Joey Smallwood

Media mogul, athlete, creator of the psychedelic superhero Captain Newfoundland, and an activist against his home province joining Confederation: Geoff Stirling was all these things and more. To do justice to a character as complex as this film’s protagonist, Mike Feehan turns the camera on himself and his co-director Jamie Miller as they weave together archival footage, animation, and fantastical recreations from Stirling's experimental 1970s late-night TV show, all very in keeping with NTV's original broadcast mission. Captain Newfoundland is an illuminating and wildly entertaining portrait of a complex man and his impact on the province that, according to Stirling, may or may not be the tip of the long-lost island of Atlantis.

This feature-length documentary paints a lively portrait of Father of Confederation and first premier of Newfoundland Joseph Roberts Smallwood, or "Joey," as he is known to most Canadians. Following one of Canada’s most colourful political figures during a two-and-a-half-month period that included a stormy Liberal leadership convention, the film reveals a man misunderstood even by his close associates.

Short doc/essay film exploring Newfoundland's relationship to film before and after confederation.

This feature-length documentary from 1974 takes viewers inside Fidel Castro's Cuba. A movie-making threesome hope that Fidel himself will star in their film. The unusual crew consists of former Newfoundland premier Joseph Smallwood, radio and TV owner Geoff Stirling and NFB film director Michael Rubbo. What happens while the crew awaits its star shows a good deal of the new Cuba, and also of the three Canadians who chose to film the island. (NFB)