Interest: Environment
Wiebo’s War
Director
David York
Writer
David York
Cast
Wiebo Ludwig
Producers
David York, Bonnie Thompson, David Christensen
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
Sharkwater Extinction
Rob Stewart’s final film brings another urgent message about shark conservation, as a new threat faces this misunderstood predator. While the inhumane practice of shark finning is being banned worldwide, Stewart goes deeper to find the pirates that continue to hunt sharks by manipulating legal loopholes. As beautifully shot and thrilling as his previous films, Sharkwater Extinction is an urgent call to action, in the face of a continuing decline in the worldwide shark population, with millions of sharks still being killed each year.
This was Rob Stewart’s final film before he tragically passed away in 2017, and it stands as a lasting legacy of his activism and courage.
“[Stewart’s] passionate documentary, boasting stirring underwater photography and an equally poignant score, speaks urgently on his behalf.” — Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times
Director
Rob Stewart
Stewart was an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, whose docs Sharkwater, and Revolution earned awards at festivals worldwide. A tireless activist, Stewart was credited with saving a third of the world’s sharks. He tragically passed away in 2017, while filming Sharkwater: Extinction, which was completed posthumously and premiered at TIFF 2018.
Writer
Rob Stewart
Producers
Rob Stewart, Holly Marie Combs, Brian Stewart, Sandra Campbell
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, Other Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
Bell Media
- Own Voice
Treading Water: Plight of the Manitoba First Nation Flood Evacuees
In 2011, close to 4000 First Nation people in Manitoba were forced from their homes after artificially diverted floodwater swamped their communities to save the city of Winnipeg. Most of the evacuees, the majority from Lake St. Martin and Little Saskatchewan First Nations, checked into Winnipeg hotels, assuming they would return to their homes within a couple of weeks. Shockingly, nearly 7 years later over 1700 evacuees remain displaced and continue to be stranded in a political firestorm between First Nation band councils, the Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters, hotel owners and the federal and provincial governments. The displacement has triggered a rise in substance abuse and suicide rates. Plans for getting people home seem to be at a standstill. Interspersing intimate clips of everyday life with footage of heated political debates, this deeply intimate documentary tells the unexpected story of the real people behind the national headlines of the 2011 Manitoba flood.
Directors
Janelle Wookey (Métis), Jérémie Wookey (Métis)
Writers
Janelle Wookey (Métis), Jérémie Wookey (Métis)
Producer
Janelle Wookey (Métis)
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Environment, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Languages
English, Other Language
Canadian Distributor
APTN
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
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
In 2016, scientists declared that the Earth has entered a new geological era, one that is entirely the consequence of humanity’s abuse of the planet. This documentary goes around the world illustrating the variety of ways that humanity has affected its environment.
In Kenya, authorities set fire to mounds of elephant tusks to protest the illegal ivory trade, resulting in a devastating display of the impact of poaching. In Russia and Germany, mining operations transform the land into an otherworldly wasteland. The unfathomable scale of the images created by these moments are equal parts beautiful and disturbing.
Following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark, photographer Edward Burtynsky and filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier conclude their award-winning trilogy with an urgent message to all the citizens of the world to see the consequences of our actions, before it’s too late.
Directors
Jennifer Baichwal
Baichwal and de Pencier are known for their CSA-winning docs, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene. They are frequent collaborators, with Baichwal directing and de Pencier as her cinematographer and producer. Their credits include The Holier it Gets, Act of God and Payback, and their newest film together, Into the Weeds.
Nicholas de Pencier
Baichwal and de Pencier are known for their CSA-winning docs, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene. They are frequent collaborators, with Baichwal directing and de Pencier as her cinematographer and producer. Their credits include The Holier it Gets, Act of God and Payback, and their newest film together, Into the Weeds.
Writer
Jennifer Baichwal
Cast
Alicia Vikander
Producer
Nicholas de Pencier
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Asian Filmmaker, Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media
Occupy Love
This poignant documentary explores what Martin Luther King Jr. called “love in action,” searching for the meaning and importance of the love of humanity and of the planet.
…the photography is beautiful, the scenes of crowds and their signs arresting, and the interviews with individual protesters — in Tahrir Square, Zuccotti Park, tear-gassed Oakland, and even melting Greenland — are often inspiring.” — Alan Scherstuhl, The Village Voice
Director
Velcrow Ripper
Writer
Velcrow Ripper
Producers
Ian Mackenzie, Nova Ami, Velcrow Ripper
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Fierce Love Films
First We Eat
This thought-provoking environmental documentary won the Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian Documentary at the Hot Docs festival in 2020.
Director
Suzanne Crocker
Writer
Suzanne Crocker
Producer
Suzanne Crocker
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Environment, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
levelFILM
Crimes of the Future
A loose remake of one of his earliest films, Crimes of the Future is classic Cronenberg, with all of the body horror you’d expect from the master director.
Director
David Cronenberg
Writer
David Cronenberg
Cast
Viggo Mortensen, Lihi Kornowski, Lea Seydoux, Scott Speedman, Kristen Stewart
Producers
Robert Lantos, Steve Solomos, Panos Papahadzis
Genres
Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Interests
Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
MK2 Mile End
The Falls
Director
Kevin McMahon
Writer
Kevin McMahon
Producers
Brian Dennis, Michael McMahon, John Taylor
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, History
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Ontario Film Development Corporation
Danny
Directors
William D. MacGillivray, Justin Simms
Writer
William D. MacGillivray
Cast
Dominic Stephen Winter
Producer
Annette Clarke
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie
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.
Cast
David Suzuki
Producers
Yves J. Ma, Sturla Gunnarsson, Janice Tufford
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, Environment, Global Experiences
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
eOne
Let There Be Light
Directors
Van Royko, Mila Aung-Thwin
Genre
Documentary
Interest
Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Eye Steel Film
The National Parks Project
Directors
Zacharias Kunuk (Inuk)
In 2015, Atanarjuat was selected as TIFF’s number one Canadian film of all time. Kunuk has directed shorts such as Exile and Home and features such as Maliglutit, which was nominated for two CSAs. He recently directed the series Hunting With My Ancestors and executive produced SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Knife). His latest feature, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, premiered at TIFF 2019. Most recently, he directed the short The Shaman’s Apprentice, which won the CSA for Best Animated Short among other awards at festivals worldwide.
Hubert Davis
Davis’s first film, Hardwood, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Documentary. He received the Don Haig award at the Hot Docs festival for Invisible City, and has directed numerous award winning commercials, as well as the short film Aruba and the 2016 feature doc Giants of Africa. His 2017 short, Rivolta, won a Cannes Film Lion. his most recent feature doc Black Ice, premiered at TIFF 2022. Next, he is working on the series The Count.
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.
Peter Lynch
Lynch earned international success with his wildly popular and critically-acclaimed Project Grizzly. His features include The Herd, Cyberman, A Whale of a Tale and Dem Bones. Lynch won a Genie for his short film Arrowhead. His most recent feature film, Birdland, was released in 2018.
Writer
Joel McConvey
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Black Filmmaker, Environment
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
FilmCAN
Archipelago
Director
Felix Dufour-Laperriere
Writer
Felix Dufour-Laperriere
Cast
Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Florence Blain Mbaye, Joséphine Bacon (Innu)
Producers
Felix Dufour-Laperriere, Nicolas Dufour- Laperriere
Genre
Experimental
Interests
Arts and Culture, Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Environment
Original Language
French
Canadian Distributor
La Distributrices de Films
Sharkwater
Filmed in gorgeous high-definition video, Sharkwater takes you into shark-filled oceans, exposing the true nature of sharks as well as the way human interference has turned this noble predator into prey. Stewart teams up with a rogue environmentalist group on a breathtaking adventure to battle shark poachers around the globe. His incredible journey will make you see sharks in a whole new light.
Winner of many Audience and Critics Choice awards at film festivals around the world.
Director
Rob Stewart
Stewart was an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, whose docs Sharkwater, and Revolution earned awards at festivals worldwide. A tireless activist, Stewart was credited with saving a third of the world’s sharks. He tragically passed away in 2017, while filming Sharkwater: Extinction, which was completed posthumously and premiered at TIFF 2018.
Writer
Rob Stewart
Producers
Brian Stewart, Rob Stewart
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Version
FR Dub
- Own Voice
Totem: The Return of the G’psgolox Pole
In 1929, the Haisla people of British Columbia returned from a fishing trip to find their tribe’s nine-metre mortuary pole — otherwise known as the G’psgolox — missing, severed at the base. The pole’s fate was a mystery for over 60 years until it surfaced in a Stockholm museum, where members of the Haisla Nation journeyed to in order to get it back in 1991.
Mixing interviews, location photography and awesome footage of Haisla carvers, this unique documentary takes an incredible story and weaves in important commentary on the issue of cultural appropriation and art history.
Director
Gil Gardinal (Métis)
Writer
Gil Gardinal (Métis)
Producers
Jerry Krepakevich, Graydon McCrea, Bonnie Thompson
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Environment, Global Experiences, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
- Own Voice
Trick or Treaty?
One of the masters of Canadian documentary cinema, Alanis Obomsawin has spent decades chronicling the injustices visited on First Nations communities, creating a remarkable body of work. In her latest film, she digs into the difficult history of Treaty 9, the infamous 1905 agreement in which First Nations communities allegedly relinquished their sovereignty over their traditional lands.
Setting the film against the recent resurgence of First Nations activism (Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike and the Idle No More movement), Obomsawin interviews legal, historical and cultural experts — as well as people whose ancestors were present when the treaty was signed — to explore some fundamental questions about Canada’s relationship with our First Nations.
“Obomsawin’s documentaries inform, inspire and shock us. Trick or Treaty? is no different.” — Nadya Domingo, Toronto Film Scene
Director
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Legendary Abenaki filmmaker Obomsawin has made over 50 documentaries on issues affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Trick or Treaty?, Is the Crown at War with Us?, Our People Will Be Healed and Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger. Her most recent film is the short documentary Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair. Next, she is set to appear in an episode of Marie Clements' Bones of Crows: The Series.
Writer
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Producers
Annette Clarke, Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Environment, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
National Film Board (NFB)
The Whale
The Whale charts the community’s struggle to deal with Luna, since whales who are separated from their pods rarely survive in the wild. Raising more questions than it can answer, the film is a truly compelling exploration of our relationship with animals.
“The issues surrounding the emotional lives of animals — and the often presumptuous assumption of humans that they comprehend them — are explored in The Whale with a quiet dignity and gorgeous images.” — Andy Webster, New York Times
Directors
Michael Parfit
Parfit co-founded the BC-based Mountainside Films with Suzanne Chisholm, which Realscreen once named among the world’s 100 most influential production companies. Their work has aired on CBC, CNN, PBS, BBC and National Geographic. Their latest film is Call of the Baby Beluga and they recently executive produced the doc Doeville.
Suzanne Chisholm
Chisholm co-founded the BC-based Mountainside Films with Michael Parfit, which Realscreen once named among the world’s 100 most influential production companies. Their work has aired on CBC, CNN, PBS, BBC and National Geographic. Their latest film is Call of the Baby Beluga and they recently executive produced the doc Doeville.
Cast
Ryan Reynolds
Producer
Suzanne Chisholm
Genres
Documentary, Family
Interests
Environment, ESL, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Language Versions
EN CC, FR Subtitles
Canadian Distributor
levelFILM
Watermark
Directors
Jennifer Baichwal
Baichwal and de Pencier are known for their CSA-winning docs, Manufactured Landscapes, Watermark and Anthropocene. They are frequent collaborators, with Baichwal directing and de Pencier as her cinematographer and producer. Their credits include The Holier it Gets, Act of God and Payback, and their newest film together, Into the Weeds.
Writer
Jennifer Baichwal
Cast
Marcus Shubert, Inocencia Gonzalez Sainz, Bill Nance
Producers
Nicholas de Pencier, Noah Weinzweig
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Asian Filmmaker, Environment, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Mongrel Media
Revolution
In this powerful follow-up to his acclaimed documentary Sharkwater, Rob Stewart discovers that sharks aren’t the only ones in danger — climate change has a devastating impact on human life as well. Striking and vibrant landscapes are juxtaposed with startling proof that significant damage has already been done. At the same time, Stewart finds immense hope in the dedicated and passionate youth whose efforts are changing our future for the better.
Director
Rob Stewart
Stewart was an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, whose docs Sharkwater, and Revolution earned awards at festivals worldwide. A tireless activist, Stewart was credited with saving a third of the world’s sharks. He tragically passed away in 2017, while filming Sharkwater: Extinction, which was completed posthumously and premiered at TIFF 2018.
Writer
Rob Stewart
Producers
Rob Stewart, Warren Needler
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Canadian Distributor
Vortex Media