Wolf Koenig

In this Oscar-winning short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.

Corral is a 1954 National Film Board of Canada documentary by Colin Low, partly shot in the Cochrane Ranch in what is now Cochrane, Alberta. In the film, a cowboy rounds up wild horses, lassoing one of the high-spirited animals in the corral, then going on a ride across the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta.

The Greek myth retold with film animation, accompanied by music for flute. Music, drawing, colour and movement here follow a moving, classic restraint. Daedalus, inventor of many things, provides the wings to escape from Crete, but Icarus, his son, impetuously flies too close to the sun. In this film, artist and composer share equal pleasure in the telling, with a feeling the audience will share. A film without words.

This short documentary profiles cartoonist, painter, humorist, publisher, iconographer, and teacher Jacob Maydanyk. Part of the first wave of Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in Canada between 1896-1914, Maydanyk was an imaginative artist who created the beloved comic strip character Shteef Tabachniuk, a hapless and endearing galoot who became a folk hero to Ukrainian immigrants. Laughter in My Soul is a tribute to the dignity and heroism of those early pioneers and to those whose spirit lives on, to those who had laughter in their souls.

A performing arts film by Alanis Obomsawin, it documents efforts to raise funds for the James Bay Cree and was made at a time when Cree territory was threatened by hydro-electric projects. Amisk represents early work by Obomsawin, a trailblazer in Canadian Aboriginal film.

Exeter Cathedral in Devonshire, England, is considered to be the finest example of architecture of the Decorated period, 1250-1350. This film rolls back the centuries, unfolding the cathedral's history, showing the refinement of the sculpture that went into its building, from the airy vista of the nave--the longest unbroken stretch of Gothic vaulting in the world--to the vibrant colours of its windows. But more than architecture survives: Exeter is still a living church for the people of today.

This documentary short offers a nostalgic look at the steam locomotive as it passes from reality to history. In its heyday, the big smoke-belching steam engine seemed immortal. Now, powerful and efficient diesels are pushing the old coal-burning locomotives to the sidelines, and the lonely echo of their whistles may soon be a thing of the past.

In this Academy Award–nominated animated satire, Martian observers analyze life on Earth and reach a startling conclusion: automobiles appear to be the planet’s dominant species, while humans function merely as their parasites. Directed by Les Drew and Kaj Pindal, the film humorously critiques modern society’s dependence on the car.

Show Girls celebrates Montreal's swinging Black jazz scene from the 1920s to the 1960s, when the city was wide open. Three women who danced in the legendary Black clubs of the day - Rockhead's Paradise, The Terminal, Café St. Michel - share their unforgettable memories of life at the centre of one of the world's hottest jazz spots. From the Roaring Twenties, through the Second World War and on into the golden era of clubs in the fifties and sixities, Show Girls chronicles the lives of Bernice, Tina and Olga - mixing their memories with rarely seen footage of the era.

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, sets the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness.

Nose and Tina are a couple in love. The film captures the domestic details of their life together and documents their hassles with work, money and the law. The unusual bit: He is employed as a brakeman, and she as a sex worker.

A lonely woodcarver longs for a son, so he builds a wooden puppet and names it Spinnolio

A triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources of inspiration used by Stanley Kubrick for his 2001: A Space Odyssey. Realistic animation takes you into far regions of space, beyond the reach of the strongest telescope, past Moon, Sun, and Milky Way, into galaxies yet unfathomed.

This short documentary (the second of two parts) follows Glenn Gould to New York City. There, we see the renowned Canadian concert pianist kidding the cab driver, bantering with sound engineers at Columbia Records, and then, alone with the piano, fastidiously recording Bach's Italian Concerto.

A richly illustrated cartoon film that enlarges on man's capacity to foul his own nest, and to ignore it. Made by a joint team of Canadian and Yugoslav animation artists, the film transmits its warning with unflagging humor, imagination, movement and design. In between animated sequences Dr. Fred H. Knelman, Professor of Science and Human Affairs at Concordia University in Montréal, comments on the import of what is shown and on what lies in store if more responsibility is not taken on a global scale to conserve what is left of our vital resources and usable environment.

A chain-smoking woman has an encounter with a vampire.

In this animated short, simple geometric forms as thin and flat as playing cards constantly form and re-form to the sound of the koto, a 13-stringed Japanese instrument.

Ukrainian-Canadian Ted Baryluk's grocery store has been a fixture in Winnipeg's North End for over 20 years. In this photo study, Ted talks about his store, the customers who have come and gone and the social changes his multicultural neighbourhood has seen. But most of all he wonders what will become of his store after he retires. He hopes his daughter will take over, but she wants to move away. The film is a wistful rendering of a shopkeeper's relationship with his daughter and a fascinating portrait of a neighbourhood and its inhabitants.

Canadians in search of the national identity will not find it fully fleshed in this film. An animated cartoon, it sees Canadians as pragmatists, adaptable to whatever climate or history place in their way. It is a boisterous, bubbling analysis of the Canadian character and, although it may not answer the question of the title, it does leave the feeling that being Canadian is not so exhausting as one might expect.

This short film portrays the story of singer Paul Anka, who rose from obscurity to become the idol of millions of adolescent fans around the world. Taking a candid look at both sides of the footlights, this film examines the marketing machine behind a generation of pop singers. Interviews with Anka and his manager reveal their perspective on the industry.

An unusual documentary investigating rape from the assailant's point of view. Ten men convicted of rape tell their stories, describing their backgrounds, and their violent attacks on women. The film is a guaranteed catalyst for discussion.

This 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital’s emergency ward.

This film deals with a Jewish family in Montreal, Canada as they care for a dying grandmother and the young boy who is impatient to get the room he was promised as soon as she kicks the bucket.

A portrait of Hamilton, the Pittsburgh or Birmingham of Canada. This is a rich and colourful subject that encourages imaginative treatment on the screen. The heart of the city is the immense complex of furnaces and rolling mills, but nearby are the lake, the mountain, and the rich fruit farms. How the work of the steel mills touches the city and its surroundings is shown in many views during both day and night.