises, challenges, and emotions. A moving collaboration between writer/filmmaker Wanda Nolan and animator Claire Blanchet.
  • My 2020
    My 2020
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    Sarah McNair-Landry 2022 34 min
    Over the course of a year, accompanied by her partner, Erik Boomer, and their spirited team of huskies, Sarah McNair-Landry recorded a fascinating cinematic travelogue, filled with breathtaking Arctic landscapes. Filmed from Nunavut to Idaho, the short documentary My 2020 is a meditation on isolation, freedom, tourism and the thirst for adventure.
  • No Quick Fix
    No Quick Fix
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    Andrée Cazabon 2000 51 min
    A revealing portrait of two young addicts, their life on the street and their despairing parents who find themselves powerless to save their children from the habit that is consuming them. As filmmaker Andrée Cazabon follows Cathy and Laurent for many months, recording their desperate drug-fuelled existence, she remembers her own life on the street. "My parents and I relived that horror," she says of her creative journey. But it was for all parents that she made this film. Cathy's and Laurent's parents live in a permanent state of bewildered anxiety and guilt. How can they avoid being totally destroyed by grief? How do they manage to carry on with their lives, in spite of everything? And how do they deal with a system that views them with suspicion? By grimly showing two children in the grip of a brutal addiction, No Quick Fix hopes to alleviate and identify some of the enormous pain endured by parents coping with an addicted child. In French with English subtitles.
  • A Place in the World
    A Place in the World
    Robert Lang 1997 40 min
    This short documentary introduces us to Martin Langlois, an autistic 22 year-old who is transferred to Maison Emmanuel when his devoted parents can no longer care for him. Maison Emmanuel is an alternative therapeutic community in Quebec’s Laurentian mountains that offers residents the ability to develop their life skills and particular gifts and abilities. Run by Inge Sell and her team, it is now home to 20 children and young adults, and forms part of a worldwide network of similar communities.
  • Silence & Storm
    Silence & Storm
    Jeremiah Hayes 1995 52 min
    Every summer, Camp Weredale, located in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal, is home to "system kids," offering them a safe haven and a chance to heal lives scarred by abuse and neglect. Silence & Storm documents two months in the lives of ten kids at this unique summer camp. For some, it was an opportunity to re-learn their capacity to be kids and just play; for others, it was a chance to come to grips with the painful memories that haunt them. Despite backgrounds steeped in pain and disappointment, these young people were able to reveal themselves and express their hopes, fears, anger and loneliness. The result is a sensitive, revealing portrait of an unusual program for youth in care.
  • Struggle for Control: Child and Youth Behaviour Disorders
    Struggle for Control: Child and Youth Behaviour Disorders
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    Melanie Wood 2005 57 min
    Struggle for Control: Child and Youth Behaviour Disorders is the fourth in a series of documentaries focusing on mental health issues facing BC's children and youth. Following the stories of four BC youth, this documentary sheds light on the causes, symptoms, community resources, and treatments of three of the most commonly-diagnosed behaviour disorders: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Conduct Disorder.

    Through these moving personal stories, viewers see how behaviour disorders affect the life of a child at home, at school, and the whole family. Struggle for Control debunks the myth that children with behaviour disorders are bad kids whose behaviour is irreversible. Behaviour disorders are treatable, and the key is early detection and early intervention.
  • Shattered Dreams
    Shattered Dreams
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    Wendy Hill-Tout 1989 27 min
    Shattered Dreams is a powerful and emotional exploration of the experiences of a family forced to deal with the tragedy of schizophrenia in a loved one; not once, but twice. The Martini family of Calgary lived through the turmoil of losing their youngest son Ben to schizophrenia and eventually suicide, only to discover six years later that a second son, Liv, has developed the disease. Clem Martini, a third brother, narrates the film, sharing with us his family's journey through a world of confusion, guilt, loss and ultimately, hope. (Broadcast on CBC's Man Alive series.)
  • Sainte Barbe
    Sainte Barbe
    Cédric Louis  &  Claude Barras 2007 7 min
    This animated short about men and hair tells the story of little bald Léon and of his grandfather, an old man with a bushy black beard. A thing of legend, the grandfather's beard seems endowed with magic powers. It even turns caterpillars into butterflies! But Léon's grandmother wants to cut off the unkempt beard and regain the distinguished-looking man she married, who wore just a tidy moustache. When the old man's asleep, grandmother prowls, scissors in hand, but Léon's keeping a watchful eye on her. As long as grandpa lives, the beard will stay.
  • Seguridad
    Seguridad
    Tamara Segura 2024 1 h 16 min
    In Seguridad, Cuba’s “youngest soldier” uncovers a family secret that compels her to explore her father’s troubled past and its connection to the Cuban Revolution.
  • Two Sisters
    Two Sisters
    Caroline Leaf 1991 10 min
    This animated short, etched directly onto tinted 70 mm film, depicts the story of two sisters: Viola, who writes novels in a dark room, and Marie, her only companion. Disfigured, Viola counts on her sister to take care of her and shelter her from the outside world. But when an unexpected stranger turns up on their front door, the sisters' quiet lives are disrupted and their routine turns to chaos.
  • The Terrible Twos and the Trusting Threes
    The Terrible Twos and the Trusting Threes
    Judith Crawley 1951 21 min
    A study of child behaviour at two and three years, showing what to expect and how parents can deal constructively with the problems they present. The film shows a group of active children in playground, nursery school and home, first at age two, and then at three. Destructiveness, tantrums, rivalry with younger children, and unreasonable fears are discussed.
  • To a Safer Place
    To a Safer Place
    Beverly Shaffer 1987 58 min
    This inspiring film is the story of how one woman has come to terms with her life as a survivor of incest. Sexually abused by her father from infancy to early adolescence, Shirley Turcotte is now in her thirties and has succeeded in building a rich and full life. In To a Safer Place, Shirley takes a further step to reconcile her past and present. The film accompanies her as she returns to the people and places of her childhood. Her mother, brothers and sister, all of whom were also caught up in the cycle of family violence, openly share their thoughts. Their frank disclosures will encourage survivors of incest to break through the silence and betrayal to recover and develop a sense of self-worth and dignity.
  • Thanadoula
    Thanadoula
    Robin McKenna 2020 6 min
    Layering real-life details with an otherworldly magic, Thanadoula recounts the story of an end-of-life doula brought to her calling through the loss of her beloved sister.
  • Two Apples
    Two Apples
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    Bahram Javahery 2022 9 min
    When a young woman leaves her homeland in search of a better future, she brings with her a single memento from her past: a ripe apple studded with fragrant cloves. A true labour of love, Bahram Javahery’s animated film is infused with longing and the tender perfume of hope.
  • Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days
    Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days
    Regina Pessoa 2019 13 min
    Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days is about the special relationship between Regina Pessoa and her uncle. The film is a testament to her love for this eccentric, who was an artistic inspiration and played a key role in her becoming a filmmaker. A moving tribute to a poet of the everyday.
  • The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer
    The Weatherman and the Shadowboxer
    Randall Lloyd Okita 2014 9 min
    This short animation presents the haunting story of two brothers who share the scars, though not the memories, of an untold history that has driven them to existential extremes. Combining high-speed camerawork, striking art direction and intricate animation sequences, acclaimed visual artist and filmmaker Randall Lloyd Okita crafts a poetic elegy to connectedness and survival.