Nicholas de Pencier

Documentary on psychedelic potash mines, expansive concrete seawalls, mammoth industrial machines, and other examples of humanity’s massive, destructive reengineering of the planet.

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

An immersive, behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s leading ballet companies as it mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Ballet icon Karen Kain, on the eve of her retirement, directs the National Ballet of Canada. The film weaves together intimate scenes of the creative process and the dancers’ personal lives. Executive Produced by Neve Campbell.

An in-depth analysis of the relationship between New Wave pioneers François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, as seen through rare archival footage, interviews, and film excerpts — written and narrated by former Cahiers du Cinéma editor Antoine de Baecque.

An immigrant boy faces difficulty growing up in Toronto's apartment slums.

A documentary chronicling The Tragically Hip during the emotional lead up through to the epic last show of the iconic Canadian band's now legendary 2016 tour.

Through the heart and photographic lens of international photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, 
we become intimately familiar with a cast of non-human animals. The film follows Jo-Anne over the course of a year as she photographs several animal stories in parts of Canada, 
the U.S. and in Europe. Each story is a window into global animal industries: 
Food, Fashion, Entertainment and Research.

Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. To capture a butterfly's point of view, NOVA’s filmmakers used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the transcontinental route. This wondrous annual migration, which scientists are just beginning to fathom, is an endangered phenomenon that could dwindle to insignificance if the giant firs that the butterflies cling to during the winter disappear.

Moving between earth and stars, past and present, this hybrid feature documentary follows the extraordinary life of Wilfred Buck, a charismatic and irreverent Indigenous Elder who overcame a harrowing history of displacement, racism, and addiction by reclaiming ancestral star knowledge and ceremony.

A feature film that follows Jason Logan, who creates unique inks for some of the world’s most celebrated artists by using highly unconventional materials, many of which he finds while foraging in locations ranging from the landfill beaches of Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit to the Mojave Desert. Among the more unusual materials he employs are weeds, rocks, and even rust. Logan’s fans range from the legendary Robert Crumb to New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck and Japanese artist Koji Kakinuma.

Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area groundskeeper, suffered from rashes in 2014 and wondered if they were caused by the herbicide he'd been using for the past couple years. As his health deteriorated, Johnson became the face of a David-and-Goliath legal battle to hold a multi-national agrochemical corporation accountable for a product with allegedly misleading labelling.

Crows live everywhere in the world except Antarctica and are a part of myths and legends in many cultures. Their reputation in the stories varies from comical to frightening, godlike or wise, bringers of light and bringers of death, though a “murder” of crows refers to a flock of crows, and not to anything murderous, at all. They may be all these things, but what we are learning is that they are especially smart. New research has shown that they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. They use tools as only elephants and chimpanzees do, and recognize 250 distinct calls. One particular talent they have been discovered to possess is the ability to recognize individual human faces and pick them out of a crowd up to two years later – a trick that might make even Hitchcock shiver with fright.

The work of mathematician Donald Coxeter, who continued in the study of geometry when it was being put aside in favour of algebra. An inspiration to both M.C. Escher and Buckminster Fuller.

The unicorn is the oldest legendary creature in the world. But what sets it apart is not only the immemorial universal myth, it’s the fact that the myth survived at all. Where does it come from and why hasn’t it fallen into oblivion like the Basilisk, the Hydra or the Manticore?

Short film depicting the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Part of the Anthropocene installation.

Toronto-based documentary filmmaker and cinematographer Nicholas de Pencier (Four Wings and a Prayer, Watermark) examines the complex global impact that the internet has had on matters of free speech, privacy and activism.

This series will tell the definitive story of the legendary 1972 eight-game 'Super Summit' through a modern lens, and explore its legacy and lasting influence on Canadian national identity, framing it against the political and cultural climate of the times in both countries, and around the world.

The Great Lakes, home to a fifth of the world's fresh water and the backbone of a vast ecosystem, are explored from every angle on this documentary series.