The Janitor(2009)

Out: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Youth(en)

Made in the early 1990s, this award-winning Canadian documentary presents the stories of gay and lesbian teenagers who have come out to their family and friends. The journeys for most were emotional and sometimes painful, but ultimately a source of strength and hope. Also included are the tales of young transvestites and street hustlers who have had to leave home because of rejection by their families. P-Flag, a support group for parents of gays is also briefly profiled.

Life After(en)

Life After opens the dialogue surrounding grief and how we experience it. Through conversations with Nicola Winstanley and Carmen Galavan about what grief is and how it affects us, we learn what it really means to live a life after.

Two Worlds Colliding(en)

This documentary chronicles the story of Darrell Night, an Indigenous man who was dumped by two police officers in a barren field on the outskirts of Saskatoon in January 2000, during -20° C temperatures. He survived, but he was stunned to hear that the frozen body of another Indigenous man was discovered in the same area.

Gym College(en)

In this Sportscope series entry, members of the Florida State University gymnastics team demonstrate their athletic skills.

Briser le silence des amphis(en)

Centered on the testimonies of students who were victims of harassment or sexist and sexual violence. The objective is to make people aware of the reality and mechanisms of this violence, as well as their seriousness, so that the university community as a whole is mobilizing against harassment and gender-based and sexual violence.

Hookers on Davie(en)

Filmmakers Holly Dale and Janis Cole explore the culture of Davie Street, located in the underbelly of Vancouver, where dozens of prostitutes work and live every day. Surprisingly, they find that the sex trade there is stable and largely non-violent, and that the women who work on Davie Street meet daily to discuss safety and health issues and don't use pimps. The film also includes candid interviews with the prostitutes and footage of negotiations with potential clients.

Street Art & Revolutionary Spirit(en)

Governments were cracking down on street art everywhere.... until they realized they could make money off of it. Where does this leave street art and its artists today? Olivia Sun explores the street art scene in Toronto and some parts of Berlin to see how street art is navigating its changing culture.

Toad People(en)

Toad People introduces audiences to the stories of people like Steve Clegg who make up a community-led movement to save this threatened species. In different parts of the province, people from all ages and walks of life come together to do whatever it takes to help toads survive. They stop road traffic, collect toads in buckets and carry them across the road, build toad tunnels. In the Kootenays, Debbie Pitaoulis is fighting to protect the toad habitat from logging. The film follows these individuals’ passion for the natural world, their fighting spirit, perseverance but also their struggles, demonstrating that people do not need to be environmental activists or scientists to take action, they just need to be citizens who care.

My Old Man(de)

Welcome to “the prime of life”. All his life, Rudy has worked hard for the firm, and for the family. But now, everything is about to change: Rudy retires. No alarm clock, no meetings, no travels to distant countries to set the pace. Shopping, cooking, gardening, and the daily routines of marital bliss will now fill his schedule. Rudy was actually looking forward to it, to the next phase. But as he soon realizes, “the prime of life” is a wild ride on an emotional rollercoaster. Retirement is not for cowards.

Crossing the Divide(en)

Two Canadians, one Liberal and one Conservative, attend a U.S. convention focused on depolarizing politics, determined to engage in tough conversations for a healthier democracy.

To Wake Up the Nakota Language(en)

“When you don’t know your language or your culture, you don’t know who you are,” says 69-year-old Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant Rump First Nation, Treaty 4 territory, in southern Saskatchewan. Through the wisdom of his words, Armand is committed to revitalizing his language and culture for his community and future generations.

Pea Soup(fr)

Images and sounds are spliced together in this journey to the heart of the political, economic and cultural oppression of the Quebec people. A reflection on neo-colonial exploitation and the cancer of alienation. To the very Canadian multiculturalism of Trudeau and the métissage of the multinationals, celebrated by the high priests of the dominant ideology, is contrasted the idea of acculturation, even deculturation. A way of resisting as good as any other.

Oil Sands Karaoke(en)

Oil Sands Karaoke is a documentary about five oil patch workers vying to win a karaoke contest in one of the most controversial places on the planet - Northern Alberta's infamous Oil Sands. These five characters know they're at the center of a global controversy and yet they continue to work there under extremely arduous physical conditions for long hours for extended periods without a single day off. Why? Obviously for the high wages. But what could motivate a person in this situation to sing karaoke, let alone take it seriously? A documentary unlike any other, Oil Sands Karaoke will make us laugh, sing along, and perhaps re-examine our biases

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives(en)

Ten women in Canada talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love".

Glenn Gould: Extasis(fr)

A collection of recollections and opinions of and about Glenn Gould, interspersed with excerpts of archive footage of the great Canadian pianist speaking and playing.

Wet Earth and Warm People(en)

This documentary by Michael Rubbo (Waiting for Fidel) offers candid glimpses of Indonesia and its people. Filming in and around the capital of Jakarta, the cameras follow where chance leads, capturing the flavour of life in this fertile crescent of tropical islands. Throughout the film, the focus is on a society caught between the past and the conflicting options for the future - to change or not to change from long-established patterns of life to ones more influenced by western technology.

Hunting Matthew Nichols(en)

Twenty-three years after her brother mysteriously disappeared, a documentary filmmaker sets out to solve his missing person's case. But when a disturbing piece of evidence is revealed, she comes to believe that her brother might still be alive.

Clio Capers(en)

"Clio Capers" is a short film about the Clio Club, the Latin club James Blue belonged to at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. The film features "Jupiter" and his fellow immortals atop Mt. Olympus looking back through the "Clio scrapbook," actual home movie footage James Blue shot of club activities between 1946-1948. Originally shot on 8mm film. No sound.

University and Freedom(cs)

Coming Home(en)

This documentary reveals the impacts of the Sixties Scoop, a period in which a series of Canadian policies enabled child welfare authorities to take, or “scoop up,” Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in white foster homes. Explore Indigenous resilience through narrative sovereignty as experienced through the Little Bird series’ Indigenous creatives, cast, crew & community members.