Wild Rice

A turn of the 20th Century office block at Portage and Main. What was once Winnipeg's most prestigious commercial address has become a catch-all for the marginalized and history's leftovers. A snapshot of a fading era, now gone for good.

This documentary focuses on boom-and-bust economic cycles, most notably that of Alberta oil during the '70s and early '80s. When the bust hit after a drop in world oil prices, those business people who knew how to "ride a tornado" cut their losses and moved on, while others were left devastated. When Newfoundland was faced with a possible oil boom of its own in the mid-'80s, it took the lessons of Alberta to heart. Part 3 of the series, Reckoning: The Political Economy of Canada.

Jesse Threebears is a troubled Native-American teen who has been tossed from one foster home to the next since his mother died when he was an infant. Finally, he is taken in by his grandfather who, after a ten year stint in prison, is living on the reservation. With the help of his grandfather and several others who live on the reservation, Jesse begins to learn about his heritage and how to come to terms with his troubled life.

An aging con-man and a beautiful, ambitious student cross paths in a scam that promises to make them both rich.

This film deals straightforwardly with the consequences of a nuclear attack for the Canadian Prairies due to their proximity to intercontinental ballistic missile sites in North Dakota. Scenes include a visit to a missile base and to an emergency government bunker in Manitoba. A doctor, a farmer and a civil defence coordinator provide different perspectives on nuclear war. Although focused on one region, the film provides a model for people everywhere who would like to know more about their own situation but don't know what questions to ask.

After the recent loss of her son Sean, Patty Addison devotes herself to finding homes for needy children. The loss of their son has strained Patty's relationship with her husband Mark, but they reconnect emotionally when they take in Emily, a 9-year-old orphaned in a car accident similar to the one that killed Sean. At the same time Dr. Nathan Andrews is trying to find the parents of a boy who died in the ER, and Mark is trying to help one of his son's friends.

Struggling with the pressures of high school and her own dysfunctional family, a teenage girl copes with her anxieties by self-harming and cutting herself.

The story of two very different boys in the Canadian wilderness. They must learn to depend on each other in order to survive.

1851, Manitoba's Red River Valley. As winter sets in, a young woman on the edge of madness arrives exhausted at the fort, a wilderness station, claiming she murdered her husband. She's placed in a cell; for the next several months, she sews while the local prefect, Henry Mullen, investigates.

A teenage girl becomes entangled in a volatile relationship with a pair of high-school lovers.

A scientific experiment in rapid-cell growth goes awry when a lab assistant steals the developed serum and injects it into his pregnant girl friend. The result is a child that grows through adulthood and will die within days, if a cure cannot be found.

A confessed killer wanders into a small community in the Canadian prairies.

Two aliens escape from 1947 Roswell, New Mexico and set out to sabotage the Earth. The lady alien finds she enjoys sex and likes to seduce soldiers. However, the male eventually falls in love with an Earthling and decides to stop the female from setting off a nuclear weapon the two had developed.

Upon the reopening of the opera house where her mother was murdered, a teen and her friends become the targets of a deranged killer dressed in a clown costume.

This feature documentary tells the complex and touching story of Winnipeg city councilor Glen Murray and his 17-year-old adopted son Mike, whose struggles with addiction and behavioural problems cyclically repeat. Glen, now an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament, was one of the first openly gay elected politicians in Canada. He adopted Mike during an era when homophobic stereotypes often prevented gay men and women from adopting children. Glen and Mike's relationship is always tenuous and always turbulent as they struggle to define themselves together and alone.