Somber Tides

Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story(en)

Swinging and twirling Dorothy Toy Fong the legendary tap dancer is still exciting at 99 years old. Award-winning reporter Rick Quan traces Fong’s journey as a famous duo with Paul Wing and exciting run with her Oriental Showgirl group. Fong’s wondrous spirit dances off the screen and into your heart.

Flashdance(en)

Alex Owens, a young woman juggling between two odd jobs, aspires to become a successful ballet dancer. Nick, who is her boss and lover, supports and encourages her to fulfil her dream.

Ballerina Boys(en)

Discover Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (The Trocks), an all-male company that for 45 years has offered audiences their passion for ballet classics mixed with exuberant comedy. With every step they poke fun at their strictly gendered art form.

Honey(en)

Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.

Madonna: Truth or Dare(en)

From the rains of Japan, through threats of arrest for 'public indecency' in Canada, and a birthday tribute to her father in Detroit, this documentary follows Madonna on her 1990 'Blond Ambition' concert tour. Filmed in black and white, with the concert pieces in glittering MTV color, it is an intimate look at the work of the icon, from a prayer circle before each performance to bed games with the dance troupe afterwards.

Back To Africa(en)

An Austrian director followed five successful African music and dance artists with his camera and followed their lives for a year. The artists, from villages in Ghana, Gambia and Congo, were the subjects of Africa! Africa! touring across Europe, but they have unbreakable roots to their homeland and their families. Schmiderer lovingly portrays his heroes, who tell their stories about themselves, their art and what it means to them to be African with captivating honesty. The interviews are interwoven with dance scenes and colourful vignettes set to authentic music.

Life in Progress(en)

Roman Holiday(en)

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

Raised by Krump(en)

“Raised by Krump” explores the LA-born dance movement “krumping,” and how the dance has helped the lives of some of the area’s most influential dancers.

The Cost of Forever(en)

In "The Cost of Forever", we uncover the hidden and costly dangers of ‘forever chemicals’ in our rivers and drinking water sources, following Riverkeepers and water protectors as they strive to protect communities—and themselves—from PFAS contamination.

The Spring of Nijinsky(en)

The famous ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky struggles with rehearsing his newest choreography - the revolutionary Rite of Spring.

Plastic Odyssey, mission pacifique(fr)

Spice It Up(en)

A film student at Ryerson University struggles to complete her thesis project.

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The Cracking of Glen Canyon Damn(en)

The birth of the radical environmental movement is captured in this short, poetic film on the legendary direct action at Glen Canyon Dam in March of 1981. The film contains one of the only interviews ever given by the late, great author Edward Abbey along with his classic speech from the back of a pick-up truck.

Oops!(hi)

Jagan, Akash and Nisha belong to a dance club. Their ambition is to become big in the dancing profession. Jagan and Nisha are lovers. Jagan is a middle-class man who dreams of becoming a millionaire over night. In the process he meets an actress named Sonia who offers him a ridiculously large amount of money for a 3 hours strip tease show to be done among a group of ten high society women who are bored with their husbands. Jagan asks his best buddy Akash to accompany him in the job. That show becomes a big hit and Jagan gets another call from Sonia for another strip show. Akash, however, is not comfortable with that profession. Jagan does the solo strip tease. There he meets a sexy older women named Savitha who has a secret identity that will end up compromising Jagan's world. - Written by gavin

On sourira de nous(fr)

Four friends tired of protests are thinking about another way to shake up capitalist society. Driven by fiction, they decide to blow up a Brussels shopping center. How to think the attack? What roles do they need to play in order to imagine taking action? Is their friendship reconcilable with such a radical act?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame(en)

Isolated bell-ringer Quasimodo wishes to leave Notre Dame tower against the wishes of Judge Claude Frollo, his stern guardian and Paris' strait-laced Minister of Justice. His first venture to the outside world finds him Esmeralda, a kind-hearted and fearless Romani woman who openly stands up to Frollo's tyranny.

Center Stage(en)

A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance.

Zorba the Greek(el)

An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.