The Day Off

Colourful animation depicts the formation, through geological ages, by fire and water, wind and ice, of the Earth's crust which holds our wealth of minerals, oil, coal, arable land, and even our water power.

This visually spectacular and instructive film traces the evolution of a star from its birth in the depths of a black nebula to its final extinction. Animated drawings, recreating the beauty and immensity of the universe, are amplified by a dense narrative describing the differing evolutionary processes followed by stars of different masses. The film touches on the creation of elements in the core of stars, red giants, bursters, space-time relationships, and black holes. This animation film will be of particular interest to students of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and animation buffs.

A triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources of inspiration used by Stanley Kubrick for his 2001: A Space Odyssey. Realistic animation takes you into far regions of space, beyond the reach of the strongest telescope, past Moon, Sun, and Milky Way, into galaxies yet unfathomed.

Throughout history, comets have stirred the human imagination. This information-packed, science animation film describes the general phenomenon of comets, and the radical transformations they undergo as they approach the sun. Superb drawings re-create the intergalactic universe with impact and accuracy. Particular attention is given to Halley's comet, which reappears every seventy-six years.

A BAFTA award nominated animation based on a poem by Earle Birney and a painting by El Greco. The theme concerns the responsibility of the innovator for the thing he makes. In the film, a carpenter builds a cross but is reluctant to become involved in the right or wrong of situations that bring men to die on crosses. His interest is in his own craftsmanship. To illustrate this moral, the filmmaker used light-pen drawings, giving colour and emphasis through optical processes.

Film animation and a knowledge of outer space bring to the screen this spectacular, awe-inspiring view of our solar system. Staggering distances are eliminated through the art of film: before our eyes is displayed the wonder of the universe. Moon, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Earth and all the other satellites and lesser matter in space are seen in amazing detail and perspective in their eternal orbits around the sun.

A revelation of the distant universe, accomplishing through film animation what even the most far-seeing telescope cannot do. The film explores the fourth state of matter, the plasma that fills the infinite void between stars and galaxies. Single atoms in space, or planets as large as the sun, are each seen to have their own magnetic fields, attracting to themselves streams of invisible particles just as iron filings are drawn to a magnet. This has the same awe-inspiring quality as the earlier Universe, with colour adding to its wonder and dimension.

An unconventional version of The Christmas Carol.

The wind is one of the strongest natural forces around us. Because it is generated by temperature differences in air masses, wind power is, in fact, a form of solar energy. Harness the Wind traces the history of attempts to control and use wind energy, and projects into the future to visualize the potential of wind-power technology.

A film about winter railroading in the Canadian Rockies and the men who keep the lines clear. The stretch between Revelstoke and Field, British Columbia, is a snow-choked threat to communications. The film shows the work of section hands, maintenance men, train crews and telegraph operators.

Portrait of the early era of computing which examines the workings of a new and mysterious machine: the Canada Land Inventory Geo-information System. This "instant library" was created to help assess and document the geographical landscape, including sampling and analysis of soil, forestry, timber, wildlife, resources, industrial sites, and many other aspects.

A little good will goes a long way--between persons, and between nations. That is the lesson to be learned from this animated film. It begins with a confrontation between a man who grows flowers and a technologist who operates computers. A flower pops up in the computer room; a computer tape appears in the garden. Each man destroys the "foreign object." When they come face to face they discover that understanding is better than distrust, respect better than hostility.