Educational Catalogue: Spotlight on Docs
Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World Of Ben Ferencz
The fascinating story of Ben Ferencz, a 98-year-old lawyer and last surviving prosecutor of Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials after World War Two.
Ferencz grew up in New York, where he became a lawyer before enlisting in the Army. After seeing Nazi concentration camps first hand after liberation, then 27-year-old Ferencz became the lead prosecutor in what has been called the biggest murder trial in history. He went on to advocate for restitution for Jewish victims of the Holocaust and for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. His inspiring fight for justice continues today.
Directed with sensitivity and empathy, Prosecuting Evil sheds light on atrocities that should never be forgotten, and asks tough questions about the world we live in today.
Director
Barry Avrich
Prolific producer, director, and writer Avrich has made many acclaimed documentaries including The Last Mogul, Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky, David Foster: Off the Record, and Oscar Peterson: Black + White, for which he won a best direction CSA, and The Road Between Us, which won TIFF’s People’s Choice Documentary Award. Avrich has authored three books, and produced and directed several film adaptations of theatrical productions.
Writer
Barry Avrich
Cast
Benjamin Ferencz, Alan Dershowitz
Producers
Patrice Theroux, Caitlin Cheddie
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
Featuring never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with some of rock’s greatest artists, this documentary explores the long career of these Canadian musical heroes.
Directors
Sam Dunn
Dunn is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, musician, anthropologist, and co-founder of Toronto-based production company Banger Films. Dunn’s co-directing credits include Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, and Iron Maiden: Flight 666. He also produced Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, which won eight awards internationally including the DGC Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs and was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten.
Writers
Mike Munn, Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Producers
Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Biography, History
Original Language
English
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
The Boxing Girls of Kabul
The members of the Afghan women’s boxing team are determined to compete on the world stage, and all share a dream of representing their country in the Olympics. Constantly having to deal with political pressure, lack of funding, and improper training facilities, these young women still manage to break through the barriers before them in their fight to keep their boxing careers alive.
This powerful documentary follows the boxers’ lives both in and out of the ring, with interviews with their coaches and family members that not only show what they’ve had to overcome, but also the long journey that still lies ahead of them.Winner of the Canadian Screen Award for Best Short Documentary.
Director
Ariel Nasr
Writer
Ariel Nasr
Producer
Annette Clarke
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Asian Filmmaker, BIPOC Stories, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics, Sports
Original Language
English
Own Voice
2022 - Celebrating Indigenous Voices
2021 - Light at the End of the Tunnel
2020 - World on Fire
Our People Will Be Healed
Master documentarian Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th film reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education. The students at a local school for the Norway House Cree Nation discuss their aspirations for the future and reflect on the fact that they are feeling more hopeful and optimistic than previous generations.
By discussing the effects of intergenerational trauma, substance abuse and many other issues facing Indigenous communities, and by learning about their own history and culture, the students are able to undergo a process of collective healing and ensure that growing up doesn’t mean leaving one’s roots behind.
This inspiring doc shows that the strength of the community comes from the people within it, and provides a strong model for prosperity and renewal.
“Our People Will Be Healed breathes with hope for the future.” – Pat Mullen, POV Magazine
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)
Producer
Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Painted Land: In Search of the Group of Seven
Archival film, letters, journals and photographs of the artists – some of which have never been seen in public – take the viewers back in time. This film weaves this history with a modern day adventure, up mountains, down canyon rivers and over portages with our trio as they try to achieve their own personal quest: to actually ‘walk in the Group of Seven’s footsteps’.
Director
Phyllis Ellis
Writer
Nancy Lang
Producers
Nancy Lang, Michael Burtch, Gary McGuffin, Joanie McGuffin
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker, History
Original Language
English
Guantanamo’s Child: Omar Khadr
His subsequent detention at Guantanamo Bay, a harsh prison on the southern coast of Cuba, became the topic of a major political debate, as child soldiers have not been prosecuted for war crimes since WWII.
Guantanamo’s Child gives Khadr a chance to speak for himself on camera for the first time. More than just a stirring story, this documentary delivers an engrossing intimate portrait of how a teenager from a Toronto suburb became the first juvenile to ever be tried for war crimes.
Directors
Michelle Shephard, Patrick Reed
Producers
Peter Raymont, Patrick Reed, Michelle Shephard
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Sea of Life
Culminating in the demonstrations leading up to the important but ultimately ineffective Paris Climate Agreement, this documentary charts a path for what comes next and how a conscious treatment of the ocean could present the answer to keeping our planet liveable and beautiful for generations to come.
Director
Julia Barnes
Barnes' eco-activism began at 16 after seeing Rob Stewart's Revolution. Inspired, she made Sea of Life, documenting an epic journey to save ocean ecosystems that we depend on for survival. Her work has taken her to the Florida Keys, the Galapagos, and COP21 in Paris. She also directed the documentary Bright Green Lies.
Writer
Julia Barnes
Cast
Julia Barnes, Rob Stewart
Producer
Julia Barnes
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Environment, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English
Own Voice
2022 - Celebrating Indigenous Voices
2019 - 100 Years of Snow and Sass
2018 - Women: Take on the World
Birth of a Family
Between 1955 and 1985, the federal and provincial governments in Canada took an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children from their homes and placed them in the child welfare system. Often referred to as the Sixties Scoop, this policy was part of the same trend of forced assimilation as residential schools.
Betty Ann was one of these children, and over several decades has worked tirelessly to track down her three siblings. As the foursome piece together their shared history, their family begins to take shape.
This film tackles grief, redemption and discovery as it chronicles the family’s emotional reunion and captures an event that remains painfully elusive for many Indigenous people.
Director
Tasha Hubbard (Cree)
Hubbard is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies. Her NFB documentary Two Worlds Colliding won a Gemini and a Golden Sheaf Award. She has also directed the short film 7 Minutes, and the feature docs Birth of a Family, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, which won 14 awards, including the CSA for best documentary and Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs 2019. She is a founding director of the International Buffalo Relations Institute. Her documentary Singing Back the Buffalo won three awards and was nominated for four others.
Writers
Betty Ann Adam (Dene), Tasha Hubbard (Cree)
Producer
Bonnie Thompson
Genre
Documentary
Interests
Biography, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, ESL, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics, Strong Female Leads
Original Language
English
Speakers for the Dead
Through a blend of interviews with residents, reenactments, and footage of the cemetery excavation, this powerful documentary highlights an important but rarely discussed aspect of Canadian history.
Directors
Jennifer Holness
Holness is a director, writer, and producer whose producing credits include award-winning films Stateless, Guns, and Love, Sex, and Eating the Bones, and series like She’s the Mayor and Shoot the Messenger. She wrote and directed Subjects of Desire and recently received the Canadian Media Producers Association’s Established Producer Award, and directed an episode of the series BLK: An Origin Story. Next, she is producing the feature Rip Tide.
Producer
Peter Starr
Genre
Documentary
Interests
BIPOC Stories, Black Filmmaker, Female Filmmaker, History, Social Justice & Politics
Original Language
English