Tracing Blood
When Maria falls asleep while trying to find a connection to her estranged family, a mysterious figure appears to her and leads her on a surreal journey that is full of surprises and unexpected lessons. In this experimental film-made debut, Tracing Blood tells the story of one woman’s search for family and the deep-rooted connectedness […]
ONICKAKW! (Wake up!)
Onickakw is a reflection on Aboriginals and the dominant society. By surveying what makes up life within a community on the political, social, economic and environmental levels, this film is a call for change within the community.
Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip follows a range of people and events following the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, including the first major armed incursion into “Area A” by IDF forces during this intifada. The film is filmed almost entirely in a verite style, presented without narration and with little explanation, focusing on ordinary Palestinians rather […]
The Farm: Angola, USA
The Farm: Angola, USA is a 1998 award-winning documentary set in America’s infamous maximum security prison in Angola, Louisiana. The film follows the lives of six prison inmates who convey their own personal stories of life, death, and survival in a world that few manage to ever leave.
Waiting for Martin
An innovative collaboration between a veteran documentarian and a young animator/editor, Waiting for Martin updates the proud tradition established by Mike Rubbo’s Waiting for Fidel and Michael Moore’s Roger and Me. The film tells the dramatic and entertaining story of an activist who won’t take no for an answer. David Bernans has been trying to […]
Please Vote for Me
Is democracy a universal value that suits human nature? Do elections inevitably lead to manipulation? Please Vote for Me is a portrait of a society and a town in through a school, its children and its families. Wuhan is a city about the size of London located in central China. It is here that director […]
To See if I’m Smiling (Lir’ot Im Ani Mehayechet)
Israel is the only country in the world where 18-year-old girls are drafted for compulsory military service. In this award-winning documentary, the frank testimonials of six female Israeli soldiers stationed in Gaza and the West Bank pack a powerful emotional punch. The young women revisit their tours of duty in the occupied territories with surprising […]
Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing
Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing (Biseau vers le haut) is an educational kit (including a DVD, subtitled in French, with special features and a bilingual Teaching Guide) created to share knowledge not found in nursing schools and teaching hospitals. It shows how registered nurses working with the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Street […]
The Kuchus of Uganda
Particularly inspiring in light of changes in the law that happened after this film was made, this is a documentary about SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), a group of radical LGBT activists who risk their lives in order to push for queer rights. Piehl follows this brave group as they try to reason with medical academics […]
Umoyo
The documentary film Umoyo (Life) follows three Canadian teens on a journey to Africa to stay with young Zambian women at the Umoyo School for Girls. In the film, the girls explore issues of sexual power and the feminization of AIDS. In Zambia, a teenage girl is five times more likely to be HIV-positive than […]
Dinner with the President
What are the implications for democracy in Pakistan when secular political parties have succumbed to the Islamic agenda? What does it mean when the army appears to be the only force able to contain the opponents of democracy, the armed Islamists? President Musharraf agrees to explore this apparent contradiction over dinner at his official residence, […]
Sex Slaves
An estimated half million women are trafficked annually for the purpose of sexual slavery. They are “exported” to over 50 countries including Britain, Italy, Japan, Germany, Israel, Turkey, China, Kosovo, Canada and the United States. Misunderstood and widely tolerated, sex trafficking has become a multi- billion dollar underground industry. According to the International Herald Tribune, […]
Everything’s Cool
Real-life disaster movie EVERYTHING’S COOL is a film about America finally “getting” global warming in the wake of the most dangerous chasm ever to emerge between scientific understanding and political action. While industry funded nay-sayers sing what just might be their swan song of pseudo- scientific deception, a group of global warming messengers are on […]
Debt Trap
DEBT TRAP examines why the average Canadian is sinking deeper in hock, by looking at the stories of several individuals and families who are struggling with debt. Sobering, ironic, and enlightening, the film probes the reasons why more and more of us are struggling to keep afloat, and what needs to be done to turn […]
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Planting trees for fuel, shade, and food is not something that anyone would imagine as the first step toward winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet with that simple act Wangari Maathai, a woman born in rural Kenya, started down the path that reclaimed her country’s land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of […]
Parole Birmane
Un film sur l’enjeu politique birman.