Shebafilms Studios
Shebafilms studios is a film production company based in Thunder Bay, Ontario which focuses primarily on documentary filmmaking, but also produce fiction, animation, commercial and educational films. The company was established in 1996 as Shebandowan Films by Kelly Saxberg and Ron Harpelle. They have filmed around the world creating documentaries focusing on history, globalization, social justice, the environment and mental health issues. Shebafilms has built a reputation of creating strong documentary content that speaks to important issues in Canada and abroad.
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Silent Cries / Kiayunik Tuhanak
"It happened every year during long weekends in September. That's when all the planes, little planes start flying around Nunavut and NWT (North-Western Territory) collecting kids at camps. As soon as you hear that plane coming around you know what was gonna happen, some of them hide, run away… Bu...
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Rosies of the North
When Kelly Saxberg first moved to Thunder Bay she began exploring her family history in the city. She discovered that her father’s parents had both worked at Canada Car and Foundry during World War Two. She also discovered that in 1939, thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned ...
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Banana Split
Un documentaire qui explore les fondements historiques de certains des problèmes en cours qui entourent les fruits les plus populaires au monde.
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Letters From Karelia
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...
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The Fatal Flower
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 ...
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Dorothea Mitchell - A Reel Pioneer
“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...
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In Security
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.
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Under The Red Star
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... -
Innovation in Action - Northern Social Economy
Communities in Canada’s North are currently facing substantial challenges. The social economy offers tools to help these communities face these challenges. The Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada was a network of university and college-based researchers and representatives of commu...
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Guardians of Eternity
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.
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The Bishop Who Ate His Boots
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.
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Where the Poppies Grow - The Lakehead at War
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...
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Toxic Time Bomb
“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.
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Carousel of Time
For almost a century, children have ridden the wooden carousel horses at Thunder Bay’s Chippewa Park. “The Carousel of Time” is a historical documentary about the restoration and preservation of a CW Parker carousel built in 1915. One of three left in North America. “Carousel of Time” is designed...
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The Snipers
The Snipers is a film that uses animation and archival footage to tell the story of Patrick Riel and Phil MacDonald, distinguished members of the 90th Winnipeg Rifles in WWI. It is a story of sacrifice and indigenous participation in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
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Journey To Our Homeland
In memory of Tommy Yellowhead.
In September 2019, Nibinamik First Nation Elders Tommy Yellowhead and Stephen Neshinapaise, both born at Pinaymotang, were accompanied by a small group of youth and a Shebafilms crew as they travelled an historic canoe route to their birthplace. They paddled southw...
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Long Walk Home- The Incredible Journey of Sheila Burnford
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.
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Pulp Friction
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).
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The Big Blue
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.