A documentary about how barbed wire, a simple 19th century invention used to claim land for agricultural purposes, has evolved into a silent sentinel that acts as a means of control over people and spaces around the world.

Un groupe de Français de Picardie partage une passion d'enfance pour les indiens d'Amériques : chaque week-end, ils se costument en indiens pour animer des fêtes de village. Mais leur grand rêve est de voyager aux Etats-Unis, pour rencontrer des vrais indiens. Quand finalement ils vont, en 15 jou...

A group of people from France share a passion for everything Native American. Their dream is to travel to the United States to meet Native Americans. They take a trip to the Midwest where they discover that the reality for contemporary Native Americans is quite different from their idealized vision.

Everyone will lose someone they love at some point, death being our one, universal certainty. But how we deal with that loss is a wholly personal journey. In Three Drops, Yellowknife filmmaker France Benoit narrates the intimate story of her struggles during the first year after her environmental...

The global forestry industry is in transition. This film looks at the lives of people who live in the shadow of a pulp mill in three communities; Terrace Bay, (Canada) Kemijärvi, (Finland) and Fray Bentos, (Uruguay).

A documentary about Sheila Burnford, a writer and adventurer who had her debut novel, “The Incredible Journey,” translated into two dozen languages and made into a Disney film.

Renowned Canadian cinematographer, Richard Stringer's documentary about his grandfather, Isaac O. Stringer, an Anglican missionary and Bishop who, along with his wife Sadie, devoted their lives to the Canadian North and its people.

Un documentaire qui explore les fondements historiques de certains des problèmes en cours qui entourent les fruits les plus populaires au monde.

Afsaneh and her daughter live in Tehran. Her husband became a drug addict and abandoned his family. Afsaneh was left destitute and forced to rely on her family for a place to live. Out of desperation she sold one of her kidneys, but her struggle with poverty continues.

Director: Selma Nayebi
C...

Many elderly people in nursing homes in Iran have been abandoned by their children and they suffer from a lack of love and attention. Despite good conditions within these homes for the elderly, the clients of these homes eternally hope to leave and return to the bosom of their families.

A short documentary about youth suicide and harm reduction through the celebration of traditional knowledge and beliefs.

“Sharing Tebwewin” (Sharing the Truth) is a 30-minute educational documentary designed to help health workers become more “culturally competent” in their work with Indigenous people.

A documentary about a region where where farms were carved out of the Boreal Forest. Unlike the Canadian Prairies or the Niagara region, producing food in Northwestern Ontario requires a special kind of farmer.

Angela Madsen, a Paralympian, died 20 June 2020 while attempting to row from California to Hawaii. This film was shot after she had successfully captained Big Blue with a 16 member crew across the Atlantic in 2011. Find out what motivated her and what her challenges were.

A documentary that explores the history and the ongoing issues that surround the world’s most popular fruit. All you need to know about the "meal in a peel."

Mary Rose lives in a Dene community near an abandoned mine that produced 7 million ounces of gold but left 237,000 tonnes of arsenic behind. Her community has to worry about this toxic legacy of the Giant Mine forever.

One of the most important industries in Thunder Bay is the storage and shipping of grain. Grain elevators stand as silent sentinels on the shore of Lake Superior. This film offers a short history of the grain trade at the Lakehead.

The Port Arthur Amateur Cinema Society produced three films in the 1920s. "A Race For Ties" (1929) was Canada’s first feature-length amateur film. Its success led to "Sleep Inn Beauty" (1929) and "The Fatal Flower," which began production in 1930, but was left unfinished. 75 years later, a group ...

Inspired by Canadian folk singer James Keelaghan's 1988 song of the same name, the film chronicles one woman's sacrifice in the face of rampant prejudice tearing her Japanese-Canadian family apart.

Un documentaire qui s’agit d’un aperçu sur les périls de raconter l’Histoire Autochtone par l’intermédiaire du cinéma et les tribulations de ceux qui se sont lancés dans cette aventure.

The filmmaker seeks new truths regarding her father’s death from occupational illness due to exposure from workplace toxins three decades prior. His death was officially denied to be related to his work environment but new scientific evidence amended the original legal and medical judgments.

Di...

The film explores how land, water, and landscape are valued by communities along the Canadian north shore of Lake Superior. Speakers from towns, environmental organizations, and First Nation communities express diverse ecological and social themes affecting their region.

Le portrait émouvant d'un soldat et de sa communauté durant la Grande Guerre et l'histoire de la réunion de 1921 à Port-Arthur, Ontario, lorsque le coquelicot a été désigné comme un symbole international ou de commémoration.

Where the Poppies Grow is a short docu-drama about one soldier during the Great War. Alfred Saxberg was a first generation Finnish Canadian who signed up at the beginning of the war and was fortunate to return home in 1919. When the Great War ended In November 1918, the people of the Lakehead c...

A feature length documentary about Canadian writer Charlie Wilkins and his 53 day, 5000 km voyage across the Atlantic Ocean with 15 crewmates aboard Big Blue.

A documentary about one man's journey, from a life of poverty in rural Louisiana, through the state corrections system, to becoming a political activist devoted to the fight for the rights of political prisoners in the United States.

“A Reel Pioneer” is a documentary film about a little known pioneer of Canadian film and a group of modern day filmmakers who restore her last film.
Dorothea Mitchell was the first female independent filmmaker in Canada and her story is quintessentially Canadian.

The through line for “A Reel Pio...

A documentary about the little-known story of Ronald Ivan MacDonald, a serial impostor with only a high school education who stole the identities and obtained work as a psychologist at several universities, clinics and hospitals in Canada. ...

“Toxic Time Bomb” is about the impact of industrial pollution on a community and about activists who have spent 30 years fighting to ensure that industry and government take responsibility for the destruction of the environment.

Un documentaire sur le parcours personnel d'un homme, d'une vie de pauvreté en Louisiane rurale, à travers le système correctionnel de l'État, à devenir un militant politique dévoué à la lutte pour les droits des prisonniers politiques aux États-Unis.

Située à Yellowknife dans le Grand Nord canadien, l’ancienne mine Giant produisit plus de 7 millions d’onces d’or entre 1948 et 1999 ayant comme tragique effet secondaire la création de plus de 237,000 tonnes d’arsenic, assez d’arsenic pour tuer le monde bien des fois.

The Finnish Labour Temple opened in March 1910, but this workers' hall was a temple of a different sort, one where political rather than religious devotion was practiced. Under the Red Star tells the story of union organizers, strong minded women, athletic children, actors and even poets.
Under t...

french
Director: Kelly Saxberg
Camera: Kelly Saxberg, Jean Claude Tse, Dave Kornachuck, Donald Delorome, Dave Clement, Linda Danchuck, Chris Ficek
Editor: Dany Joyal
Music: Laurent Roy, Dany Joyal
Sound: Ron Harpelle, Garbriel Harpelle, Ed Ackerman
Translation: Christopher Campbell

Taimi Pitkanen last saw her brother Aate in a Leningrad railway station in 1931.

Taimi was returning to Canada from Moscow; Aate was headed for Soviet Karelia, on the border with Finland, where his skills in electricity and languages - both English and Finnish - were badly needed.

Aate never ca...

A montage of films made in Northwestern Ontario since the invention of moving pictures.

Borderland Memories follows filmmaker Edie Steiner’s questions around historical complicity and intergenerational belonging, beginning with her quest to locate her father’s former home in Lower Silesia. Her ancestors were among the millions of ethnic Germans expelled from Silesia when it was anne...

"Abandominium" is an observational ethnographic film that chronicles the shared domestic life of four heroin injectors who live together in an abandoned building on the west side of Chicago. The film follows Steve and Pam, the homesteading married couple who run the house, and their housemates, I...

This short film emphasizes the religious or sacred basis of discrimination and one modern instance thereof, where caste members literally have no way to participate in the traditional Indian search for marital partners.

Wesley Shrum is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Video Ethnography...

English translation follows

Sous l’impulsion de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé et de l’Organisation de l’unité africaine, les Etats africains ont été amenés à développer des politiques nationales concernant « la médecine traditionnelle ». En Côte d’Ivoire, l’organisation de ce secteur relèv...

This feature film made by decorated polar explorer Mark Terry is the first documented crossing of the Northwest Passage ever filmed. It showcases the scientific research and discoveries made by the scientists of ArcticNet during the three-week crossing. The findings were so significant, the film ...

This TV-hour documentary examines the first 100 years of Canadian military service overseas. It includes never-before-seen archival as well as footage of Canada’s peacekeeping role in Kosovo from 1999 to 2000.

Awards:
Best Director - Mark Terry - Houston International Film Festival
Best Documen...

This one-hour documentary special from decorated polar explorer and award-winning environmental documentary filmmaker Mark Terry (The Antarctica Challenge, The Polar Explorer), chronicles these changes and more during his 2018 circumnavigation of the island nation. The film premiered at the Unite...

Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, highest, and driest continent on earth. However, events are unfolding here that may spell disaster for the rest of the world. Glaciers are melting at a rapid rate and threatening to flood the world’s oceans, penguins are walking to their death in inexplicable ...

Episode One - Communications: Distances and Connections

This episode features History Professors Marlene Shore and Marcel Martel of Toronto’s York University as they discuss Canada’s early attempts to unite a vast country through new and experimental communications methods in the late 19th centu...

Episode Two - Citizenship: Insiders and Outsiders

This episode features History Professors David Koffman, Jennifer Stephen, and William Wicken of Toronto’s York University as they examine Canada’s early immigration policies and innovative attempts to populate a vast area of land.

Consequences...

Episode Three - Sleeping Next to an Elephant: Canada and its Southern Neighbour

This episode features History Professors Sean Kheraj and Marcel Martel of Toronto’s York University as they examine Canada’s on-again, off-again relationship with the United States, including the bromance between Can...

Episode Four - Gender, Sexuality, and the Criminal Code

This episode features History Professors Kathryn McPherson and Jennifer Stephen of Toronto’s York University as they examine Canada’s position on the abortion debate and women’s rights.

Consequences of Confederation is a 5-part video serie...

Episode Five - Indigenous People, Police and Western Expansion

This episode features History Professor Shelley Gavigan, Senior Scholar and Professor Emerita Osgoode Hall Law School at Toronto’s York University as she discusses Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous People and how it formed th...

Episode One - The World at War

In this documentary series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War, award-winning documentary filmmaker Mark Terry interviews professors in York University's Department of History examine various aspects of the war and the role Canada played in it.

Episode Two - The War to End All Wars - Canada at War

In this documentary series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War, award-winning documentary filmmaker Mark Terry interviews professors in York University's Department of History examine various aspects of the war and the ...

Episode Three - Women at War

History professors Kathryn McPherson, Molly Ladd Taylor and Jennifer Stephen examine the extensive role women played in World War One, both at home and overseas. One of the more fascinating revelations discussed is that Canada was the only country to rank women as o...

Episode Four - Empires at War

History professors Deborah Neill, Stephen Brooke, Joan Judge and Thabit Abdullah discuss how the British, French, Chinese and Ottoman Empires approached the war often recruiting soldiers from their respective colonies as the war dragged on.

In this documentary seri...

Episode Five - Technologies at War

History professors Deborah Neill and Craig Heron discuss the new advances in technologies that were developed during World War One that not only helped end the war, but also gave rise to a new way of fighting that was used to great extent in World War Two.

In ...

Episode Six - The Spoils of War

History professors Stephen Brooke, Joan Judge, Kalman Weiser, Thabit Abdullah, Jennifer Stephen and William Wicken break down the aftermath of the First World War. Particular attention is given to the Treaty of Versailles, how the Chinese were affected by "secret ...

Episode Seven - Les Canadiens Français et la Première Guerre Mondiale

FR - Professeurs Marcel Martel, Colin Coates et Roberto Perin discuter de la guerre du point de vue des Canadiens français, notamment le rôle joué par
l'Église Catholique, la conscription et les luttes politiques entre les...

What role does physicality play in science? "Thinking with the Hands" is a short ethnographic documentary dedicated to the involvement of physicality in scientific knowledge production. This film investigates the role played by hands in daily laboratory work routine.

The adult sex industry continues to evolve with the evolution of culture itself. In the era of “sexting” and “selfie culture”, practices of sexualised self-exposure and performances have been multiplying across diverse networks and platforms. The proliferation of digital technologies has also ena...

Quantified Life is a portrait documentary film which focuses on the self-tracking practices and habits of a dedicated self-quantifier from Denmark, Thomas Blomseth Christiansen. Thomas is no ordinary self-tracker.
For the last ten years, he has been meticulously tracking and documenting various a...

The director finds a boxful of 8 mm films with pictures from all over the world from a garage sale.

Night after night the thin strips of plastic lying in the box come to life. They are clearly filmed by the same person, but who has wanted to document all these moments? The calm after the storm, ...

Designed for world religions classes but useful for philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, theology, chaplaincy, thanatology, spiritual studies, meditation / yoga groups and adherents of all major faiths, The Sacred Bee film series offers a ground-breaking paradigm that gently unites the world’s major...

“Molecular Chirality: A Scientific Documentary” is all about the distinction between left- and right at the molecular scale and its importance. A wealth of topics are covered, ranging from the thalidomide tragedy to the search for life on other worlds.

Starring: Prof Laurence Barron FRS FRSE ​...

This is an unvarnished video portrait of Doug Rafuse and Kelly Leblanc working on recovery from severe brain injuries with the help of Robert Hessian. It is constructed from home videos and family snapshots taken over the past twenty five years. It raises the bar for how people with severe brain ...

Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, were on strike in 2021 for more than 300 days. At the center of the strike is the concern about staffing, specifically the high patient-to-nurse ratios that nurses say make it difficult to provide adequate care for patients. According to...

More than 400 people from Myanmar have settled in the regional town of Coffs Harbour, Australia. Some of these settlers have spent more than 20 years in refugee camps. They have fled their homeland with little more than their memories and their stories. But these memories allow their traditions t...

Ethnic Kitchen is a documentary about five women who moved to post-Soviet independent Lithuania from different countries, at different times of their lives, and for different reasons. At first glance, their life stories seem unbelievable, but a closer look reveals that it is something that could ...

French photographers Claude and Marie-José Carret first came to Klenovec in 1984. They were immediately fascinated by the life of the local musicians and have returned every year since, capturing generations of the town’s famous musicians. Their work reveals the depth of Klenovec’s musical roots ...

The British film maker Brian Moser first visited the Piraparaná region and its different communities in 1960 as part of an expedition to record their music and to visually document their lives, resulting in the short film Piraparaná. Over the subsequent 50 years and in collaboration with the ant...

Calle K is a recently completed documentary film that looks at the evolution over time of an illegal squatter settlement. In 1978 Titus Fossgard-Moser lived with his brother and filmmaker/anthropologist parents in the Indio Guayas community in what was then the outskirts of Guayaquil Ecuador. The...

Seven years in the making, Rebel Angel paints a portrait of the evanescent cultural figure Ross Woodman (1922-2014), Jungian author Marion Woodman, and their extraordinary marriage. Ross played a key role in the 'Regionalist' art scene in London, Ontario in the 1960s which gave us many of Canada'...

Borderscapes draws attention to the complexity surrounding migration and the myriad ethical and political issues arising from contemporary border policies. It builds on testimonial narratives, empirical examples, and reflective accounts to unpack the entanglements of surveillance technologies, th...

A team of researchers meet at Mount Çika, in an effort to document the dialect of the Greek-speaking Himariote villages. The area was subjected to political prosecution and after the fall of Communism in Albania, the region was marked by waves of migration. Today, its population has been decrease...

The study delves into the emigration of highly educated Turks after the 2016 coup-like event. Distinctively, these migrants, rooted in family, education, and professional stability, were compelled to seek refuge, navigating the challenges of unplanned resettlement abroad. Notably, a vast segment ...

The Dyffyn Nanttle valley has been quarried for slate since the 14th century. This activity has all but ceased in the 21st century.
The sound of industry breaths ever quieter, the legacy left is both tactile and aural. The gradient lines have shifted due to the physical change in the geography. N...

Penryn Quarry is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Welsh Slate Industry. An Industry dating back to the 16th century employing generations of Welsh workers.

Where once mountains stood, valleys now reside. The mountains having been hollowed by industry. The waste tipped to the ground, ...

A short experimental ethnographic film that traces the movement of natural resources through the Icelandic landscape against the visual and sonic sites of data centers and power plants.

The film explores the covert, 'black-boxed' data centers (remote and highly secure sites, obscured from maps a...

This observational anthrozoological ethnographic film documents the lives of Nepal's working mules. The film finds a closeness with the mules; their sale in India, their journey to Nepal and their work in the huge brick factories of the Kathmandu valley and portering goods into the high Himalayas...

Liar-in-Chief: A Chronicle of the Trump Presidency Through the Eyes of An Outraged Graphic Artist

A multi-award winning, often biting satirical documentary, that uses original still photo montages and short videos created by the director, along with his narration, to chronicle the horrors of the...

In a world impacted by anthropogenic climate change, Bangladesh has been particularly hard-hit by worsening weather and rising sea levels. As the country's north, in the shadow of the Himalayas, is hit by increasingly-frequent and more powerful floods, and the south faces increasingly-violent and...

Wall tells a story about ecological practice, unexpected connections and ambiguous communication. By intertwining the daily work of a permaculture project in the outskirts of Amsterdam with a speculative retelling of an old myth, we learn about how deeply rooted some preconceptions about agricult...

Population growth has been left out of the climate debate because it is considered controversial, yet it is one of the most important factors. The global population has passed the 7 billion mark and India will soon overtake China as the most populous nation in the world, but one state in southern...

William Kelly, widely considered the social conscience of Australian art, once said: “Art can’t stop a bullet, but it can stop a bullet from being fired.”
Can it?
Filmed on five continents, with contributions from over 20 artists, thinkers and activists, this documentary explores the power of art...