Bottled Songs: The Spokesman

The Seafarers(en)

Stanley Kubrick’s first color film, commissioned by the Seafarers International Union to promote the benefits of union membership. Shot inside the union’s Atlantic and Gulf Coast District facilities, it features scenes of ships, machinery, cafeteria life, and meetings, highlighting the daily routines and camaraderie of seafarers. Thought lost for decades, the film was rediscovered in 1973 and preserved by the Library of Congress.

Love Exiled(en)

On November 4th, 2008, three states - California, Florida and Arizona - voted to amend their constitutions, denying and revoking the rights of same-sex couples to marry. On May 26, 2009, with Canadian allies, gay American families rally at a Vancouver demonstration to protest these amendments that persecute the LGBTQ community. Demonstration organizer Roger Chin relays the California Supreme Court's infamous decision on Prop 8. Subsequent speakers talk about couples living in exile. Weaving elements of public protest and intimate interviews, four families share their stories of how they met, their decision to escape to freedom in Canada, their Canadian experience and their dreams of returning to their home country, family and friends. In the end, the organizer celebrates the freedoms to marry that exists in Canada.

Piblokto(ru)

On the coast of the Arctic Ocean of Chukotka live people cut off from the world. Their life revolves around hunting walruses and whales and protecting villages from bears coming from the tundra. This turns the film into a reflection on death. Marine animals become the food of people, animal leftovers are used to feed arctic foxes on a fur farm, human cemeteries become prey for bears. It seems that all the inhabitants of these places are involved in the cycle of food and death. The film departs from the usual rhythmic structure of cinema, being built on the principle of a shamanic ritual, a meaning-forming event for northern peoples.

Ripple(en)

Rae Ripple, a welder from the outskirts of West Texas transforms neglected metal into works of art and in the process finds healing from her traumatic past.

Water from The Tremulous Stream(es)

A glimpse over the Diguillín River through the mechanical eye of an old digital camera. Light’s trail presents itself fortuitously over the reflection of the sun on the water, tracing infinite threads of concrete luminous information.

Women Should Vote: A short history of how women won the franchise in Ontario(en)

The documentary follows the activism of prominent suffragists such as Emily Stowe, as they struggled for an equal say in their own future. These women formed associations, petitioned the Ontario Legislature, wrote essays, and held satirical events to achieve their goals of equal rights for women. It is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Ontario.

As the Crow Flies(en)

Join international snowboard professionals - Gigi Rüf , Elias Elhardt, Kazu Kokubo and Toni Kerkela - on their journey around the globe to determine which path leads to a life well-lived, always on the hunt for the best snow, the gnarliest lines, the most unique features.

The Function of Fiction is the Abstraction and Simulation of Social Experience(tl)

Image production is fiction-weaving. Together with Sheena Absalud, we spent an entire day in Pride Month in my room documenting ourselves using different cameras: three mobile phones, one action camera, one CCTV camera, and one laptop, while asking each other questions about our asexuality. Recognizing the role of the moving image in constructing prejudice, self-identity, and desires, and therefore the expansion of neoliberalism, "The Function of Fiction" attempts to abandon temptations to define “asexuality” and its place in the context of “LGBTQIA+”, in pursuit of new socialities and possibilities. Music in the film was spawned with plants and machines.

Becoming Ruby(en)

Follow Ruby Chopstix, Canada’s first drag artist-in-residence, as they navigate the complexity of being an underrepresented drag performer while creating a special showcase to create space for other queer BIPOC performers.

Under Stress(en)

Shows new methods in treating those afflicted with mental health issues. Contrasts past treatment regimes where people were locked away out of sight with the new, 1960s, psychiatric ideas of "group therapy" and talking therapy. Also shows practical behaviours aimed at returning patients to productive lives in society and outpatient services.

The Case For Books(en)

This film about Library services in Australia shows some of the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the National Library with its varied resources and examples of State, University, special and public services suggesting their value in meeting needs for information at all levels. The library movement has become a vital part of Australian life. How libraries have fitted into society all over Australia, from the bustle of Sydney's Kings Cross to the remote outback.

Fabinho(pt)

A Stop Gap Measure(en)

When temporary solutions become the status quo, who gets left behind? A Stop Gap Measure follows disability activist Luke Anderson in his fight for accessibility to be a right, not a privilege.

Dead on Their Feet(en)

A road safety film for pedestrians in city traffic. Demonstrates typical unsafe practices.

John Mayall - The Turning Point(en)

The earliest 'rockumentary' of John Mayall and his musicians filmed in their homes, dressing rooms, motorways, airports, clubs, concert halls and at festivals.

Lightning Before Thunder(en)

A short documentary about how "Fulton" the Ukrainian Football Club came together.

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.

The Song of Styrene(fr)

Le chant du Styrène is a 1958 French documentary film directed by Alain Resnais. The film was an order by French industrial group Pechiney to highlight the merits of plastics.

The Infinitesimal: Remembering the Shrinking Man(en)

A documentary about the creation of the novel THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN by Richard Matheson, including the making of a film adaptation, with an interview with the author's son, Richard Christian Matheson.

Jack Arnold Remembers The Incredible Shrinking Man(en)

From footage filmed in 1983, this documentary presents an interview with director Jack Arnold and his reminiscences of the making of the 1957 film THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN.