This "docudramedy", hosted by Babe (a.k.a. Cathy Jones of This hour has 22 minutes) is a mix of fact, fun and folly. Divided into four parts, POLITICS, SEXUALITY, FAMILY, and WORK, 20th Century gals weaves together historical re-enactments, clips from personal writings, first hand testimonials, archival records and radio & TV news clips. Babe provides the journalistic glue in her 1940s no-nonsense, tongue in cheek style. Shot in period sets at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and in a specially constructed 1940s newsroom, 20th Century gals (according to Babe) both entertains and educates--painlessly.
Streaming Video
“De-escalate" presents a first-person experience with mental crises and police escalated violence. Writer and spoken word artist Michelle Hillyard shares her personal experience through slam poetry. The first-person perspective humanizes this issue that is often defined by statistics and news reports. It reduces misconceptions about mental illness and inspires viewers to think about their own feelings and thoughts about the subject. The film’s striking visual style blends animation and a live action slam poetry performance to show the multifaceted flash points between stigma and fear. It illuminates widespread biases and beliefs that lead people to interpret mental and emotional crisis as a criminal or threatening behaviour.
Streaming Video
Indigenous peoples’ relationships with horses have evolved from hunting and warfare to work and racehorses. In 2017 the Calgary Stampede introduced ‘Indian Relay’ horse racing, and the sport has since exploded. Groups in both Navajo Country and Alberta work to save wild horses, rescuing them and finding adoptive homes. Horses help create community and strengthen the bonds of family relationships. In Going Native, celebrated humorist and author Drew Hayden Taylor examines the stereotypes and traditions of Indigenous identity while discovering cool new ways Indigenous people are shaping their culture in the 21st century.
Streaming Video
MONKEY BEACH is a dramatic feature film based on the book by indigenous author Eden Robinson. Waking up in her East Vancouver apartment, Lisa (Grace Dove) is contacted by her cousin’s ghost (Sera-Lys McArthur). Returning to her Haisla kin in Kitimaat Village, BC, she works to save her brother, Jimmy, (Joel Oulette) who mysteriously vanishes at sea, while she contends with mystical creatures lurking in the nearby woods. This captivating allegory touches upon the challenge of coexisting with the ghosts that haunt us and spirits who might enlighten us. The film is about reconnection with the land, its denizens, and the secrets it holds. Monkey Beach, set in the magnificent forests and waterways of the Pacific Northwest, is also a testament to the ability of Indigenous women to not just endure trials but emerge from them empowered.
Streaming Video
Rustic Oracle is a powerful, urgent look at the impact of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls through the prism of one small tight-knit family. It’s sad that mothers must address this with their young daughters and help them protect themselves Set in the late 90s, Rustic Oracle is a Canadian dramatic feature about Ivy, an 8-year-old girl trying to understand what happened to her big sister who has vanished from their small Mohawk community. With minimal clues, Ivy and her mother Susan embark on an unwelcome journey to find Heather which ultimately brings the pair closer together despite challenging circumstances. Behind the story of desperation, told through the eyes of a child, lies one of hope, growth, awakening and love.
Streaming Video
The History of Treaties in Canada: From the Royal Proclamation of 1763 to the implementation of the modern-day Algonquin land claim, The History of Treaties in Canada explores the history, application and legacy of these foundational legal documents and how they continue to shape and define the often strained relationships between First Nations and the Crown in Canada. Written and produced by award-winning Métis filmmaker Matt LeMay.
Streaming Video
In any war, there are strategic and tactical weapons. Firearms, grenades and tanks often come to mind, but experts say false narratives and false information can be equally dangerous. Disinformation is right out of Russia’s long-term political playbook. In 1923, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin started a government disinformation office, to aggressively spread lies and mislead public opinion. In the 1980s, Russia employed ‘Operation Infektion’, where the KGB, the Soviet Union’s spy agency, falsely accused the U.S. military of inventing the AIDS virus. More recently, during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found that the Russian government had interfered in the election. Russian trolls are again hard at work in the war in Ukraine. Russia is using a personal touch to cause confusion in this conflict. Ukrainian soldiers are receiving fake messages from hacked accounts of family and friends, urging them to surrender.
Streaming Video
COVID-19 was not just a viral pandemic, it was an infodemic of disinformation that turned citizen against citizen. Asian-Canadian Andy Sue, a Toronto florist, was a target of racialized scapegoating by a customer. The psychological trauma of this encounter with anti-Asian racism during the pandemic was eased when a sympathetic business neighbour took positive action. Experts discuss the implications of stigma and racism and examine the psychological reasons that some people become ensnared by it. The film examines the social and public health implications of our digital media reality, where social media algorithms detect bias to translate fear, blame and outrage into profit.
Streaming Video
In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that her rental has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway, but soon discovers that there is much more to be afraid of in the house than the other house guest.
Streaming Video
A Cedar Is Life explores how one critical species, the cedar tree, is central to the cultural life of West Coast First Nations. The film follows the journey of Archeological Consultant and Cultural Worker Harold C. Joe as he discovers more about the cedar. The documentary weaves together interviews with elders, mask carvers, medicinal harvesters, canoe makers, totem carvers, cedar bark weavers, those working with traditional food and cooking, and other hands-on practitioners all along the West Coast (from Cowichan to Haida Gwaii) who speak to their craft, and how all parts of the tree were – and still are – important to make use of. Woven throughout the interviews is the image of Cedar Woman, based on a Cowichan legend, highlighting the importance of cedar’s spirit, existing as a living entity. The evolution of artistic practice is investigated, exploring the difference between modern techniques and traditional methods, while also highlighting the importance of protecting this species throughout the film.
Streaming Video
Giant horses examines the working relationship between humans and draft horses within the current and traditional context of horse pulling. This documentary raises important questions about how we recognize and understand abuse, how we communicate with one another and with animals, and how we shape and form policies.
Streaming Video
Gone wild explores the world of pets and other domesticated animals that have been abandoned by, or escaped from, their owners to form feral populations. This documentary features: rabbits and American bullfrogs in Victoria, British Columbia; cats in Rome, Italy; dogs in Pompeii and Rarotonga; wallabies in Sussex, England; ring-Necked parakeets in London; and camels in Alice Springs and Capella.
Streaming Video
An elderly matron has a slight accident in her car which prompts her businessman son to hire a driver for her. She simply doesn't want anything to do with the situation but eventually comes to realize that the man is very much like herself and a true friendship develops.
Streaming Video
No human being is illegal. When Dartmouth College students challenged anti-immigrant language in the Library of Congress, their activism sparked a movement--and a cataloging term became a flashpoint in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill. Watch this film and learn why "words are also actions." Change the subject has been screened at over one hundred universities and libraries in the United States and around the world, and has inspired library workers to address the ways that systemic racism continues to pervade institutions, particularly in controlled vocabularies. This film shows how an instance of campus activism entered the national spotlight, and how a cataloging term became a flashpoint in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill.
Streaming Video
In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Such raids were not unusual in the late 1960s, an era when homosexual sex was illegal in every state but Illinois. That night, however, the street erupted into violent protests and demonstrations that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Streaming Video