Environmentalist Leanna Allison and wildlife Biologist Karsten Heuer follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot, accross 1,500 kilometers of rugged Arctic tundra. The husband-and-wife team want to raise awareness of threats to caribou's survival.

Despite Canada's numerous internationally respected writers, it is surprisingly rare for a "classic" Canadian novel to be made into a Canadian feature film, let alone a box office hit. Mordecai Richler's famous serio-comic novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is an exception. Made when the English Canadian film industry was just starting out, it's a decent adaptation of the classic novel directed by Canadian expatriate, Ted Kotcheff. Richard Dreyfuss stars as Duddy, a young hustler bred in Montreal's Jewish ghetto, who is determined to be somebody, no matter the cost. Jack Warden plays his working-class dad and Randy Quaid plays a good-natured simpleton who Duddy takes under his wing. Canadian actress Micheline Lanctot portrays Duddy's good hearted love interest and British actor Denholm Elliott has a turn as a down-on-his-luck filmmaker Duddy befriends. Adapted by Richler himself (in conjunction with Lionel Chetwynd) it is not surprising that the result is a fairly faithful rendition of its source material, complete with the novel's moral ambivalence. Energetic and well-acted, the movie's a little rough around the edges, but remains an edgy and amusing drama. —D.K. Latta

Tom Thomson is one of Canada’s most beloved painters. Described as our “greatest colourist” and “our Van Gogh”, Thomson’s expressive and vibrant interpretations of the northern landscape have become iconic representations of Canada.
On July 8, 1917, just as he was reaching ascendancy in his craft, Thomson paddled across Canoe Lake and disappeared. His body surfaced 8 days later. The cause of his death remains a mystery.
What is it about Tom Thomson’s life, art and death that haunts us still, that draws thousands to his cairn in Algonquin Park each summer and propels his little sketches to the stratosphere of the Canadian art market? West Wind: The Vision of Tom Thomson unravels many of the mysteries of this brilliant, beloved artist.
Filmed in Algonquin Park, Georgian Bay, Toronto, Seattle and Leith, featuring rare archival footage, newly discovered audio recordings of those who knew Thomson, and paintings from private collections by Canada’s most celebrated artist.
“As gorgeous as the iconic artist’s paintings…West Wind is a great story of a great artist”
– Ottawa Citizen. Full Story

Dennis Allen The two-part The Hunt and the Walk explores traditions reclaimed and traditions preserved in the face of increasing change, while simultaneously uncovering the filmmaker's relationship to his history. Told from the unique and sometimes innocent perspective of filmmaker Dennis Allen, each documentary provides a compelling and rare look at a northern Native culture through the eyes of one who is at once connected to it and distant from it.

Grant Baldwin Martina Halik and her 60 year-old mother Tania embark on a six-month ski trek through the treacherous Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. This journey has only been completed once before, and never by a female duo. Their adventure is interspersed with beautifully crafted portraits of high-altitude human endurance and passion-an avalanche survivor, a snowshoe artist, a snowbound convent-that are by turns captivating and inspiring. Woven between their arduous and uplifting story are vignettes of others who have chosen a mountain life: a group of nuns inhabiting a mountain retreat to be closer to God; a photographer is buried in an avalanche; an impassioned alpinist; a focused snow artist; a couple who has been living off grid in the mountains for nearly 50 years. What is it that leads these adventurous people to sacrifice everything - comfort, family, personal safety - for a life in the mountains?

Keith Behrman NTSC/Region 0. This film is getting a lot of press in Vancouver. This is not only because it is locally made, but also because it is very well executed. I was tempted to dismiss it as just another Canadian slice-of-life film. It is that, but it is a superb example of the genre. The characters grew on me and a lot is communicated from the looks on their faces. This film is worth seeing, even if you're not Canadian. Directed by Keith Behrman. 2005.

Carl Bessai Do you ever feel like everyone in the world is counting on you?
22-year-old Cole Chambers is a talented young writer with dreams to big for his small town. Frustrated and trapped, Cole has spent his entire life picking up the pieces of his shattered family.
When Cole gets the opportunity to take a creative writing class at a university in the city, he sees his potential for the first time – that he can get out of his small town and actually make something out of his life. But at what cost?

Louis Bélanger Martin Bishop, an innocent eighteen year-old, joins a crew of wild rail workers and challenges the foreman's brutal authority. After his father's death, innocent Martin Bishop is left with nothing financially. He is however left with his father's belief that "if a man loses everything but still chooses to do what's right, then he's lost nothing at all", a belief to which Martin clings. He decides to head north to take a job on one of the Great Slave Lake Railroad's remote construction crews, working as its timekeeper, the person who keeps the records of hours worked for payroll. Martin quickly learns of the rampant corruption at his camp, led by the sadistic foreman, Fisk, who orders Martin to inflate his hours worked, and keep on the payroll those men who he has banished from the camp in order to pocket their wages. Those banished men are left to fend for themselves since they are provided no means of transportation out and have no money. They survive living off the scraps of food from the camp's dump, which is why they're referred to as the "garbage eaters". After Martin thinks that Fisk has killed one of ...

Brand Upon the Brain! Canadian director Guy Maddin's "Brand Upon the Brain" is a silent film that reveals the shocking truth about his hellish childhood on a remote island under the watchful eye of a crazed mother hellbent on restoring her youth and a diabolically distant scientist-father, proprietors of a mom-and-pop orphanage that surreptitiously operate within the dank confines of the family lighthouse. Watch! as the sex instinct grabs hold of young Maddin and his sister! Thrill! as the Mysteries of the Light House are divined by teen detectives! Reel! at the headstrong invention and heart-stopping rhythms of the elder Maddin's heroic silent moviemaking!!

Stuart Reaugh and Thomas Buchan Hope, from first time documentary filmmakers Stuart Reaugh and Thomas Buchan, follows artist Ken Paquete, his partner Winnie Peters and their five boys (ages four to fifteen) as they struggle to cope during a year of wrenching change. The family lives on the Schkam Native Reserve, across from the town of Hope. The town is a transitory place at the junction of three highways. After 18 years together, Ken and Winnie's troubled relationship dissolves when Rick, a tatooed ex-con, moves in and assumes the role of stepfather. Winnie's eldest son Kenny leaves the home. Ken settles in town, where he sells his paintings outside the local pub, earning enough for rent and the occasional trip to McDonalds with his kids. Over the course of four seasons, the family cycles through poverty, addiction, violence and love, but when winter bleeds into spring, a final confrontation sparks irrevocable change.

Gil Cardinal This program tells the heart-wrenching story of how in 1929, the Haisla people of Northwestern British Columbia returned from a fishing trip to find that a nine-metre high totem pole known as the G'psgolox pole had been stolen from their village. In 1991, the Haisla finally found the missing totem pole in a Stockholm museum. This documentary traces the journey of the Haisla's attempt to reclaim their property. Bringing to light a powerful story of cultural rejuvenation, the program raises thought-provoking questions regarding the ownership of Indian objects held in museums.

Robert Carlyle Barney Thomson (Robert Carlyle) is a sad sack of a man. He identifies himself mostly as a barber, Hendersons' Barbers in a working class neighborhood of Glasgow, Scotland, where he's worked for twenty years. More introspective than extroverted, which does not work well for the business, he has fewer and fewer customers, and as such his current boss, Wullie Henderson (Stephen McCole), son of the retired owner James Henderson (James Cosmo), who originally hired him, is moving him further and further away from the spotlight of the shop. Meanwhile, five men so far have been killed by who the general public is nicknaming the "Body Parts Killer", as the murderer sends through the post body parts of the victims to the victims' loved ones. Lead investigator, Detective Inspector Holdall (Ray Winstone), assisted by Detective Inspector Callum MacPherson (Kevin Guthrie), is no closer now to discovering the Body Parts Killer's identity than when the murders started two months ago. Wanting results, Chief Superintendent McManaman (Sir Tom Courtenay) takes Holdall and MacPherson off of the case, instead assigning it to Detective Inspector June Robertson (Ashley Jensen), an A-type personality who believes she can do no wrong, and will take credit for others doing right, which places her and Holdall at odds with each other. What were so far these two unrelated paths start to merge when Wullie tells Barney that he is giving his chair to a new barber, effectively firing him. In an ensuing altercation of sorts, Barney accidentally kills Wullie. When Wullie is reported as missing, Holdall and MacPherson are sent to investigate, and increasingly believe that Barney not only killed Wullie, whose body has not been discovered, but that he is the Body Parts Killer, both which Robertson believes are nonsense. The matter gets more complicated when Barney's self-absorbed, chain smoking and dispassionate mother, Cemolina (Dame Emma Thompson), gets involved, she who would never be considered Mother of the Year.

Jim Cliffe In late 1994, former physicist Donovan Matheson returns to his hometown to live in the house he abandoned almost thirty years ago following the deaths of his wife and then eleven year old daughter, Jasmine Matheson and Magnolia Matheson respectively, in a car accident caused by Christopher Bailey, an underage driver who stole a car for a joyride. Donovan, who focused his work on cold fusion, believes he is at fault for their deaths as he believes he could have saved them if not for other things in his life, including his excessive drinking which has only worsened in his grief. The house had been kept up by Donovan's friend, police sergeant Finnley Boyd, who Donovan had only sporadically kept in touch with in the intervening years. Although not clear why he moved back, Donovan comes to believe, in a sense of déjà vu, that the purpose of his return ultimately is to save an eleven year old girl he meets, Maggie Walgrave, in his constant encounters with her, her bookstore owner mother Sarah Walgrave, and Sarah's mechanic brother Kit, an alcoholic who too has just recently returned to town. That family too had just suffered a loss when Sarah's husband/Maggie's father, Jason Walgrave, the owner of the garage where Kit works, was killed in chasing someone - that person unknown and not apprehended - who broke into the garage. As Donovan begins further to believe that his purpose is tied to premonitions he had exactly thirty years ago to the second but at the time did not understand what those visions meant, he begins to alienate Finn as well as Sarah, the former who believes Donovan is solely trying to justify the painful things that have happened in his life. But as Donovan tries to place all the pieces of the puzzle together, he believes it is all meant to come to a head exactly thirty years following Jasmine and Magnolia's deaths.

Wild Soul Creations The International award-winning film by Becky Bristow, Dog Gone Addiction, has been has been shown at film festivals across North America and Europe and has won numerous awards and accolades including Best Adventure Film, Explorers Club film festival, New York; Best Adventure Sports Film, Taos Mountain Film Festival, New Mexico; Special Jury Award, Whistler Film Festival, British Columbia.

Dog Gone Addiction follows three women, Michelle Phillips, a young Canadian mother; Agata Franczak, a 48-year-old Polish adventurer; and Kelley Griffin, an Alaskan mushing veteran, as they test their limits driving their dog teams through record cold temperatures. Amid mental exhaustion in the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest sled dog race, which runs from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Fairbanks Alaska, the film shows the women’s struggles to overcome -60 degree Celsius temperatures, exhaustion, sick dogs, icy mountain passes, and the remote wilderness of the Yukon and Alaska to achieve their goals of not simply finishing, but competitively racing the toughest sled dog race on earth. Included in the DVD are 55 minutes of extra features, commentary from racing legend and four-time Yukon Quest Champion Hans Gatt, and captivating footage showing all the characters which make up the Yukon Quest race.
“I have no doubt that if people want to feel the real power of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race they will be enthralled with this film.” – Aliy Zirkle, Yukon Quest

David Cronenberg Exciting stars Jennifer Jason Leigh (DOLORES CLAIBORNE), Jude Law (GATTACA), and Willem Dafoe (SPEED 2, AFFLICTION) challenge the boundaries of reality in this futuristic, critically acclaimed adventure thriller! During the first closed-door demonstration of an amazing new virtual reality game called eXistenZ, the system's brilliant designer, Allegra Geller (Leigh), is violently attacked by a crazed assassin intent on killing her and destroying her creation! Forced to flee into hiding, Allegra enlists a young assistant (Law) to help her in testing the damaged system ... by convincing him to join her inside eXistenZ! The action then explodes as their world's real-life dangers begin to merge with the fantasy of the game! If you're ready to play, it's now your turn to plug into this powerfully entertaining hit!

David Cronenberg After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally murders his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in an Islamic port town in Africa.

David Cronenberg Director David Cronenberg immersed himself in the gritty world of top-fuel dragsters to make this fast & furious film. William SMith, Joh Saxon, Claudia Jennings (in her final role) star in this surprising story of a corporate-sponsored racing team and t

Richard Desjardins, Robert Monderie Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie’s The Hole Story continues in the same provocative vein as their earlier Forest Alert.
The history of mining in Canada is the story of astronomical profits made with disregard for the environment and human health. The story of nickel in Sudbury, silver in Cobalt, gold in Timmins, copper in Rouyn . . .
Using striking images, rare archival footage, interviews and their trademark humorous social commentary, the directors make a clear case against the way mining has been done in Canada. The Hole Story is a film that sounds the alarm about mining. In a country rich in mineral resources, mining companies have historically paid little tax, while local municipalities bear the financial burden of building and maintaining the roads they use to truck their wealth out to other countries. Some films are essential viewing—The Hole Story is one of them!

Michael Dowse The story starts in Calgary where the boys are tiRed of trying to give r while barely scraping by when their old buddy and party leader Tron (Andrew Sparacino) hooks them up with jobs in Fort McMurray. Before Long they are rolling in dough and good times. Flush with money and confidence Terry starts dating Trish (Terra Hazelton) a local waitress and things get serious in a hurry. Meanwhile Dean is playing up the part of the cancer survivor and upon hearing about the glories of workers compensation purposely bungs up his leg in an attempt to qualify. When Terry moves in with Trish Dean does his best to save his buddy from swapping the banger life for domestic captivity. Actors: David Lawrence - Gordon Skilling - Mark Meer - Paul Spence - S.C. Lim. Director: Michael Dowse. Format: Blu-ray. Runtime: 85 mins. Language: English. Subtitle: English Subtitles. Region code: Region 1 (United States Canada Bermuda U.S. territories). Discs: 2. Rating: R. Genre: Comedy. Release Year: 2010.

Atom Egoyan Noah, an insurance adjuster (Elias Koteas), takes victims of material devastation to a place of comfort: he has sex with his clients (while explaining the insurance policies). His wife Hera (Arsinee Khanjian), a film censor, videotapes the pornography she rates—to help her sister understand what she does at work. Yet at home, these edgy communicators have no relationship at all. Like David Lynch, director Atom Egoyan pursues a cinema of unsettling moods and quirky characters engaged in inexplicable activities, devoting more energy to posing questions than providing answers. That, coupled with a repertory of painfully sensitive actors, orchestrates a universe of endemic alienation. The result? A provocative drama that will stay with you for days. —Lloyd Chesley

Atom Egoyan Karen O'Connor tells the story about two distinct but related periods in her life. In 1972, she is an up-and-coming Los Angeles based journalist who has been given the lucrative assignment of convincing once successful comic Vince Collins, who is at the tail end of his career, to allow her to ghost write his memoirs. Most specifically, she has the task from her publishers of discovering the reason behind two issues in Vince's life from 1957: why he and his former on-stage partner Lanny Morris, who is still active and well known within the entertainment business, broke up their professional partnership shortly after they hosted a successful thirty-nine hour telethon for polio research in Miami, there not having been any indication of problems between the two before that; and how did the dead body of Maureen O'Flaherty end up in the water filled bathtub in Vince and Lanny's New Jersey hotel suite, the opening of that New Jersey hotel owned by mobster Sally Sanmarco which was Lanny and ...

John Fawcett Two death-obsessed sisters, outcasts in their suburban neighborhood, must deal with the tragic consequences when one of them is bitten by a deadly werewolf.

Colm Feore If the phrase "Canadian action thriller" doesn't send you running to the video store, Bon Cop Bad Cop is hoping to change your mind. When a body is found straddling the Ontario/Quebec border, a detective from each province must partner up to solve the case. Naturally, in the grand tradition of buddy-cop movies, one (Colm Feore, Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould) is straight-laced and by the book while the other (Patrick Huard, Les Boys) is a chain-smoking loose cannon. The mystery escalates as more bodies pile up, all connected to the world of hockey (and based on real-life hockey figures) and all marked with mysterious tattoos. Gags about French vs. English pile up as well, along with other Canadian in-jokes, but despite that, Bon Cop Bad Cop is accessible and entertaining, a preposterous, over-the-top blend of Lethal Weapon and Saw. It has all the classic elements—an eccentric coroner, women throwing themselves at the heroes, a brawl in a bar, a time-bomb on an innocent victim, a detective clinging to the roof of speeding car—as well as a number of unique bits, like some creepy bobble-heads and a killer in a sports mascot costume doing a De Niro impression. (Be warned that the violence is sometimes extreme, though usually for comic effect, and there's a steady flow of strong language.) —Bret Fetzer

Carol Geddes George Johnston was a hunter, trapper, entrepreneur and photographer. This man, whose Tlingit name was Kaash KlaÕ, documented his family at work and play, and the Yukon community of Teslin, where he lived.
Johnston's photos lovingly portray a sense of history and a zest for life. His work as a photographer in the period from 1920-45, when few Indian people spoke English, has long been recognized in the Native community. Johnston's work predates a generation of Indian and Inuit photographers. Today Teslin has a museum in his name, the Yukon archives are custodians of his work, and his Tlingit relative, Carol Geddes, is directing a documentary film about his life and work.
Combining archival photography, dramatic reenactment and the pictorial work of Johnston himself, the film not only examines Johnston's vision but also documents life in the Yukon in the inter-warperiod. Johnston's passion for traditional Tlingit culture, his sensitivity and artistic sense of the beauty of the North are captured in the grain of each black and white photograph he took. We see him hunting, and visit his cabin darkroom while the voices of his contemporaries tell the story of this historically important Tlingit man.
Today Johnston's work is at last receiving the recognition it deserves. His photos were included in Visions (1985), a review of Indian and Inuit photography, and also as part of the De Mémoire exhibition during Montréal's Le Mois de la Photo 1991. His works are also part of the 1994 From Icebergs to Iced Tea exhibition, currently slated for installation in Ottawa.
The film PICTURING A PEOPLE : George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer is an engaging portrait of an extraordinary man and the evocative photos he took documenting a fascinating part of Canadian history.

Terry Gilliam Pre-teen Jeliza-Rose's parents are hopeless drug addicts. When pa, rocker Noah, finds ma's OD'd, he fears to be charged with homicide and takes Jeliza along to his ma's place, in a desolate country region. With Noah passed out, the girl mentally transfers to a fantasy world she and her doll heads enter magically. Jeliza's adventures also star the crazy locals, notably Dell, and Dell's grown but intellectually disabled brother Dickens.

Jessica Hall The art, philosophy, and religion of black magic practitioner James C. Kirby is explored while he creates a unique piece of jewelry using the ancient art of Lost Wax casting.

David Hartford Based on James Oliver Curwood's novel, Wapi the Walrus, Back to God's Country is the story of a free-spirited, nature-loving woman (Nell Shipman) and her run-ins with a nasty thug (Wellington A. Playter) who continually pursues her. This flapper-era silent movie holds up surprisingly well and benefits from some location filming. It is also notable because it remains the most commercially successful Canadian movie of all time—in eighty years Canadian filmmakers have yet to top it (and, unlike so many, it was actually set in Canada!). What's more, it's believed to be the only film left in existence from Canada's burgeoning silent-film era. Unlike many American silent movies, it remained unavailable to TV or video until 1997 when the Canadian Bravo! TV network presented a surprisingly well-restored version with an effective piano score by Gabriel Thibaudeau. Shipman, who was also a producer, appeared in a number of movies derived from American writer Curwood's Canadian-set stories, though the others were for Hollywood. None, however, matched the success of this one. —D.K. Latta

Brett Harvey Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he demystifies the underground market and brings to light how the marijuana industry can function while remaining illegal. Through growers, police officers, criminologists, economists, doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business - an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal.

The Tragically Hip

Jonathan Holiff Before there was Johnny and June, there was Johnny and Saul. Following his father's suicide, director Jonathan Holiff discovers hundreds of letters and audio diaries, including recorded phone calls with Johnny Cash during his pill-fueled 1960s, triumphs at Folsom and San Quentin, marriage to June Carter, and his conversion in the early 1970s to born-again Christian. An intense personal adventure that happens to feature one of 20th-century music's greatest icons, My Father and The Man in Black tells the inside story of "bad boy" Johnny Cash, his talented but troubled manager, Saul Holiff, and a son searching for his father in the shadow of a legend. Collector's Edition Special Features: - 20 Minutes of Bonus Material - Close Captioned - Subtitles: French and Spanish

Barrie Howells, Donald Brittain, Don Owen

Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu Two isolated families meet for a summertime celebration. Food is abundant and the future seems bright, but Ningiuq, a strong and wise old woman, sees her world as fragile and moves through it with a pervasive sense of dread.
Ningiuq and her grandson Maniq are dropped off on a remote island, where, every year, the family dries the catch and stores it for winter.
The task is soon finished. As summer turns to fall, they wait in vain for the others to pick them up.

Bonnie Klein A thought-provoking chronicle of the odyssey of two women, Bonnie Klein, the director of the film, and Linda Lee Tracey, a stripper. Together they set out to explore the world of peep shows, strip joints and sex supermarkets. Both are motivated by the desire to know more about pornography—why it exists, the forms it takes, and how it affects relations between men and women. Not a Love Story offers insights and perspectives from men and women who earn their living in the porn trade, and from some of pornography's most outspoken critics. This film contains sexually explicit material that may be disturbing to some people.

Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Mary Kunuk Adopting a child from a relative, a friend, somebody you know, is very common in Inuit culture. In fact, adoption is part of the culture, with every family experiencing it in one way or another. As individuals talk about their own experiences with adoption, the film allows us to see how this traditional custom changes with the reality of contemporary life in the North.

Norman Cohn, Zacharias Kunuk A portrayal of the lives of the last great Inuit shaman, Avva, and his beautiful and headstrong daughter, Apak. Based on the journals of 1920s Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen.

Zacharias Kunuk It's a story as old as humanity—one of love, jealousy, and betrayal, both within a family and between two families—but the setting, a starkly beautiful Arctic landscape, is not typical. The Fast Runner tells a ponderous tale of two brothers, Atanarjuat and Amaqjuaq, and their spiteful rival, Oki, who conspires to kill them when Atanarjuat wins the affections of Oki's promised wife, Atuat. Nearly three hours long, the film plays out like an ancient legend told to younger generations in warning. It's infused with a mysticism in which spirits cause the wicked actions of otherwise decent people.

The actors, all Native people speaking Inuktitut (with subtitles), bring a necessary subtlety to their roles that makes The Fast Runner feel more like a documentary than a typical feature film. It's easy to get lost in the drama of this snowy world, where dog sleds are the only transportation and meat is eaten raw, cut straight from the bone. The film's slow pace mirrors the pace of life in such harsh conditions, but the energy of its epic story, spanning three generations and affecting the lives of everyone in the group, is deeply compelling. —Adem Tepedelen

Zacharias Kunuk Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner is the first feature film made in the Inuktitut language. Based on an ancient Inuit legend, it's an epic tale of love, betrayal, family, and survival played out against the harsh and barren white landscape of the Far North. Noteworthy for its cinematography, performances, and verisimilitude of the Inuit way of life before their exposure to Europeans. Also notable for how accomplished the film is considering its basic production values.

Richard J. Lewis The publication of a book accusing him of murder leads schlock television producer Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) to reflect on his tumultuous life—from his troubled first marriage to his best friend sleeping with his second wife to his one true love… and how he destroyed the happiest time in his life. By turns comic and self-lacerating, Panofsky is a richly drawn character given vivid life by Giamatti, who's built a remarkable career on prickly people (Sideways, American Splendor, John Adams). Regrettably, the women in his life aren't as fully realized, but the strong performances from the actresses playing them (Rachelle Lefevre, Minnie Driver, and Rosamund Pike) do a lot to make up for the thinness of how they're written. Rounding out the cast is Dustin Hoffman as Panofsky's father, a crude but vigorous ex-cop who loves his son unreservedly. Adapted from an award-winning Canadian book, Barney's Version feels, in the best sense, like a novel; small details and incidents build up to the picture of a man's life. The movie depicts that life without judgment, never manipulating the audience for cheap laughs or sentiment—and yet it is by turns wildly funny and achingly sad, largely due to Giamatti. He holds the viewer's attention effortlessly, quietly, never showboating his emotions or flaunting his intelligence. He's simply a superb actor, and this is a superb performance. —Bret Fetzer

Phillip Lyall, Nimisha Mukerji Redefining the traditional scope of documentary film in an electronic age, 65_RedRoses leaves viewers with a new appreciation of life and the digital world. This personal and touching journey takes an unflinching look into the lives of Eva Markvoort and her two online friends who are all battling cystic fibrosis (CF) - a fatal genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system.

Unable to meet in person because of the spread of infections and super bugs, the girls have become each other's lifelines through the Internet, providing unconditional love, support and understanding long after visiting hours are over. Now at a critical turning point in their lives, the film travels the distance the friends cannot go themselves, capturing the compelling and often heartbreaking realities they face, just trying to take each breath.

Guy Maddin With his latest work, MY WINNIPEG, iconoclastic filmmaker Guy Maddin continues in the freewheeling, genre-bending tradition that has made him one of Canada's most consistently intriguing and internationally respected artists. MY WINNIPEG is a documentary (or docu-fantasia, as he describes it) about his hometown. Equal parts mystical rumination and personal history, city chronicle and deranged post-Freudian proletarian fantasy, MY WINNIPEG - which is framed as a goodbye letter - blends local myth with childhood trauma. A deliriously layered provocation, MY WINNIPEG is outrageous, informative and wildly entertaining.

Guy Maddin A self-styled "pro-incest" movie about a town in the Alps where the fear of avalanches means that no one speaks above a whisper? When Winnipeg's Prairie surrealist Guy Maddin, slowly working his way through the forgotten genres of early film, decided to turn to the German Alpine pictures of the 1930s, he created what is so far his masterpiece. Awash with colour and filled [ds1]with forbidden whispers, Careful finds the perfect balance between Maddin's senses of kitsch and tragedy.

Omar Majeed Yusef, a first-generation Pakistani engineering student, moves off-campus with a group of Muslim punks in Buffalo, New York. His new "un-orthodox" house mates soon introduce him to Taqwacore- a hardcore, Muslim punk rock scene that only exists out west. As the seasons change, Taqwacore influences the house more and more. The living room becomes a mosque during the day, while it continues to host punk parties at night. Ultimately, Yusef is influenced by Taqwacore too, as he begins to challenge his own faith and ideologies. The Taqwacores deals with the complexities of being young and Muslim in modern-day America.

Ron Mann Made by Ron Mann when he was 16, Flak is a gritty improvised drama screening for the first time in 30 years as part of this retrospective. Influenced by John Cassavetes' Shadows, Michelangelo Antonioni's The Red Desert, and above all, Robert Kramer's classic film Ice, Mann's working title was Viva La Dynamite, a phrase borrowed from Anaïs Nin.

Ron Mann The life and times of famed hot rod & custom car designer Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

George McCowan Hockey player Billy Duke (Art Hindle) joins the Toronto Maple Leafs who must adapt to the major league with assistance from his room-mate (George Armstrong, a Leafs player portraying himself). Meanwhile, Duke is involved in a relationship with rock singer Sherri Lee Nelson (Trudy Young) who objects to Duke's often rough hockey playing.

Bruce McDonald Hard Core Logo is often compared to This Is Spinal Tap—and for marketing purposes, that makes sense: both are pretend documentaries about rock bands (a self-important heavy metal crew in Spinal Tap, a self-destructing punk mob in Hard Core Logo). But though Hard Core Logo can be cuttingly funny, it's not really a comedy; it's a piercing examination of friendship and betrayal, success and self-hatred, and everything that fueled punk rock. Lead singer Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon) uses false pretenses to convince guitarist Billy Tallent (Callum Keith Rennie) to reform Hard Core Logo for a reunion tour across Canada, followed by a film crew (featuring director Bruce McDonald, whose other films include Roadkill and Highway 61, as himself). Tallent agrees, but only because he expects to be joining a much more successful rock group very shortly and sees this as a favor to Dick. As they travel from town to town, their relationship unravels, as does the psyche of bass player John Oxenberger (John Pyper-Ferguson). The performances are astonishingly genuine; even the oafish drummer Pipefitter (Bernie Coulson) becomes three-dimensional. By the end, you'll believe in them so much as people that the band's disintegration is truly wrenching. A remarkable film, both comic and sad. —Bret Fetzer

Bruce McDonald Kingston, Ontario's, Bruce McDonald cut his indie teeth directing this rock & roll road movie seven years before making Hard Core Logo. Roadkill traverses the back roads and wilds of Canada following the odyssey of Valerie, a concert promoter searching for a lost band in hopes of staging a comeback tour. It's an effective, low-budget (shot on 8mm) film that showcases McDonald as an emerging force in Canadian independent cinema. McDonald then made a sequel to Roadkill with Highway 61 (not currently available on DVD).

Bruce McDonald A naive Canadian barber who knows US popular culture inside and out meets a flamboyant roadie who needs someone to drive her and her "brother's" corpse to New Orleans. Chaos ensues after the barber agrees to drive her, the corpse, and the drugs stashed within all the way.

Bruce McDonald Trigger is the story of two rock n' roll women who once shared a friendship, a band and a whole lot of chaos. Now a dozen years later they meet again, and over the course of one evening rediscover friendship, remember rock n'roll and reignite chaos.

Michael McGowan After years of stability, the lives of octogenarian couple, Craig and Irene Morrison, are slowly beginning to change. Because of changing times and regulations, they are no longer able to make a living from their small coastal New Brunswick farm. And Irene has begun to show signs of early dementia. Against the wishes of their two offspring who still reside in the area and who would like to see more standard care provided for Irene, Craig, the son of a master shipbuilder who inherited his father's building abilities, decides to mill lumber from trees on their property and with it build a more suitable, small one story house on the property in which he and Irene can live. Beginning this project with only a design in his mind, he is encouraged by friends at least to go through the regulatory process of building permits and the like. Despite being able to complete this project to more than exacting centuries old standards, Craig ends up hitting one roadblock after another in this

Michael McGowan Optional French Dub.

Deepa Mehta Extremist groups waged a campaign of death threats, arson and riots to stop the production of this controversial film, but director Deepa Mehta would not be silenced. Set against Gandhi's rise to power, Water tells the profoundly moving story of Chuyia, an Indian girl married and widowed at eight years old, who is sent away to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the other residents, forcing each to confront their faith and society's prejudices.

Fernando Meirelles A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant "white blindness". Those first afflicted are quarantined by the authorities in an abandoned mental hospital where the newly created "society of the blind" quickly breaks down. Criminals and the physically powerful prey upon the weak, hoarding the meager food rations and committing horrific acts. There is, however, one eyewitness to the nightmare. A woman whose sight is unaffected by the plague follows her afflicted husband to quarantine. There, keeping her sight a secret, she guides seven strangers who have become, in essence, a family. She leads them out of quarantine and onto the ravaged streets of the city, which has seen all vestiges of civilization crumble.

Peter Mettler Honored at multiple international film festivals, PICTURE OF LIGHT takes a film crew to the Sub Arctic to capture the wonder of the Northern Lights. While combining glimpses of the characters who live in this remote environment and the crew's both comic a

Peter Mettler Peter Mettler is known as a director, cinematographer and editor whose films bridge the gap between experimental, narrative, personal essay and documentary. PRELUDES provides a fascinating example of the wide variation of genres in which he works, as well as an exploration of the roots of his inspiration as an artist. Features 3 films: Scissere (Canada, 1982, Colour/B&W, 87 minutes), Eastern Avenue (Canada, 1985, Colour/B&W, 58 minutes), and Balifilm (Canada, 1997, Colour/B&W, 28 minutes).

Peter Mettler A satellite dish salesman desperately attempts to find the radical woman he has fallen in love with while both of them are being pursued by the police.

Ruba Nadda In Cairo on her own as she waits for her husband, Juliette finds herself caught in a whirlwind romance with his friend Tareq, a retired cop. As Tareq escorts Juliette around the city, they find themselves in the middle of a brief affair that catches them both unawares.

Alanis Obomsawin

Gordon Pinsent The final days of WWII are turbulent ones for 16-year-old Terry Fleming - a sharp young man who fantasizes about working at the Airlines Hotel in Gander, Newfoundland where pilots and movie starlets rub shoulders with locals. Boasting the world's longest runway and poised on the eastern tip of the continent, Gander was the "Gateway to the World At War" and provided an unlikely outpost for Hollywood stars, dignitaries and servicemen en route overseas.

When his mother becomes gravely ill and their house is quarantined, it is Terry's brilliant imagination that carries him on a poignant journey of love and longing. As he and his father (Peter MacNeill) wait out the verdict on his mother's health, big bands, bombers and babes alight in his mind. With a war outside and death rattling around upstairs, youth straddles adulthood when conjured-up love and laughter provide an antidote to Terry's fears.

Sarah Polley Married for almost 50 years, Grant's (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona's (Julie Christie) commitment to each other appears unwavering. Their daily life is filled with tenderness and humor; yet this serenity is broken by Fiona's increasingly evident memory loss - and her restrained references to a past betrayal. For a while, the couple is able to casually dismiss these unwelcome changes. But when neither Fiona nor her husband can deny any longer that she is being consumed by Alzheimer's disease, the couple is forced to wrenchingly redefine the limits of their love and loyalty - and face the complex, inevitable transition from lovers to strangers.

Sarah Polley While on a plane ride back to Toronto from a writing assignment, Margot meets Daniel, a handsome stranger. An immediate attraction is formed and Margot is able to open up and discuss some of her fears and longings. A taxi ride back home causes Daniel and Margot to realize that they are neighbours and Margot admits she's married. The summer-time heat and her increasing fascination with the handsome artist who lives across the street starts getting to her, and Margot is no longer sure if she's happy in her marriage or if she'd be happier with her fantasies with Daniel.

Sarah Polley

Tom Radford It is easy to overlook Herschel Island – a tiny speck of land just off the Yukon coast – where the Inuvialuit hunters once followed the great journeys of caribou, polar bears, and whales. The island lays silently on the margins of geography, entrapped in the footnotes of history, a forgotten place frozen in time.
And yet just over a century ago Herschel Island was a frontier boomtown, branded “the Sodom of the Arctic” by some visitors. A place cohabited by whalers, Inuit, missionaries, and police; a place of contact and conflict; a place where worlds collided and lives were changed forever.
It was on Herschel Island that a young Inuvialuit boy, Nuligak (later named Bob Cockney by the missionaries) came of age—fascinated by Herschel, but equally repelled by the excess of so-called civilization. Through Nuligak’s touching yet tragic life-story, which is expressed through his writings and echoed by his grandchildren’s poignant return to the Island—we are offered a unique view into an often troubling past and a potentially hopeful future.

Peter Raymont The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman is an exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy through the words and memories of playwright/author/activist Ariel Dorfman ('Death and the Maiden', 'How to Read Donald Duck', 'Other Septembers'). Born in Argentina, growing up in New York and Chile, Dorfman became cultural advisor to socialist president Salvador Allende in Chile. When the Allende government was toppled in the military coup of September 11, 1973, Dorfman was among a handful of Allende's inner circle to survive. A Promise to the Dead was filmed in the USA, Argentina and Chile in late 2006, coinciding with the death of former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

Patrick Reed The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.

Gerry Rogers Director, Gerry Rogers’ beautiful portrait of Canadian singer/songwriter Ferron, known for influencing Mary Gauthier, The Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco, is a must see. This one-hour film captures Ferron’s salt of the earth folk stylings and features a live performance in Vancouver as she re-unites with her old band mates after 10 years.

Patricia Rozema Camille and Martin are in love and teachers at a christian college; they get the opportunity to get a better job, but they would have to marry for that. But when Camille's dog dies, she recognizes that her love for Martin is not even as big as the love for her dog. After that, Camille gets to know Petra, and Petra falls in love with Camille. They meet again, but Camille is very unsure about her feelings. When Martin is away for a weekend, Camille and Petra meet in the Circus where Petra is working as an acrobat. They spend the night together, but Martin finds out about it and is shocked. He has an argument with Camille, and she goes burying her dog in the snow, and falls asleep...

Moira Sauer Struggling through a long, dark Yukon winter with only her sled dogs for company, a lonely heroine, hungry for companionship, finds a unique way to fulfill her needs.

Martin Scorsese Universally acclaimed as one of the great concert films, The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese's gorgeous account of the Band's star-studded 1976 farewell concert feels at times like a Canadian musical reunion, as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young join the Band in their celebration of a long life on the North American road. The movie captures some of the tensions between Hollywood-ready Robbie Robertson and his more inward bandmates, but its true glory is in the concert's camaraderie and good-natured one-upmanship, which drives great performances by Mitchell, Muddy Waters, the Staples Singers, and, best of all, Van Morrison's riveting "Caravan."

Kent Sobey An enthusiastic master of a musical instrument that gets little respect – the air guitar – Andrew Buckles is determined to compete in the World Air Guitar Championship held in Oulu, Finland. Follow Andrew as he attempts to raise money for his epic journey: from bake sales to busking, while also carefully refining his nimble-fingered technique.

Todd Solondz Storytelling is comprised of two separate stories set against the sadly comical terrain of college and high school, past and present. Following the paths of its young hopeful/ troubled characters, it explores issues of sex, race, celebrity and exploitation

Jonathon Stanton

Jacob Tierney Leon Bronstein is not your average Montreal West high school student. For one thing none of his peers can claim to be the reincarnation of early 20th century Soviet iconoclast and Red Army hero Leon Trotsky. When his father sends Leon to public school as punishment for starting a hunger strike at Papa s clothing factory Leon quickly lends new meaning to the term student union determined as he is to live out his pre-ordained destiny to the fullest and change the world. Actors: Anne-Marie Cadieux - Colm Feore - Emily Hampshire - Genevieve Bujold - Jay Baruchel. Director: Jacob Tierney. Format: Blu-ray. Format Size: Widescreen. Runtime: 113 mins. Language: English. Subtitle: English Subtitles. Region code: Region 1 (United States Canada Bermuda U.S. territories). Discs: 1. Rating: PG-13. Genre: Comedy. Release Year: 2009.

Jean-Marc Vallée A love story between a man and woman. And between a mother and her son. A mystical and fantastical odyssey on love.

Caelum Vatnsdal, Guy Maddin, Matt Holm The dark days of the Depression set the stage for surreal black comedy in this "intoxicating" (Time) musical melodrama from acclaimed director Guy Maddin. When a legless beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini) in Winnipeg announces a contest to find the world's saddest tune, a pint of trouble brews among a fractured family competing for the $25,000 prize. As the disturbing depths of the linksbetween each other, the baroness and an amnesiac nymphomaniac are exposed, one thing becomes clear:It will take more than a pool of alcohol to drown their sorrows!

Ingrid Veninger Daniel lives in a motel, managed by his parents, in northern Ontario. People come, people go, Daniel hardly notices. Until one day a girl arrives and changes his world.
ONLY is a glimpse into the heightened impressions and dreams of two unlikely 12-year-olds. Over the course of a single day, they venture on a journey, exploring deep secrets, dark fears, and first love in a pure and powerful meeting of young hearts and minds.

Ingrid Veninger Porcupine Lake is a story of bravery and the secret life of girls set in Northern Ontario during a hot and hazy summertime when adulthood has not yet arrived, but childhood is quickly vanishing.

V.I.E.W. Video This riveting music documentary, as seen on TV and now available on DVD, Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar, traces the history of Jazz piano legend Oscar Peterson, from his early days as Montreal's teenage Boogie-Woogie sensation through his meteoric rise to international celebrity with Norman Granz and the ground-breaking Jazz at the Philharmonic and beyond. This DVD is jam packed with music, rare footage, home movies, multiple DVD Bonus Features, and in-depth interviews with a Who s Who of Jazz legends including Ella Fitzgerald and Quincy Jones. This comprehensive documentary film is destined to become a classic. Highlighted in this treasure trove of musical gems is the reunion of the legendary Oscar Peterson Trio (bassist Ray Brown, guitarist Herb Ellis, and Oscar on Piano) after a twenty-year hiatus. And almost as memorable as the music is the voice of the man himself, passionately and articulately guiding us through his unfolding musical and personal evolution. Some of this film s musical highlights include a performance with Count Basie, Caravan, Gentle Waltz, Boogie Woogie, Tiny s Exercise (by Art Tatum), Tenderly, Sweet Loraine (by Nat King Cole), Hymn to Freedom, Bag s Groove, Place St. Henri, Perdido (with Cleo Lane & John Dankworth), March Past, Nightmare, Hallelujah Time, Nigerian Marketplace, Lonesome One...and more! Other topics covered include the anatomy of the trio, Montreal s Golden Era, measuring up to Art Tatum, the Johnny Holmes Big Band, the color barrier and race relations, Norman Granz, Jazz At The Philharmonic (JATP), Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Brown s perspective, touring Europe, substance abuse casualties, social change in America, the Civil Rights Movement - The Dream, the permanence of Jazz, the competitive side of Oscar, award presentations, the Royal Albert Hall Performance, and much more. From concert performances and revealing insight from Oscar himself to enlightening interviews with a profusion of American musical icons, this DVD, Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar, not only serves as the foremost documentary of the pianist, but as a testament to the undeniable legacy of legendary Jazz pianist and composer, Oscar Peterson.

Denis Villeneuve This hauntingly enigmatic Canadian film and 2010 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee unfolds backward and forward in time as a riveting, intricate mystery story. Clues are doled out gradually and often without the benefit of reason until shocking answers are unearthed in the final minutes. Set primarily in an unnamed Middle East country that is probably Lebanon, events are told in flashbacks and present-day scenes that run together without comment or overt transitions, employing a formal structure that requires us to pay constant attention to the shifts in perspective. It's a challenging task, but one that becomes enormously engrossing as the narrative weaves around itself against the backdrop of a bloody civil war and the equally damaging emotional battle of a family that is bound to a past ruled by equal parts devotion and horror. The primary characters are Nawal Marwan and her twin children Jeanne and Simon. A framing device set in Montreal where the grown twins hear a reading of their recently deceased mother's will sets up a quest that must be resolved before her body can be put to rest. They are each given sealed letters by the avuncular notary who was both their mother's employer and family friend (he also becomes pretty important to the extended plot, as do a number of other seemingly minor characters). As her last request, the mother has instructed Jeanne to deliver one letter to their father and Simon to deliver the other to their brother. Even though the twins believed their unknown father to be long dead and were unaware of the existence of a brother, Nawal's will assures them that both men are very much alive. With nothing more than the family name and a vague history of Nawal's early life in the strife-torn country where fighting between Christians and Muslims wrought a years-long bloodbath, both children get a crack at solving the mystery. The trails they follow each in their own turn are intercut with episodes from the young Nawal's journey of heartbreak, tension, and terror decades earlier. The children uncover incremental details in the same resolutely objective fashion that director Denis Villeneuve reels out others through the experiences of Nawal as she lived through her own ordeal. The script by Villeneuve was based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, and there is a deeply resonant literary quality to the narrative that gives what might have otherwise seemed like an unlikely series of coincidences a profound sense of plausibility. An ultimate and entirely legitimate sense of destiny is revealed to all the characters that pass through the story, even in the most tangential way. The truths revealed by the surprise ending are truly devastating and completely unexpected, especially to those for whom the reality they thought they knew has been upended in ways that are unimaginable. —Ted Fry

John Walker Seven of the world’s master drummers blow the roof off the barn and the ducks out of the water when they gather on a remote farm in Ontario cottage country to inspire young musicians to connect with the powerful rhythms of nature. Featuring Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr, Dennis Chambers, Kenwood Dennard, Horacio “El-Negro” Hernadez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mike Mangini and Raul Rekow, the film dishes up a rich stew of mind-blowing performances in rock, jazz, Latin, fusion, and soul. They teach, joke, learn how to canoe, swap road stories and tales about musicians they’ve played with (musicians like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Carlos Santana), and share a profound musical philosophy driven by love, compassion, and the joy of life. A final jam session with all of the drummers and students, and even the film’s director, is transcendent with a joy that will leave you exhilarated for days to come.

John Walker An intimate portrait of Jack Chambers, a major figure in the Canadian cultural landscape, a man who has been called Canada's finest painter. Within a carefully constructed narrative of the artist's life, this visually lyrical film includes the full range of his work from the age of thirteen until his death. The story is told in Chamber's own words and in narration, and these voices are balanced by interviews with several of the people who were close to Chambers at different times in his life

John Walker This poetic, beautifully shot, and deeply personal documentary centres on the life and career of Paul Strand, an important, pioneering, but little known, 20th-century American photographer. Strand: Under the Dark Cloth successfully redresses both major shortcomings of the artist’s impressive career — not only does it pull this complex character into sharper focus, it stands to help restore Strand to his rightful place in the history of image-making.
Deeply influenced by Strand’s work, the director, John Walker, creates a portrait that reflects the qualities he finds so valuable in the artist: spontaneity, commitment, sympathy and passion. The film tracks Strand’s long, peripatetic life as he meanders from New York to Mexico to Gaspé to France. His path intersects with vivid and influential personalities, such as mentor Alfred Steiglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, Milton Brown, Fred Zinnemann, Leo Hurwitz and Virginia Stevens.
Strand takes viewers on a journey that is spiritual and psychological as well as physical and historical. As its title suggests, the film manages to find the man behind the lens — to lift the cloak which conceals the artist.

John Walker WINNER / Best Director - John Walker / Atlantic Film Festival

Searching for the Northwest Passage - The Story of Sir John Franklin

In 1845, celebrated British explorer Sir John Franklin, along with his crew of 128 men, set sail from England in search of a fabled passage west, which they believed would lead them to the riches of the Orient. None of them were ever seen again.

A search party found no evidence of any crew or wreckage. The answer to the mystery was eventually solved by John Rae, a lone doctor travelling the Arctic Circle on foot. His findings were so horrific that those back home - including Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, as well as Charles Dickens - waged a public campaign to discredit Rae and subsequently incriminate an entire nation of Northern Inuit people.

Mary Walsh

Terry Woolf

Dogrib Birch Bark Canoe
28 minutes
&
Sila Alangotok:
The Weather is Changing -
Inuit Observations on Climate Change
42 minutes