How Things Have Changed

Totem: The Return of the G'psgolox Pole

This feature-length documentary traces the journey of the Haisla people to reclaim the G'psgolox totem pole that went missing from their British Columbia village in 1929. The fate of the 19th century traditional mortuary pole remained unknown for over 60 years until it was discovered in a Stockholm museum where it is considered state property by the Swedish government. Director Gil Cardinal combines interviews, striking imagery and rare footage of master carvers to raise questions about ownership and the meaning of Aboriginal objects held in museums.

John Law and the Mississippi Bubble

One of the most sensational get-rich-quick schemes that took place in France over 200 years ago with economist John Law at the helm.

Movie Showman

This short film portrays the NFB's itinerant projectionists during the '40s and early '50s who travelled throughout Canada, bringing films and discussions to rural communities. The film uses a mix of dramatic re-enactments with archival footage and interviews with veterans of the movie circuit to shed light on an important period in Canadian film history.

The Road Taken

Black sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s were proud men and well-respected by their community, but harsh working conditions prevented them from being promoted to other railway jobs until 1955 when porter Lee Williams took his fight to the union.

The McIntyre Block

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.

Don't Let the Angels Fall

The lives of a businessman and his family begin to spiral downward after he has an affair at an insurance convention.

Oh, Sure

The very short animation by Richard Condie is a lesson in how to make a fool of oneself easily and effectively. Two gentlemen are involved: one who wishes to read his newspaper and another who insists on performing acrobatic feats. Although the outcome is surprising, the message is clear: going to great lengths to impress one's neighbor is futile.

Light to Starboard

This film presents the historical development of lighthouses in Canada, and shows the conversion from keeper-maintained lights to automated equipment.

The Last Mooseskin Boat

This short documentary follows Gabe Etchinelle as builds a mooseskin boat as a tribute to an earlier way of life, where the Shotah Dene people would use a mooseskin boats and transport their families and cargo down mountain rivers to trading settlements throughout the Northwest Territories.

Cactus Swing

The West. A prospector is awakened by the sound of music outside his cave to see an animal band and a chorus line of dancing cacti.

Grain Elevator

This documentary short is a visual portrait of “Prairie Sentinels,” the vertical grain elevators that once dotted the Canadian Prairies. Surveying an old diesel elevator’s day-to-day operations, this film is a simple, honest vignette on the distinctive wooden structures that would eventually become a symbol of the Prairie provinces.

Getting Started

A concert pianist prepares to begin his practising for a major concert coming up. Unfortunately, he has this procrastination problem that prevents him from getting any serious time done, even when his frustration with it literally driving him into a frenzy.

The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton

A film based on the tragic death in 1985 of Nancy Eaton, department store heiress, brutally murdered by her childhood family friend.

Foster Child

Gil Cardinal searches for his natural family and an understanding of the circumstances that led to his becoming a foster child. An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards.

Death of a Skyline

A group of citizens lobbied to save the landmark Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevator, one of the defining features of Mayerthorpe’s landscape, from being torn down in 2003 - as thousands of others had been. This film documents those efforts while exploring the broader history and significance of the grain elevator.

Truckers: A Road Well Traveled

Documents the lives of three long-haul truck drivers whose routes take them throughout North America - even to the Arctic. The complexity of their work is on display as bad weather, unsafe driving conditions, and rising fuel prices add to the stress of being away from home for weeks at a time. Even so, the film celebrates the joy of the open road and a spirit of independence.

Food, Inc.

Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner examines how mammoth corporations have taken over all aspects of the food chain in the United States, from the farms where our food is grown to the chain restaurants and supermarkets where it's sold. Narrated by author and activist Eric Schlosser, the film features interviews with average Americans about their dietary habits, commentary from food experts like Michael Pollan and unsettling footage shot inside large-scale animal processing plants.