A Foreign Language

Memory of Summer(en)

An attempt to recapture the magic of childhood as the cameras follow children at play.

Police(en)

The misbehaving public performs for the camera in a half-hour miscellany of misdeeds. In a behind-the-scenes look at the hour-by-hour operation of a large metropolitan police force, this film presents a fair sampling of what keeps Toronto's police officers busy twenty-four hours a day.

Pilgrimage(en)

St. Joseph's Oratory, a picturesque shrine silhouetted against Mount Royal, draws pilgrims by the thousands every year. They come from California by Greyhound bus, from Vancouver by plane, and on foot from many parishes surrounding Montréal. What is the fame of this shrine, that it attracts the devout and the curious alike? The story is told by Brother Placide Vermandère of the Order of the Holy Cross, who was personally acquainted with Brother André, after whom the shrine's famous temple is named. Cameras follow a procession of the League of the Sacred Heart through the streets of the city to the famous sanctuary and show many of the religious observances conducted in the church, including Mass attended by invalids who come in the hope of being healed of various afflictions.

Festival in Puerto Rico(en)

This short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert film, part tourism film, Festival in Puerto Rico offers viewers candid glimpses of mid-20th century Puerto Rico intercut with performance footage of Forrester and her husband, violinist-conductor Eugene Kash.

Emergency Ward(en)

This 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital’s emergency ward.

The Cars in Your Life(en)

A light, humorous look at the motor car and the great North American itch for a place on the road. From the comparative peace of Honest Joe's used-car lot, this film hustles you onto our public speedways, where hot rubber erases any distance between all points. Slow-motion and pop-on-pop-off photography make this a provocative, revealing study of motormania unlimited. A 1960 black and white production. (Also released under the title 1/3 Down and 24 Months to Pay.)

Save Our Souls(en)

Bobbing around on Mediterranean waters aboard the Ocean Viking, aid workers from the French relief service SOS Méditerranée gaze at the horizon. Is that a rubber dinghy in the distance, or is it garbage? The organization sails up and down the Libyan coast looking to pick up refugees in boats. On board is a 30-strong team ready to offer help and support refugees with their asylum applications.

The Search and Destroy Recap(en)

32 contestant hunt down a single targert in a manhunt across Glasgow.

¡Viva Mexico!(es)

In a journey from the mountains of southeastern Mexico to the northern border with the United States, Subcommander Marcos and the people of Mexico trace the forgotten face of a country. A celebration of the struggle for land and dignity.

Camelamos naquerar(es)

Camelamos naquerar (We Want to Speak) is an adaptation of the theatre play of the same name which was born out of a collaboration between Romani poet and university professor José Heredia Maya and Romani flamenco dancer and choreographer Mario Maya; the latter also performs in the piece, along with other artists. The title in Caló, the language used by Gitanos, translates as ‘we want to speak’, a revolutionary message that illustrates the efforts to reclaim a place in Spanish history for the Roma people and denounce the institutional injustice suffered by the community. It takes as its starting point the Pragmatic decrees signed by the Catholic Monarchs at the end of the fifteenth century, which heralded the long persecution of the Roma people, and continues right up to the twentieth-century Francoist laws.

Big Waves Will Rise You(en)

21-year-old Sam Carton, after amputating her leg due to untreatable CRPS, embarks on a journey to surf and pursue her dream of becoming a photographer.

The Commandant's Shadow(en)

While Hans Jurgen Höss enjoyed a happy childhood in the family villa at Auschwitz, Jewish prisoner Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was trying to survive the notorious concentration camp. At the heart of this film is the historic and inspiring moment – eight decades later – when the two come face-to-face. This is the first time the descendant of a major war criminal meets a survivor in such a private and intimate setting, Anita’s London living room. Together with their children, Kai Höss and Maya Lasker-Wallfisch, the four protagonists explore their very different hereditary burdens.

2nd Asian Expo(fa)

video report of the 2nd Asian international trade fair ran from 5 to 24 October 1969 in Tehran-Iran.

Power Among Men(en)

Four episodes on the theme of human hope and survival set in Santambrogio, Italy; Fermathe, Haiti; British Columbia and Kjeller in Norway.

Magic Country(es)

Spectacular documentary about Venezuela.

Post-Partum(fr)

Willy Johansson – Der Glasmeister aus Norwegen(no)

Galleries of Paris(en)

A debut short film which contains footage of the city of Paris. It is a trip through Paris in day and night and mostly contains clips from Galleries such as the Musée d'Orsay and the The Centre Pompidou.

The Democratic Revolutionary Handbook(ru)

The recent democratic revolutions throughout Eastern Europe—Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and the Ukraine in 2004—all seemed to follow a quick and easy pattern: the exposure of rigged elections, followed by massive street protests, and a regime that collapsed without a fight. But THE DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTIONARY HANDBOOK reveals the lengthy and meticulous preparations behind these seemingly spontaneous demonstrations, showing how modern marketing techniques have combined with revolutionary politics to transform the region's governments.

El país de nomeacuerdo(es)

This is the story of an optimistic and amnesiac people who, at the slightest glimmer of light, are prone to forget the pain caused by repeating their mistakes at the polls or by knocking on the doors of the barracks, and rush into hopeful celebration: a dubious World Cup, a war with England, the coming of democracy, etc. And so, between pain and celebration, they await that promised future of abundance.