Paul Steffler

A group of humans arrive on Sirius 6-B to investigate an SOS signal sent out from the planet, which has been supposedly deserted since the destruction of the man-made weapons known as "screamers." Once the squad arrives, they find a group of human survivors eking out an existence in an old military outpost.

Life on the Rock never seemed easy, but for Mitsy it is especially rough. The teenager has been abandoned by her mother, a particularly unfit parent prone to both the bottle and the sex trade. She is left to be brought up by her mercurial grandmother Bride, who is well-meaning but oppressively suffocating. Mitsy's dreams for the future hinge on her desire to be a hairdresser, but her current emotional well-being revolves around a wee dog named Sparky, an unwanted canine misfit to whom she becomes hopelessly attached. After Bride agrees to let Mitsy take the dog in as a pet, the teen tries desperately to create a happy, safe place for Sparky to thrive.

When James Downey returns home to Newfoundland for his mother’s funeral, he is faced with all the haunting family issues he thought he had left behind. He channeled his own inner demons from an abusive father into being a police officer but his cousin Danny’s childhood trauma has exploded into a cycle of drugs, crime and violence. James must confront his tortured past, decide who he really is, and deal with his cousin before it’s too late.

The Untold Story of the Suffragists of Newfoundland (1999) is a docu-drama celebrating the thirty year struggle by the women of Newfoundland to win the right to vote.

An anxious Catherine is unable to communicate with her five year old daughter. Can she discover a new way to connect to her at a busy casino party?

A burdened man feels the wrath of a vengeful God after he and his wife are visited by a mysterious stranger.

A woman living in an isolated community is anchored to her home while waiting for her husband to return from sea, until she is reminded she has everything she needs to be free.

Shot during the first ever Innu circus festival in Labrador, Canada, Tricksters gives the viewing audience a positive glimpse into these troubled native communities. The artistry of international performers is combined with the native tradition of drumming and dancing offering a wider appreciation for the Innu way of life. Tricksters features Beni Malone's Wonderbolt Circus, as well as two time world champion hoop dancer Lisa Odjig who interacts with Innu Elders and children in workshops. Interviews with Innu elders inspire a greater appreciation for the Innu way of life. Tricksters offers an emergence of art and native culture, rarely seen on the screen.

A small Canadian town is devasted when a local mine--the town's only source of income--is closed. One man incurs the wrath of the townsmen when he stubbornly refuses the small amount of settlement money offered by the government.

Luke has been veering between panic and numbness ever since losing his wife to Thyroid cancer. In a last-ditch effort to feel something, anything, he attends a bereavement counseling meeting at a nearby outreach center. There, he sparks a debate and a series of flashbacks that examine relationships, love, and anger.

In what appears to be a Sisyphean task, Newfoundland diver Shawn Bath has devoted himself to cleaning up the ocean floor one rotting tire at a time. He's already removed 15,000 pounds of garbage single-handedly. Through decades of commercial fishing and tourism, these Atlantic harbours became trash receptacles treated with an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude. Driven by passion and held back by bureaucracy, this inspiring story highlights the enormity of human-caused environmental damage and the power of an individual's determination to make the world a better place.

Kevin is an Irish Moss farmer committed to his traditional way of doing things at the expense of a more lucrative life for himself and his pregnant wife. When he finds a bag of money washed up on the shores of Prince Edward Island, his decision to keep it secret turns his quaint fishing village into a growing crime scene as the money’s owners come calling. Adapted from Adam Perry's award-winning short film A Blessing from the Sea.

It seems like everyone in Violet’s family dies at age 55. Her mother did, her father did, and as this movie opens Violet, played by Mary Walsh, learns that her brother, Leonard has also died. He too was 55, an age she is now fast approaching herself. His death causes Violet to begin an existential tailspin as her family gathers round. They are Andrew Younghusband who plays her son Carlos, a gay professor of languages who has returned from Montreal. Actor and director Barry Newhook plays Rex who is a musician and daughter Ramona is played by Susan Kent. As the movie unfolds it turns out that Violet has a lot to live for, including a romance with farm manager Rusty played by Peter MacNeill.

Henry lives alone growing rhubarb in the dark when his friend Emmanuel arrives to collect the harvest. Together, they tentatively explore the boundaries of their relationship community spaces in a tender and touching film about loneliness and longing.

5 months after the internet has stopped working, Aley, a misguided internet entrepreneur battles depression and suicide. As she discovers a new internet, she reflects on the connections she has lost and the connections we need.

The life and art of Christopher Pratt. 'Canada's most famous living painter' - The Globe & Mail. This is the first feature-length documentary that Christopher Pratt has agreed to participate in. An honest, funny, eloquent, bizarre, and sometimes unsettling account of his life and art, and an extremely important cultural document.

A woman enters a bar and asks for a bit of conversation, but what she gets in return is a bunch of bad pickup lines sung to her by a cowboy and the bartender singing the cowboy's virtues.

Maura Mackenzie believes the world is hers to conquer. With her career as a concert pianist gaining momentum, it seems her beauty and talent will be strong enough to mask the demons that threaten to engulf her. But with an absent husband and two young daughters at home, her precarious sanity begins to unravel until one summer day, burning with manic energy, she makes a terrible mistake — a mistake that will change her life forever. The consequences for Maura are catastrophic: her ambitious husband runs for his life, taking the children with him, leaving Maura to lapse into a full-scale breakdown. Life as she knew it is now over. With the help of her father, Ian, Maura works to reclaim her life and waits for a miracle to bring her daughters home. But when the fates align, can the past be forgiven?

A tribute to Canadian comedy icon Tommy Sexton (1957-1993). A founding member of the Newfoundland comedy troupe CODCO Tommy died of complications from AIDS on December 13, 1993.

Surprise parties rarely go well. This one is no different, as a group of 30-somethings head through life, love and a day in New York City.

A charming documentary which captures the sights, sounds and spirit of the annual Victoria Park Lantern festival in St. John's, Newfoundland, celebrating the work that goes into this labor of love.

Two very different men are brought together by New Brunswick's decision to hand the management of millions of acres of Crown land to six multinationals. One man is an Acadian woodlot owner retired after nearly 40 years in a pulp mill; the other is a painter and winemaker with homes in France and New Brunswick. They travel to Finland to urge officials at one of the largest licence holders of New Brunswick Crown lands to practise responsible forestry, then go head-to-head with the provincial government to secure a new community-based forestry policy that is environmentally sustainable and produces more jobs than the highly mechanized techniques used today.

Feminist painter or traditional housewife? Displaced and isolated, Mary Pratt’s life was a highly complicated one of delicate rebellion. Award-winning filmmaker Kenneth J Harvey (Immaculate Memories: The Uncluttered Worlds of Christopher Pratt) reconstructs Mary Pratt's life from archival footage dating back to the 1950s, tracking Mary's development over time, while capturing her gentle humour, strength, beauty of spirit, and fascination with objects in the home, which she embraced and glorified, deeply touching and inspiring countless women through her artwork.

The lives of a mostly-elderly, highly traditional order of nuns are explored in St. John's, Newfoundland.