The Man Who Planted Trees

The Classics of Frederic Back

World-renowned animated filmmaker Frédéric Back has devoted his unique talent to a cause that is central to his life and more topical than ever: a profound respect for nature coupled with a keen sense of humanity's responsibility toward the environment. Abracadabra (9 min., 1971). Inon, ou, La conquête du feu (10 min., 1972). La création des oiseaux (10 min., 1973). Illusion? (11 min., 1976) Taratata! (9 min., 1977) Suppléments

Québec 1603 - Samuel de Champlain

The artwork of well-known Quebec animator Frédéric Back are used to tell the tale of Champlain’s life in New France – from his first explorations and settlement to his death in 1635. This is an edited version of his 28 minute short documentary on Champlain.

Champlain

Explorer, colonizer, founder of Québec, discoverer of Lake Champlain, governor of New France, cartographer and writer - few men in Canadian history had a more adventurous and varied career than Champlain. This film presents an exciting picture-study of the man and his time.

Crac!

A wooden rocking chair serves as a tool to delve through the history of Quebec in the last century.

The Mighty River

This film illustrates the history of the St. Lawrence river. From prehistoric times on, it has been a magnificent source of life. The film covers the impact of humanity beginning with the careful relationship with the Native Americans. This soon changes with the arrival of Europeans who begin the insatiable exploitation that would led to the river's damage, creating a situation that we must resolve for all our sakes.

The World, The Journey Of My Heart - Traveler: Animation Film Director Isao Takahata

A documentary film following Isao Takahata to Canada to meet Frédéric Back.

Illusion

A group of schoolchildren playing in an idyllic natural landscape are visited by a mysterious magician who entertains them with his transformations. But he soon proves sinister as he begins to transform the landscape into a grim, unsmiling metropolis.

All Nothing

An illustration of beings in a world where countless plant and animal species rapidly become extinct, and resources run dry due to greed. However, it is possible to avoid disaster by conserving and sharing what we have.

Les Œuvres de Frédéric Back

The Nature of Frédéric Back

The Nature of Frédéric Back draws a masterful portrait of an exceptional man. A visual artist and animation filmmaker, he has produced an immense body of work that imparts an essential message. With their luminous poetry, their freshness and emotion, his films are both universal and timeless.

The 22nd Annual Animation Show of Shows

This 22nd edition comprises 10 films -- nine recent, along with one restored classic -- which deal with both the anxieties and hopes of a world faced with a seemingly endless series of existential crises. All are inventive, their tone ranges from the whimsical to the profound; their techniques, from stop-motion to hand-drawn to computer-aided.

The World's Greatest Animation

A whirlwind tour of first-class animated shorts, The World's Greatest Animation assembles, for the first time, an eye-popping assortment of Academy Award winners and nominees from the years 1978-90. From the Orwellian vision of zoo life Creature Comforts, to Crac!, a rocking chair's impressionistic view of the industrialization of Montréal, The World's Greatest Animation features some of the finest achievements in this unique art form.

Night Train to Munich

Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.

The Damned

In the early days of Nazi Germany, a powerful noble family must adjust to life under the new dictatorship regime.

The Most Precious of Cargoes

Once upon a time, a poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty, and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard. One day, the woodcutter's wife rescues a baby. A baby girl thrown from one of the many trains that constantly pass through the forest. This baby, this "most precious of cargoes", will transform the lives of the poor woodcutter's wife and her husband, as well as those whose paths the child will cross—including the man who threw her from the train. And some will try to protect her, whatever the cost. Their story will reveal the worst and the best in the hearts of men.

Fateless

A Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.

Summer of '42

Over the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island, three friends -- Hermie, Oscy and Benjie -- are more concerned with getting laid than anything else. Hermie falls in love with the married Dorothy, whose husband is an army pilot recently sent to the battlefront of World War II.

The Bad Poet

1936. Giovanni Comini, the youngest Federal in Fascist Italy, is summoned to Rome for a delicate mission: to surveil aging national poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, whose increasingly restless behavior Mussolini fears could damage his alliance with Nazi Germany. However, after spending time with D'Annunzio, Comini finds himself torn between loyalty to the Party and his fascination with the poet, who will put his burgeoning career at risk.

Calibre

Two lifelong friends head up to an isolated Scottish Highlands village for a weekend hunting trip that descends into a never-ending nightmare as they attempt to cover up a horrific hunting accident.

The Bunker

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.

The Round Up

A faithful retelling of the 1942 "Vel' d'Hiv Roundup" and the events surrounding it.