Decades after her groundbreaking study of giraffes, Dr. Anne Innis Dagg retraces her path, revealing how environmental changes have impacted the habitat of the animal she devoted her life to.

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.

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.

Lesley McCurdy discusses her one woman show about unheralded but historically important Black Canadian women, including Viola Desmond, an icon of Canada’s civil rights movement, and the face on the country’s new ten dollar bill.

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.

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.

A documentary focusing on the relationships between a choir of homeless men in Montreal and their founder and choirmaster, Pierre.

A loving and entertaining portrait of the director’s greatgrandfather, a brilliant Chinese magician and acrobat.

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. 

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.

Captured in gorgeous, ultra high-definition 4K video, Sturla Gunnarsson’s documentary profiles not just expert meteorologists but also farmers, fishermen, city dwellers and even bookies — real citizens whose lives, rain or shine, are profoundly affected by the monsoons.

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.

In this challenging and thought-provoking documentary, filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age and the crumbling barriers between users and producers.

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.

The word “taqwacore” is taken from a novel by Michael Muhammad Knight, The Taqwacores, combining “taqwa,” an Arabic word for God-consciousness, with “hardcore”. His book, about a group of young Islamic punk rockers, inspired the creation of an actual Muslim punk scene.

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.
 

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.

For centuries, the villagers of Île aux Coudres, a small island in the St. Lawrence River, hunted beluga whales by creating a sort of “fence” of saplings in shallow, muddy waters, trapping the mammals in low tide as they swim by.

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.

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.

The Speed Sisters are the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East. They're bold. They're fearless. And they're tearing up tracks all over Palestine.

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.

This animated short tells the story of Anansi, a little spider who is tired of being snubbed by other jungle animals, especially Mr. Tiger. Anansi hatches a plan to make the other animals respect him, but soon learns an important lesson about how to treat his friends.

As they try to assemble their barbecue, a suburban family is stunned by the appearance of giant lobsters in an egg-shaped UFO, leading to hilarious pandemonium. In this clever animated throwback to 1950s monster movies, a neighbourhood learns the value of clear communication!