Documentary Archives - Page 3 of 32 - National Canadian Film Day

In 1985, restaurants in Toronto serving Jamaican patties went to war with the federal government over the right to call their beloved dish a “patty”.

Director

Chris Strikes

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, BIPOC Stories, Black Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

The film The Tragicall Historie of HAMLET Prince of Denmarke is a documentary of the stage production Thog’s Hamlet created collectively by the music/theatre group Thog during Toronto’s creative explosion of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In this still from Thog's Hamlet, the female Hamlet #2, played by Caroline Johnson, rides atop of The Ghost's back, played by Jim Bearden.

Directors

Genre

Documentary

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

In researching the fates of her two half-brothers, filmmaker Barri Cohen uncovers the tragic history of neglect and abuse of institutionalized patients at the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia.

Director

Barri Cohen

Writer

Barri Cohen

Producers

Craig Baines, Peter Raymont

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Discrimination, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

Endangered giant bluefin tuna have returned to Prince Edward Island, Canada, in surprising abundance after a complete disappearance from overfishing, but renewed human interference threatens to drive them away permanently. This fascinating documentary explores the baffling mystery of why the normally wary bluefin tuna no longer seem to fear humans.

Director

John Hopkins

Writer

John Hopkins

Cast

Carl Safina, Brian Skerry, Boris Worm

Genre

Documentary

Interest

Environment

Original Language

English

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An urgent examination of the root causes of the widespread issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. This powerful documentary juxtaposes the heart-wrenching stories of the victims with the experiences Indigenous activists and survivors who are fighting to raise awareness of the issue and to put an end to this enduring trauma.

Director

Kim O'Bomsawin (Abenaki)

Cast

Lorelei Williams, Angel Gates, Tantoo Cardinal (Cree/Métis)

Producer

Michèle Rouleau

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

French

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

A monumental historical documentary that exposes the injustices in the child and welfare services provided to Indigenous children, while giving voice to the childcare workers at the heart of the battle. Legendary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin shines a light on the decades-long battle and continuing urgent need for justice to be served.

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, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

In the early 2000s, members of the Saskatoon police force drove Indigenous men into remote fields and abandoned them to die. These acts became known as the Saskatoon "freezing deaths," a terrifying story blown open by one survivor.

Director

Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Hubbard is an award-winning filmmaker and an assistant professor in the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of English. Her writing-directing project 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 and nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, which won Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs and at the CSAs. She is currently directing the feature doc Singing Back the Buffalo.

Writer

Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Cast

Andrea Menard

Producer

Bonnie Thompson

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

Director Carol Nguyen reflects on a family tragedy through a series of interviews, exposing how trauma and grief can remain in the shadows for too long.

Director

Carol Nguyen

Producers

Carol Nguyen, Aziz Zoromba

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Biography, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker

Original Languages

English, Other Language

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When Jordan River Anderson, who suffered from a rare muscle disorder, died in 2005, he had spent all five years of his short life in a hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which of them was responsible for his care. In 2007, Canada’s Parliament passed a motion in support of “Jordan’s Principle,” a policy meant to ensure that First Nations children have equitable access to government-funded health, social, and educational services.

Master documentarian Alanis Obomsawin interviews Jordan’s family as well as other Indigenous families across Canada who have had to fight for basic human rights for their children.

Director

Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)

Writer

Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)

Cast

Ernest Anderson, Jordan River Anderson, Virginia Anderson

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

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.

Directors

Michel Brault, Pierre Perrault

Writers

Michel Brault, Pierre Perrault

Producers

Jacques Bobet, Fernand Dansereau

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Classics, Environment, History

Original Language

French

Back to the Canadian Film Collection

Genre: Documentary

Patty vs Patty

Ratings by Province

Thog’s Hamlet

Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children

Ratings by Province

Bluefin

Ratings by Province

Ce Silence Qui Tue (Quiet Killing)

Ratings by Province

We Can’t Make the Same Mistake Twice

Ratings by Province

Two Worlds Colliding

Ratings by Province

No Crying at the Dinner Table

Ratings by Province

Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

Ratings by Province

Pour la suite du monde (For Those Who Will Follow)

Ratings by Province

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