The National Parks Project
In an increasingly urban nation, Canada’s national parks are a treasured escape into extraordinary beauty and rugged wilderness. If the Group of Seven were an introduction to the landscape’s majesty, National Parks Project is the next logical chapter. Fifty-two contemporary artists from across the country, whose talents are as diverse as the parks they set out to explore, used their surroundings as a source of inspiration to blend musical and cinematic skills into collaboratively crafted vignettes. Epic in its ambition to celebrate these locales during Parks Canada’s centennial year, this omnibus film resonates with the knowledge that our unprotected land is more vulnerable than ever. Including films by Zacharius Kunuk, Peter Lynch, Sturla Gunnarsson and John Walker, and music by Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts, Cadence Weapon and The Besnard Lakes, among many others, National Parks Project is a one-of-a-kind documentary experience.
Sturla Gunnarsson
Zacharias Kunuk
Louise Archambault
John Walker
Peter Lynch
Stéphane Lafleur
Daniel Cockburn
Jamie Travis
Kevin McMahon
Keith Behrman
Catherine Martin
Hubert Davis
Joel McConvey
Scott Smith
Also Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson
The blood-soaked tale of a Norse warrior's battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel. Heads will roll. Out of allegiance to the King Hrothgar, the much respected Lord of the Danes, Beowulf leads a troop of warriors across the sea to rid a village of the marauding monster.
Part road movie, part spectacle, part drama, Monsoon is Sturla Gunnarsson's meditation on chaos, creation and faith, set in the land of believers. The subject is the monsoon, the incomparably vast weather system that permeates and unifies the varied culture of India, shaping the conditions of existence for its billion inhabitants. -- IMDb Plot: Monsoon (2014)
A look at one of the worst plane bombings of the 20th century. In 1985, an Air India 747 flying from Montreal, Canada to Delhi was blown up in mid-flight by Khalistani extremists. All 331 passengers were killed, most were of Indian origin. On June 22, 1985, Air India 182 left Montreal, bound for Delhi via London Heathrow. It never made it.
Darren Huenemann, a spoiled 18-year old plots to have two classmates murder his mother and grandmother so he can inherit their fortunes. His worship of Caligula leads him to treat all like those in the Roman Imperial Court, manipulating, threatening and cajoling those who would stand in his way. Based on a true story of the early Nineties in British Columbia.
A scientist discovers the bodies of three frozen genetically modified Russians buried in the Canadian North. Upon thawing them out he realizes he has unleashed a deadly threat to Western society and must stop them at all costs.
After the Axe is a 1982 Canadian drama film about executive firings.
Street Legal is a Canadian television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994. It was revived for an additional season in 2019.
Joe Torre after failing to win a championship when he was a professional baseball player and as Manager to three teams is named Manager of the Yankees. And he finds himself having players like Dwight Gooden, Wade Boggs and Daryl Strawberry who are considered has beens. And players like David Cone who are ill. But nevertheless thinks he can win with them. At the same he deals with the loss of one brother and another brother battling the same condition that killed his brother.
The story, set in 1971 at the time of the war between India and Pakistan, is based on the novel of the same name by Rohinton Mistry, an Indian now living in Toronto. "Such a Long Journey" takes place mostly in and around a large apartment complex, its courtyard and the street, which the municipal authorities want to widen so that even more choking diesel fumes can cloud the air. We meet the hero, Gustad (Roshan Seth), in the process of defending the old concrete wall that protects his courtyard from the street, and later he strikes a bargain with an itinerant artist (Ranjit Chowdhry), who covers the wall with paintings from every conceivable religious tradition, with the thought that all of the groups represented will join in defending the wall.
Gerrie and Louise is the true story of politically star-crossed lovers. Gerrie was a colonel in the South African Defense Force, and Louise one of South Africa's top investigative journalists working to expose government hit squads and the men who ran them - men like Gerrie. Realizing that apartheid was doomed and he himself had been betrayed, Gerrie used Louise to get his revenge and she used him to get a story. In the process they fell in love, an improbable relationship that illuminates the difficulties of truth and reconciliation.
Also Directed by Zacharias Kunuk
Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) returns with this Arctic epic inspired by the classic John Ford western of the same name, about a vengeful husband who sets off in pursuit of the violent men who kidnapped his wife and destroyed his home.
A young shaman must face her first test: a trip underground to visit Kannaaluk, The One Below, who holds the answers to why a community member has become ill.
A group of Nunavut elders travel to five museums in North America to see and identify artifacts, tools and clothing collected from their Inuit ancestors. Directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Bernadette Dean.
Third Isuma recreated fiction, 1993. As summer ends near Igloolik in the 1930's, three families build a saputi to trap fish going upriver for the winter. The days are getting shorter and young people daydream, while waiting for fish to come. But nature is not always predictable....
Based on the journal of Knud Rasmussen's "Great Sled Journey" of 1922 across arctic Canada. The film is shot from the perspective of the Inuit, showing their traditional beliefs and lifestyle. It tells the story of the last great Inuit shaman and his beautiful and headstrong daughter; the shaman must decide whether to accept the Christian religion that is converting the Inuit across Greenland.
In 1991, Igloolik Isuma Productions gathered 13 Igloolik elders for a week of discussion, to choose and then record 24 traditional ajaja songs considered most important to preserve for the future: where did the songs come from, how where they made and how have they been passed down generation to generation? Each elder remembers their own family's ajaja songs and explains how they were created by poets taking their words from their life experiences. The video, translated and subtitled for the first time, includes priceless footage of these elders singing and drumming the songs, and their playfully combative and humorous interactions are a joy to watch. The process also allowed Isuma to publish a full CD of the selected songs and to use and preserve many of them in Isuma's films over the next 25 years.
Director Zacharias Kunuk explores Sirmilik National Park, near the Nunavut community of Pond Inlet, through the voice of an Inuit elder. Winner "Best Short Documentary" 2012 Genie Awards.
Based on a local legend and set in an unknown era, it deals with universal themes of love, possessiveness, family, jealousy and power. Beautifully shot, and acted by Inuit people, it portrays a time when people fought duels by taking turns to punch each other until one was unconscious, made love on the way to the caribou hunt, ate walrus meat and lit their igloos with seal-oil lamps.
From the Unikaatuatiit (Story Tellers) Series. A film by Isuma Productions.
Four Inuit families build a qaggiq, a large communal igloo, to mark the approach of spring with singing and games. A young man woos a girl but her parents are in disagreement over whether he shall get to marry her.
Also Directed by Louise Archambault
When gambling addict Michele moves in with her childhood friend Janine, their teenaged daughter’s burgeoning friendship produces both humorous and heartbreaking results.
Sisters Marianne and Christine take a road trip from Montreal to the Magdalen Islands to spread the ashes of their late father. He wasn’t exactly an angel, and his associates are hot on their trail.
Set several years after the murderous events of the first movie which left her father dead, Emma is now living with her aunt Angela and navigating high school. Angela’s husband begins to suspect that Emma may not be as innocent as she appears and suggests sending her off to boarding school. Meanwhile, a new girl at school seems to know Emma’s secrets, leaving Emma no choice but to slip back to her old ways and take care of her enemies by any means necessary.
A photographer sets off toward a mysterious forest to find Boychuk, witness and victim of the Great Fire that swept through Northern Ontario at the turn of the 20th century. But before she arrives, she learns that Boychuck has just perished. Survivors of the long-ago fire, Tom and Charlie, two elderly men who have chosen to live out their last days in the woods, are introduced to Marie Desneige, whose 60 year institutionalization has only fueled her passion for life. Meanwhile, the photographer is discovering that Boychuck had been a painter, whose life’s work had been entirely inspired by the Great Fire. The story immerses us in a historical drama while captivating us with the strange lives of these men of the forest. Three men who, in choosing freedom above all else, made a deal with death.
Piper Davis is a dedicated proposal planner who orchestrates elaborate proposal events for her clients. With Valentine's Day around the corner, she is overloaded with requests, on top of dealing with mixed emotions aligned with the holiday, due to a past failed romance.
The solitude of a mime in fall. Classical and pornographic.
Gabrielle is a young woman with Williams syndrome who has a contagious joie de vivre and an exceptional musical gift. Since she met her boyfriend Martin, at the recreation centre where they are choir members, they have been inseparable. However, because they are "different," their loved ones are fearful of their relationship. As the choir prepare for an important music festival, Gabrielle does everything she can to gain her independence. As determined as she is, Gabrielle must still confront other people's prejudices as well as her own limitations in the hope of experiencing a love far from the "ordinary".
19-year-old Irena Gut is promoted to housekeeper in the home of a highly respected Nazi officer in Poland when she finds out that the Jewish ghetto is about to be liquidated. Determined to help 12 Jewish workers, she decides to shelter them in the safest place she can think of – the basement of the German Major's house. Over the next eight months, Irena uses her wit, humour and immense courage to hide her friends as long as possible.
Also Directed by John Walker
Canadian territory Nunavut is created.
A film about the predominance of American television programming around the world at the expense of regional cultural voices.
John Walker grew up an Anglophone in Montreal in the years surrounding Quebec's Quiet Revolution. He witnessed first-hand the upheaval that transformed the political and cultural landscape. In those years, more than 500,000 English-speaking Quebecers left the province, many of them—including Walker—finding their way to Toronto. After decades as a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, Walker decides to turn his lens on his own story and dig into the heart of the social revolution that shaped his identity. His immediate and extended family express their conflicted feelings about their place in modern Quebec. Others, from a police officer who diffused FLQ bombs to director Denys Arcand, contemplate the issues that drive Quebec's desire for sovereignty. A province's past is informed by personal reflection and Walker's perspective that "my grandmothers taught me that history is a path to understanding and myths and half-truths must be challenged." (Summary by Alexander Rogalski)
A documentary about fairy lore, sightings and believers.
Jackie Burroughs stars as Maryse Holder, the ill-fated feminist author who met an untimely death in Acapulco. Her attitude of cultural and racial condescension toward Mexican men was to regard them as nothing more than beasts of burden for her own sexual pleasure, and her hedonistic pursuits of sex and drugs led to her death at the hands of one of her many boytoys.
Some people grapple with the moral challenges of treating human beings decently. Others are just… assholes. Inspired by Aaron James’ New York Times bestseller of the same name, this documentary investigates the breeding grounds of contemporary ‘asshole culture’ — and locates signs of civility in an otherwise rude and nasty universe. Venturing into predominantly male domain, this film moves from Ivy League frat clubs to the bratty princedoms of Silicon Valley and the bear pits of international finance. Why do assholes thrive in certain environments? What explains their perverse appeal? And how do they keep getting elected?
With a unique blend of dramatic action and behind-the-scenes documentary footage, filmmaker John Walker shares the multi-layered story of British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men, who perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage, and John Rae, the Scottish doctor who in 1851, discovered their dismal fate. Rae's dark report, which described the crew’s madness and cannibalism, did not sit well with Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society, including Charles Dickens. They waged a bitter public campaign to discredit Rae's version of events and mark an entire nation of northern Inuit with the label of murderous cannibals. A stunning face-to-face meeting between the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens and Tagak Curley, an honoured Inuit statesman who challenges the fraudulent history, vaults the story from the past into the present and we are witness to history in the making.
Although his influence on the history of photography has been nothing short of profound, Paul Strand (1890-1976) remains a curiously shrouded and paradoxical figure. While passionately devoted to humanity, he was happiest in the isolation of the dark room. A pioneer filmmaker (Manhatta, Native Land, Heart of Spain, The Wave), he found the process of collaboration painful. Strand established himself in New York in the 1920's as a master of light and structure, with his now famous photo of Wall Street inspired by the forms and movement of European modernist painters such as Matisse and Picasso. His closeup portraits and landscapes were equally profound. John Walker's Strand.
In the '60s, the Mushuau Innu had to abandon their 6,000-year nomadic culture and settle in Davis Inlet. Their relocation resulted in cultural collapse and widespread despair.
Also Directed by Peter Lynch
Documentary filmmaker Lynch tries to find the origin of a whale bone found buried in Toronto's waterfront.
Documentary on the work of Steve Mann, Univeristy of Toronto Associate Professor in Computer and Electrical Engineering, who wears computers to collect and process the images he sees. He encounters misunderstanding from peers and opposition from business owners who refuse cameras into their places of business.
Using a robotic chair as the axis of entwined stories tied to the theme of suspension, Lynch and Dean explore autobiography in this challenging and complex work.
A man claims to have found a dinosaur skeleton in a vacant lot next to his apartment building.
An ex-cop whose marriage is on the rocks hides surveillance cameras in her home and watches her husbands transgressions, becoming a voyeur of her own life.
A plan to herd reindeer across Alaska to aid Canadian Inuit gets bogged down in logistical difficulties and personal baggage.
Documentary about the lifelong project of Troy Hurtubise, a man who has been obsessed with researching the Canadian grizzly bear up close, ever since surviving an early encounter with such a bear. The film documents Hurtubise's diligent work to improve his homemade "grizzly-proof" suit of armour, his efforts to test its resilience, and his forays into the Rockies to track down the grizzlies he dreams of meeting. The film manages to capture the humor of the project as well as its sincerity.
Also Directed by Stéphane Lafleur
Four people are affected by one man's disappearance: Lucette, his wife, who anxiously awaits his return; Louis, a young father whose relationship with his wife is going through confusing times; Chantal, a hotel receptionist who dreams of sharing her life with someone else; Marcel, an ex-gambler confronted by the realities of aging.
Maryse and her husband are desperate to sell a backhoe sitting abandoned in their suburban yard. Her brother, Benoit, is trapped in endless adolescence, sharing their childhood home with their invalid father. Benoit is enamoured with a single mom named Nathalie, and he's hoping to finally grow up by living with her... but Nathalie's son does not approve. A serious accident at the factory where Maryse works, a strange series of coincidences, and the arrival of a Man claiming to come from the future launch Maryse and Benoit on a life-changing road trip. Following up his acclaimed feature film Continental, a film without guns, filmmaker Stephane Lafleur once again brings us an ensemble of compelling characters, in a story where the ordinary and the fantastic collide
Making the most of the family home while her parents are away, 22-year-old Nicole is enjoying a peaceful summer with her best friend Véronique. But when Nicole’s older brother shows up with his band to record an album, the girls’ friendship is put to the test.
The Viking Society is recruiting volunteers to collaborate on the first manned mission to Mars. The objective is to form an alter ego B team who will live the adventure in parallel, behind closed doors on Earth, in the hope of remotely solving the interpersonal problems encountered by the five real astronauts who will soon land on the red planet. The film is about how David, a physical education teacher, takes this opportunity to rekindle his dream of becoming an astronaut and, perhaps, make a difference.
Also Directed by Daniel Cockburn
Sculpting Memory places Atom Egoyan in an audiovisual environment woven from the fabric of his own films―a conceptual move that references Egoyan’s adaptation of Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape while evoking Egoyan’s own work as a moving-image installation artist and his concern with the recording and displaying of images.
Several story threads about consciousness and perception intertwine in this film by video installation artist Daniel Cockburn.
What begins as an enquiry on things that mean other things itself becomes a thing that means other things, too. And whatever exactly that thing is, the latest by one of Canada’s most ingenious auteurs is another astounding feat of cerebral and cinephilic dexterity.
Also Directed by Jamie Travis
After a game of hide-and-seek, 11-year-old Aaron is hypnotized to solve the mystery of his missing friend.
The first film in Jamie Travis’s PATTERNS trilogy suggests a surrealist homage to the psychologically charged set designs of auteurs like Alfred Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk. The premise is simplicity itself: a woman waits for a call in her immaculate apartment. Comfortably immersed in her bath, she reveals a strange dream to the caller. Travis’s calibrated formal manipulations work up a terrific surface suspense.
Timothy Higgins, the saddest boy in the world, prepares to hang himself at his ninth birthday party.
Wildly talented high school girls' soccer players descend into savage clans after their plane crashes in the remote northern wilderness. Twenty-five years later, they discover that what began in the wild is far from over.
A romantic comedy about two best friends who love each other -- in slightly different ways. After numerous failed attempts to become popular, the girls are mistakenly outed as lesbians, which launches them to instant celebrity status. Seduced by their newfound fame, Karma and Amy decide to keep up their romantic ruse.
The third film in Jamie Travis’ PATTERNS trilogy.
A young couple sings from their apartment windows about the unshared bagel that ended their relationship. Part of the Seven Sins film project.
Stop motion telekinesis is just the beginning. Though riddled with familiar motifs (nods to Bernard Herrmann’s scores, Stanley Kubrick's unnerving spaces, the mesmerizing portraits of women in VERTIGO and LAURA), the second film in Jamie Travis’ PATTERNS trilogy achieves a singular blend of horror, melodrama and musical. This installment centers on Michael, a nervous guy puzzling over an unexpected Chinese takeout order. Even as some of the mysteries from the first PATTERNS are revealed, the trilogy plunges deeper into a quicksand of shared dreams, hidden anxieties and romantic yearning.
Allison Pyke is a young angel who's trying to get her ticket into heaven. Complications arise when two important men in her life unexpectedly show up to form a love triangle.
A couple faces unexpected parenting challenges when the father becomes a stay-at-home dad decides to home school their kids.
Also Directed by Kevin McMahon
Filmmaker Kevin McMahon examines the Cold War's impact on the Inuit, a primitive culture of the Arctic. Meryn Cadell narrates.
A look at the natural beauty and environmental crisis surrounding the Great Lakes.
The Music Garden is an exploration of music as interpreted through gardening on a grand scale. The film follows the efforts of Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy to create a formal garden, based on J. S. Bach's 'Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello', in the center of Boston. Woven throughout this unusual enterprise is a performance of the suite by Yo-Yo Ma, accompanied by special effects that bring the dream of the garden to life.
Borealis is a unique cinematic documentary that goes deep into Canada's iconic snow forest to understand how black spruce and birch experience life, talk to each other and decide when the time is right to burn themselves down.
Also Directed by Keith Behrman
Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.
Garnet and Flower have grown up in an environment of stifled grief. Since their mother died, Ed, their father, mostly just lives without a goal. Eight-year-old Garnet struggles to comprehend the world around him, while sixteen-year-old Flower seeks love with her new boyfriend. Forced to become a real parent to Garnet, Ed buys Garnet a gun and shows, for the first time, his real affection for the boy.
Also Directed by Catherine Martin
A mother deals with the violent murder of her daughter.
Seven portraits of people who present themselves at work and in daily life. Seven ways of being present to the world. People who are exceptional because they are like everyone else.
The supernatural is invoked to save a romance in 19th century Quebec.
An elegy for traveling by rail follows the titular train from Montreal to Halifax.
Ladies of good families and social standing come to have their afternoon tea with their daughters who will someday follow in the same tradition. A charming portrait of a time that is slowly disappearing.
Two solitary people meet each other and form a bond in the back country of the Gaspe peninsula.
Also Directed by Hubert Davis
A documentary on young black children living in Toronto public housing.
This incisive, urgent documentary examines the history of anti-Black racism in hockey, from the segregated leagues of the 19th century to today’s NHL, where Black athletes continue to struggle against bigotry.
A film about the director's relationship with his father who was a team member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for artist Phil Richards, who’s been commissioned to create Canada’s official portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her Diamond Jubilee. Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Hubert Davis follows Richards over months of painstaking preparations, as he works to capture Her Majesty’s likeness and spirit on canvas.
Discover the intoxicating world of hacking through the eyes of Michael “Mafiaboy” Calce, who, at 15, was involved in one of the most egregious and widely covered cybercrimes in North America. As hacking becomes more sophisticated and widespread, and information becomes synonymous with profit, can anyone remain immune to a breach of security?
Award-winning Canadian documentarian Hubert Davis chronicles the inspirational work of Giants of Africa, a program founded by Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri that uses basketball to educate and enrich the lives of underprivileged African youth.
Also Directed by Scott Smith
In pursuit of fantasy, five teenagers hop the fence of a now defunct amusement park. While apparently a mindless diversion, for two of them the park is the setting for a more fatal bid at escape.
Famed culinary consultant Henry Ross is a charming food industry insider in San Francisco. When suspicious sabotage ends in a shocking murder at his friend’s five-star restaurant, Henry is put on the case with strong-willed police detective and single mom, Maggie Price. Despite Maggie’s protests, they must work together to decipher the clues and investigate all of San Francisco’s top culinary pros.
When Henry is invited as a guest speaker at a luxury resort spa, he quickly finds himself at the center of another murder. With Maggie at his side, our favorite duo must not only find the killer but be careful they don't become his latest victim.
When Frankie Baldwin and Nate Deluca both have a claim to ownership of Sorrento Farm, they are forced to divide the vineyard right down the middle and work the fields alongside each other to bring in the harvest leading up to the Best Wine competition at the annual Autumn Harvest Festival -- only this rivalry won't be settled in the fields, because in spite of their contentious bickering, the simplest way to settle this particular legal dispute is with a romance.
When a woman is wrongly accused of the death of her ex-husband, she sets out to solve the murder mystery and find the real killer before the day of the funeral, when she is to be taken into custody.
Madison is a Canadian television teen drama series produced by Forefront Entertainment Group in Vancouver and broadcast in 88 countries worldwide. After first run of 65 episodes on Global TV Network 1993 - 1998, it continued to air on Showcase and YTV in Canada 1998 - 2002. Madison was a hard-hitting teen drama of 30 minute episodes. The series tackled teens' serious life crises with realistic resolutions. The series was created originally for classrooms as a learning aid under the title of 'Working It Out at Madison', but networks fell in love with its gritty story lines and impressive acting. The producers were nominated for Best Dramatic Series at Canada's Gemini Awards for outstanding television in 1995, 96 and 1997. Madison had a talented cast that went on to strong acting careers: In 1996, Joely Collins won Canada's "Best Actress" Gemini Award at age 22. Barry Pepper went on to act in 'Saving Private Ryan' and The Green Mile' with Tom Hanks, 'Enemy of the State' with Will Smith, then he won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series for his role as Bobby in 'The Kennedy in 2011. Another Madison actor, Will Sasso was a regular on 'MadTV' for several seasons and cast as Curly in 'The Three Stooges' film release in 2012. Actress Enuka Okuma has appeared in the hit series '24' and currently appears as a regular cast member of cop drama, 'Rookie Blue'.
When struggling bookstore owner Mary and the bad boy of professional hockey, Adam, are teamed together to help facilitate an image makeover for the other, they soon realize that opposites attract and they find themselves unexpectedly frozen in love.
A group of postal detectives work to solve the mysteries behind undeliverable letters and packages from the past, delivering them when they are needed most.
Small town bookstore owner Jamie Vaughn learns that hers and other struggling local businesses face closure by a powerful Portland property developer, led by architect and former flame Sawyer O'Dell. As Valentine's Day approaches and closure seems imminent, Jamie must not only hatch a heartfelt plan to save her beloved bookstore, but she must also sort out her past feelings for Sawyer.
Traders is a Canadian television drama series, which was broadcast on Global Television Network from 1996 to 2000.