Canada Vignettes: Bluenose 1921-1946

This animated short illustrates how at one time horses provided man with unprecedented mobility and how the arrival of the iron horse brought this era to an end.

Historical events are related through the medium of simulated news broadcasting in 1878.

An animated vignette about the role of Thomas Spence in the formation and demise of the Republic of Manitoba at Portage la Prairie in 1867-68.

A humorous account of the pioneering journey of Lady Frances Simpson, along with her piano, from England to Manitoba.

A montage of watercolour images of the work and occasional play of a farm family.

The history of the development of modern logging techniques on the British Columbia coast.

Animated images showing the variety of people who live in Canada.

An animated film depicting the evolution of the City of Toronto from 1749 to 1978.

An examination of the Viking explorers who were the first Europeans to discover Canada.

In this short vignette, skier Kathy Kreiner prepares for and participates in her Olympic gold-medal race at Innsbruck.

Two hundred years ago Captain Cook stopped briefly at Nootka Sound. This animated vignette depicts how he began the sea otter trade which led to the development of the Pacific north west.

This film describes the journey of nomadic Asian people to North America via a land bridge.

This is the story of the first French settlers in North America, who spent their first winter on an island in the Bay of Fundy. Despite overwhelming hardships the survivors, joined by other new colonists, eventually established Port Royal, the foundation of Acadia and the Acadian people.

An animated film about the Hudson's Bay trading post, and the relationship between fur traders and Indians.

This short documentary vignette reveals the curious origin of the name of Flin Flon, Manitoba.

Bill Miner was a train robber in British Columbia at the turn of the century. This animated film depicts a disastrous episode in his career.

This animated short tells a humourous Hebrew folk tale about a man's venture to introduce onions to a far away kingdom and a disreputable man's attempt to exploit that.

A Canadian prairie farm family has a tough beginning on their new farm.

This short film from the Canada Vignettes series profiles a unique French-Canadian family, the Fourniers, 12 of whom work as stunt men and women for films.

A short history of one of the traditional dances of Acadia--the quadrille.

The maple leaf on the Canadian flag turns into two profiles that illustrate the many relationships between people.

This short film from the Canada Vignettes series features tenor Roger Doucet singing the Canadian national anthem, O Canada, before a hockey game in the Montreal Forum.

There's a "silver lining in every cloud" as Donald O'Neary turns every misfortune his two neighbours can engineer into gold coins. Against the background of the Irish countryside, the customary "rich but dumb" characters meet their match in the "poor but crafty" hero. The story introduces the student to our rich multicultural background through the exploration of folklore of one of the peoples that make up Canada's cultural mosaic.

A Canada Vignette giving a humorous animated version of the history of Fort Prince of Wales from its construction to its capture by the French.

Animated film of a traditional Franco-Manitoban tale that resembles the story of the first Christmas.

A short illustrating Wade Hemsworth's folk song about a woman's admiration for the agility of her boyfriend, the log driver.

A story about two symbolic characters who sway to the song Alouette.

Close-ups of fine detail of the ancient skill of quillwork embroidery--brightly coloured geometric designs on high-ankled, Seneca-type moccasins. These moccasins are over one hundred years old, from the fabled Speyer Collection that was repatriated from Germany by the National Museum of Man in 1975.

The metamorphosis of a map of Canada into human forms who share the natural resources to the rhythm of a dance.

A visual interpretation of the poem "Riverdale Lion" by Canadian poet and essayist John Robert Colombo.

This film promotes, in the best K-Tel tradition, a new device used to speak French.

An animated film showing a woolly mammoth and its offspring. These animals lived on the Canadian tundra over ten thousand years ago.

An egg desperately tries to prevent being hatched. In this animated short from the Canada Vignette series, learn how societies in evolution are often in danger of self-destruction.

The decorative pattern style of a traditional Metis coat is explored.

In this animated short from the Canada Vignette series, the camera explores, in exquisite detail, the daily hunt, fishing scenes and children at play as etched in black on an ivory Inuit pipe.

This film is about the emotions that can lead one to take that jump into space necessary for hang gliding with a Delta Plane.

One of six Canada Vignettes from the NFB production Don Messer - His Land and His Music, featuring one of the principal performers, Don Messer, who has since passed away.

One of six Canada Vignettes from the NFB production Don Messer - His Land and His Music, featuring one of the principal performers, Marg Osburne, who has since passed away.

A vignette based on the story of John McIntosh, the Ontario developer of the McIntosh apple.

This short film from the Canada Vignettes series depicts the Montreal of 1905-1910 with hand-painted vintage postcards.

This short fiction film tells the love story between a young anglophone and a young francophone who unite their destinies in roller skates.

A vignette on the travelling calliope (also known as steam organ), a musical instrument that produces sound by sending steam through large locomotive whistles.

This animated film illustrates the terrible journey, the back-breaking work, the exotic and gaudy city of Dawson, and the turmoil and triumphs of the 1898 Klondike gold rush.

A vignette exploring the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

A vignette about a 1912 fly-swatting contest organized by The Toronto Daily Star to draw attention to the danger posed to public health by flies. Through archival photographs and newspaper headlines the highlights of the contest are reviewed in a light, humorous manner. The winner, a determined young lady named Beatrice White, killed over 500 000 flies during the six-week contest and was dubbed the "Angel of Death" by the paper.

W.O. Mitchell recounts Newton's Law of Falling Backhouses, a story based on the youthful pranks of his prairie childhood.

This vignette illustrates the variety of professions, people and technical procedures required by the filmmaking process.

Ice cutting on the St. Lawrence River in the 1860s is illustrated in song and animated graphics.

This model-animation vignette takes a humorous look at the theme of transportation.

A vignette using animation and live action to depict mussel farmers digging in the mud through the ice on bays and estuaries in Prince Edward Island.

In this short documentary from the Canada Vignettes series, a Saskatchewan grain elevator is moved across the snow-covered prairie to a new home after nearly a half-century of use. The film follows the lifting and transporting of the 9-storey, 200-ton structure, and examines the feelings of the people as they witness the final passing of their town's one and only grain elevator.

This feature documentary uses animation, archival stills and live-action footage to detail the history of women's participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball. Zany and affectionate, it features 7-year-olds learning the rules and skills of the game and 50-year-olds hitting home runs, from the early days of the Bloomer Girls to the heyday of the Colorado Silver Bullets.

This feature-length documentary paints a lively portrait of Father of Confederation and first premier of Newfoundland Joseph Roberts Smallwood, or "Joey," as he is known to most Canadians. Following one of Canada’s most colourful political figures during a two-and-a-half-month period that included a stormy Liberal leadership convention, the film reveals a man misunderstood even by his close associates.

This short documentary takes you on a tour of one of Montreal's first health food stores. The camera scans shelves stocked with all manner of natural foods to which nary an additive has been added: soybean and sesame seed products, wild honey, and even eggs from hens fed on blackstrap molasses. But the real eye-openers are in what you hear between the aisles, from the store's owner and his customers.

Exeter Cathedral in Devonshire, England, is considered to be the finest example of architecture of the Decorated period, 1250-1350. This film rolls back the centuries, unfolding the cathedral's history, showing the refinement of the sculpture that went into its building, from the airy vista of the nave--the longest unbroken stretch of Gothic vaulting in the world--to the vibrant colours of its windows. But more than architecture survives: Exeter is still a living church for the people of today.

Two charming seniors consider the pros and cons of entering a "home". Do old-age institutions fit the needs of those they are designed to help?

Bureaucracy shapes our lives and guides us from the cradle to the grave. This documentary lays bare the idiosyncrasies of bureaucracy, whether in Canada, Austria, Hungary, the Vatican or the Virgin Islands. It also attempts to make the functioning of the public service more comprehensible. The absurdities of bureaucratic behaviour are exposed with humour and irreverence.