Educational Film: No
The Woman Who Loves Giraffes
Director
Alison Reid
Writer
Alison Reid
Producers
Joanne Jackson, Alison Reid, Paul Zimic
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
KinoSmith
There Are No Fakes
This mesmerizing and shocking art world exposé centres on the works of Norval Morrisseau, one of the most influential Indigenous artist in Canada.
After spending $20,000 at a reputable Toronto gallery to purchase his Spirit Energy of Mother Earth, Kevin Hearn (of the Barenaked Ladies) was surprised to discover its authenticity being called into question. His decision to sue the art dealer spurs an investigation into the painting's provenance, and so begins the unravelling of an art fraud ring with fighting factions, all claiming to be the true protectors of the Anishinaabe painter's legacy—and all of whom happen to be white.
Questions of authenticity, appropriation and exploitation underlay a devastating story about a visionary artist caught between worlds. As the legal case proceeds, shocking new revelations emerge, detailing damages that spread far beyond the canvas.
Director
Jamie Kastner
Writer
Jamie Kastner
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Biography, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Version
None
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media
The Romance of the Far Fur Country
Shot with a scope that reaches from coast to coast to coast, this early documentary about the fur trade is about as ambitious as it gets. With scenes ranging from intimate to awe-inspiring, this silent epic tells a story that encompasses a wide variety of landscapes and people that participated in the industrial frenzy.
Created to commemorate the Hudson’s Bay Company’s 250th anniversary, this is the first feature length documentary in Canadian History, and is an important piece of history. Documenting different aspects of Canada almost 100 years ago, it is a fascinating look into the culture of that era.
Director
Harold M. Wyckoff
Producers
E. W. Hammons, Hudson's Bay Company
Genre
Documentary
Interest
History
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Five Door Films
Viola Desmond Is On The Money
Directors
Pat Jeflyn, Kim Kristy
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
A five-year search around the world for ways in which people take the experience of being scared and turn it into something sacred. Sites of catastrophe are scoured for signs of hope.
Director
Velcrow Ripper
Writer
Velcrow Ripper
Producers
Cari Green, Harry Sutherland, Tracey Friesen
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Global Experiences, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Languages
English, Other Language
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey
A lifelong heavy metal fan, Canadian anthropologist Dunn travels around the world to explore the origins of the genre as well as the controversy that sometimes accompanies the culture of the music and its fans.
Directors
Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Jessica Joy Wise
Writers
Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Jessica Joy Wise
Producers
Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Genre
Documentary
Interest
Arts and Culture
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Enfants de choeur! (The Choir Boys)
Director
Magnus Isacsson
Genres
Documentary, Drama
Interest
Arts and Culture
Original Language
French
Language Version
EN Subtitles
A loving and entertaining portrait of the director’s greatgrandfather, a brilliant Chinese magician and acrobat.
Director
Ann Marie Fleming
Fleming is a visual artist, filmmaker and writer who has animated over 20 films, including the shorts Stories Sarah Tells, Big Trees and Heart. Her features include New Shoes, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam and The French Guy. Fleming has won nearly 20 awards for her films, including 10 for Window Horses. Most recently, she directed the shorts A Short Film About Tegan & Sara, Question Period, and Old Dog.
Writer
Ann Marie Fleming
Producers
Ann Marie Fleming, Svend-Erik Eriksen
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Asian Filmmaker, Biography, BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, History
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
The Ghosts in Our Machine
In a film that explores the rights of non-human animals through the compassionate lens of international photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, we meet individual animals living within — and rescued from — the machine of our modern world.
Director
Liz Marshall
Writer
Liz Marshall
Producers
Nina Beveridge, Liz Marshall
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Languages
English, French, Other Language
Canadian Distributor
INDIECAN ENTERTAINMENT INC
Super Duper Alice Cooper
In this found-footage Dr. Jekyll–and–Mr. Hyde tale, the former is revealed as Vincent Furnier, a preacher’s son from Detroit, Michigan, who transforms into Alice Cooper, a veritable rock-and-roll legend.
Directors
Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen, Reginald Harkema
Writers
Sam Dunn, Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen
Producers
Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Biography
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Monsoon
By treating this natural phenomenon with the respect it commands, this Canada’s Top Ten audience award–winner becomes an epic journey into a phenomenon many call “the soul of India.”
With swells of music by the Bombay Dub Orchestra, Monsoon is wet, wild and utterly astonishing.
Director
Sturla Gunnarsson
Born in Iceland and raised in Vancouver, Gunnarsson earned an Oscar nomination for his debut feature doc, After the Axe. His films include Beowulf and Grendel, Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie and Monsoon, and he has directed hit TV shows such as Motive, Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Art of More, and most recently Schitt’s Creek and Ransom.
Writer
Sturla Gunnarsson
Producers
Ina Fichman, Sturla Gunnarsson
Genres
Documentary, Drama
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Environment, Global Experiences
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
KinoSmith
The film centres on Girl Talk, a mash-up musician who tops the charts with his sample- based creations, provoking debate about ownership, copyright, piracy and what it means to be an artist in the 21st century.
Musicians, authors and pop culture critics all weigh in on the issues in this wildly innovative and experimental doc.
A great mix of compelling analysis and difficult questions, RiP! addresses issues of sampling, sharing, intellectual property and creative freedom with flair and style.
Director
Brett Gaylor
Writer
Brett Gaylor
Producers
Mila Aung-Thwin, Kat Baulu, Germaine Ying Gee Wong
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, History
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
KinoSmith
- Own Voice
Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
The first half of Omar Majeed’s documentary deals with this burgeoning scene as a group of bands travel together touring the American countryside. Young, disaffected and secular, these musicians are caught between two worlds: the Islamic culture from which they come, and the Western culture in which they are coming of age.
In the second half, the setting moves to Pakistan, where the bands have travelled to perform. Author Knight is along for the ride to observe and comment on the reality his writing has created.
Director
Omar Majeed
Writer
Omar Majeed
Producer
Mila Aung-Thwin
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Asian Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Version
None
Canadian Distributor
KinoSmith
Warrendale
Originally produced for the CBC (but not aired on TV due to profanity), Warrendale is one of Allan King’s most searing and revealing pieces of work. King places us inside Warrendale (a facility for troubled youth in Toronto’s Rexdale community) like a fly on the wall, and we witness the full spectrum of emotions displayed by 12 fascinating children and the caregivers trying to nurture and guide them.
The stunning Warrendale won the Prix d’art et d’essai at the Cannes film festival and a special documentary award from the National Society of Film Critics.
Director
Allan King
Writer
Allan King
Producer
Allan King
Genre
Documentary
Interest
Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Version
EN CC
Canadian Distributor
Allan King Films
In 1962, Michel Brault and a team of filmmakers travelled to the island to document the resumption of the practice decades after it had been abandoned, shedding light and wit on this “resourceful” tradition.
A balance of grace, humour, and up-close observation, Pour la suite du monde is known as a landmark achievement in documentary filmmaking and was screened at the Cannes film festival.
Directors
Michel Brault, Pierre Perrault
Writers
Michel Brault, Pierre Perrault
Producers
Jacques Bobet, Fernand Dansereau
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Classics, Environment, History
Original Language
French
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
Annie Mae Pictou Aquash was a 30-year-old Nova Scotia-born Mi’qmaw woman and a prominent figure in the American Indian Movement (AIM) until her life was tragically cut short in 1975, when she was brutally murdered in South Dakota. Decades later, as the crime remains unsolved, her friends and family reflect on her life and what she meant to each of them.
While remaining an intimate portrait of a loving mother and friend, The Spirit of Annie Mae also chronicles the history of AIM, and ways in which the government sought to destroy it from within.
Director
Catherine Anne Martin (Mi’kmaw)
Writer
Angela Baker
Producer
Kent Martin
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
Speed Sisters
Director
Amber Fares
Writer
Amber Fares
Producers
Amber Fares, Avi Goldstein, Jessica Devaney
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Sports, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
Other Language
Language Version
EN CC
Canadian Distributor
KinoSmith
The Accountant of Auschwitz
This powerful documentary chronicles the trial of Oskar Gröning, one of the last surviving perpetrators of the Holocaust and a former members of the SS. In 2015, the 94 year old was brought to trial for his role in the murder of 300,000 Jewish people.
This thought-provoking and insightful film explores his life and actions before, after and during the Second World War. An emotionally affecting and intellectually challenging look at responsibility, forgiveness, justice, and the role of an individual in one of human history’s greatest evils.
The runner-up for the audience award at the 2018 Hot Docs festival, this deeply affecting documentary has resonated with critics and audiences around the world.
Director
Matthew Shoychet
Writer
Ricki Gurwitz
Producers
Ric Esther Bienstock, Ricki Gurwitz
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, Global Experiences, History
Original Languages
English, Other Language
Language Version
EN CC
Canadian Distributor
Aqute Media
Director
Jamie Mason
Genre
Animation
Interest
Literary Adaptation
Original Languages
English, French
Director
Janet Perlman
Genre
Animation
Interest
Female Filmmaker
Original Languages
English, French