ONF | NFB

Inspired by a real-life news item, this animated short paints a pulsating portrait of a mixed-use, working-class neighbourhood where young families cross paths with prostitutes, their interactions leaving unpredictable ripples in the motley fabric of urban life.

The West. A prospector is awakened by the sound of music outside his cave to see an animal band and a chorus line of dancing cacti.

A description of placer gold mining in the Yukon. East of Dawson City giant dredges cut deep into the creek beds, leaving behind monstrous coils of waste as the gold-bearing gravel is washed. The film shows how gold is trapped and hand-sorted, finally to emerge as precious gold brick.

An early experiment in employing computers to animate film. The result is a dazzling vibration of geometric forms in vivid color, an effect achieved by varying the speed at which alternate colors change, so producing optical illusions. In between these screen pyrotechnics appears a simple line form gyrating in smooth rhythm. Sound effects are created by registering sound shapes directly on the soundtrack of the film.

A journey by canoe into the city creates a dynamic interconnection between natural and urban spaces, in this evocative short set to a hypnotizing soundtrack by Inuk artist Tanya Taqaq.

A documentary about the self-taught painter William Kurelek, told through his paintings. There are scenes of village life in the Ukraine and the early days of struggle on a prairie homestead and the growing comfort of family life. In Ontario, Kurelek paints the present life of Canada with the same pleasure he painted the old.

Impressions of a hardrock miner's life, suitable for the classroom, filmed at the Falconbridge Nickel Mine at Sudbury, Ontario, and showing also the increasing use of nickel in today's space age. Much of what is shown was filmed in the dim world far underground where, "in a bubble of air in a solid mass of rock," the miner drills the ore face.

Portrays Louis Robichaud, Canadian politician and former Premier of New Brunswick.

IDFA and Canadian filmmaker Peter Wintonick had a close relationship for decades. He was a hard worker and often far from home, visiting festivals around the world. In 2013, he died after a short illness. His daughter Mira was left behind with a whole lot of questions, and a box full of videotapes that Wintonick shot for his Utopia project. She resolved to investigate what sort of film he envisaged, and to complete it for him.

This documentary short is a portrait of Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and 13th prime minister of Canada, John George Diefenbaker (1895-1979). Diefenbaker's political career spanned 6 decades. When he died in 1979, his state funeral and final train trip west became more a celebration of life than a victory for death.

This documentary tells the story of Max Ward, a former bush pilot whose company grew to become one of the major airlines in Canada. A study of entrepreneurship, the film focuses on Ward himself, depicting his distinctive style of hands-on management. Between hallway meetings, informal chats with the staff, checks on maintenance, flight preparations and in-flight conversations with vacationing customers it becomes apparent that the president's personal touch is a key element in Wardair’s success story.

With "sealfies" and social media, a new tech-savvy generation of Inuit is wading into the world of activism, using humour and reason to confront aggressive animal rights vitriol and defend their traditional hunting practices. Director Alethea Arnaquq-Baril joins her fellow Inuit activists as they challenge outdated perceptions of Inuit and present themselves to the world as a modern people in dire need of a sustainable economy.

Canada, rich in uranium, is harnessing atomic science for peacetime living. This film provides a progress report on nuclear research conducted at the atomic energy plant at Chalk River, Ontario, and shows some of the constructive applications of atomic energy carried out in hospitals (including Canada's celebrated "cobalt bomb"), in agricultural experimental stations and in industry. Interior views of the Chalk River plant afford a look at NRX, the atomic pile itself. A brief survey is made of atomic research in Canadian universities.

Naturalist Bill Mason on his journey by canoe into the Ontario wilderness. The filmmaker and artist begins on Lake Superior, then explores winding and sometimes tortuous river waters to the meadowlands of the river's source. Along the way, Mason paints scenes that capture his attention and muses about his love of the canoe, his artwork and his own sense of the land. Mason also uses the film as a commentary on the link between God and nature and the vast array of beautiful canvases God created for him to paint. Features breathtaking visuals and exciting whitewater footage, with a musical score by Bruce Cockburn.

Seances, co-created with the National Film Board of Canada, presents a wholly new way of experiencing film narrative. By dynamically generating a series of film sequences in unique configurations, potentially hundreds of thousands of new stories are conjured by code. Each will exist only in the moment—no pausing, scrubbing, or sharing—offering the audience one chance to see the generated film. This project, co-created by the ever imaginative Guy Maddin, is a visual discourse on the impact of loss within film. All the sequences pay homage to lost silent films from the early day of cinema. Seances is nostalgic but it is also frequently hilarious. Part of the joy and sadness of Seances is that many possible narratives are created but they can be only viewed once before they disappear forever.

A Canadian college student learns about life and love during a trip to her cousin's wedding in California.

The story of a young Mi'kmaq girl whose name means "the light from the dawn."

"You know, when I was a boy, I fell in love with the Virgin Mary. It happened in a little Bavarian town called Altötting."

Corral is a 1954 National Film Board of Canada documentary by Colin Low, partly shot in the Cochrane Ranch in what is now Cochrane, Alberta. In the film, a cowboy rounds up wild horses, lassoing one of the high-spirited animals in the corral, then going on a ride across the Rocky Mountain Foothills of Alberta.