Film Categories: Politics + Policy

  • Budworks

    Aerial insecticide spraying of forests is the most ignored environmental problem in North America today. In Canada, every province east of Saskatchewan, with the exception of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, sprays annually to control the spruce budworm. New Brunswick forests have been sprayed since 1952, longer than anywhere else in the world. “Budworks” investigates the controversy surrounding the spraying and goes directly to the people who are involved.

  • lesbianfilm

    “lesbianfilm” is a hilarious performative documentary (mockumentary) that puts the spotlight on all the hype, PR, collaboration, love and bickering that goes into the making of an independent feature film. In the great homosexual tradition, “lesbianfilm” employs camp and humour to achieve a political aim. With tape rolling, the lesbianfilm collective askes the question: “Do you support lesbianfilm?” At the end of the day, the group has managed to debunk identity politics, pitch the festival programmers, and secure numerous donations from unsuspecting patrons of the arts – of props, wardrobe, a location and various in-kind service for the fictional project.…

  • Blissfully Ignorant

    An incredibly angry and political film about the state of the world.

  • Way Out, A

    “A Way Out” is a documentary about breaking the cycle of poverty in Canadian’s oldest and largest “ghetto,” Regent Park. In addition to talking about what it is like to grow up poor in North America, it explores the reasons behind one person finding a way out and others remaining. As a former resident of a low-income community, Christene Browne went back to find out what had happened to some of her old friends. Formal and impromptu interviews are conducted and the community is revealed through footage and stills. A young man who currently lives in the community is also…

  • Shelter

    “Shelter” is a multi-layered experimental film that cleverly weaves archival social commentary and recent political activism in a playful analysis of our culture’s misplaced priorities. The film blends a variety of appropriated material – including a homeless demonstration during the gala premiere of an Atom Egoyan film at the Toronto Film Festival – with archival footage of circuses, westerns, and Pierre Burton discussing the pros and cons of building a bomb shelter. “Shelter” also celebrates the inherent qualities of the film medium, qualities that have quickly become marginalized through the current obsession with digital technology.

  • Réveille (Wake Up)

    This simple and engaging animated film tells of an event which changed the course of French history in North America: the deportation of the Acadians, or “neutralist French,” from Nova Scotia by the English and Americans. The French Canadians are burned out of their homes, displaced to Louisiana. The image of soldiers/oppressors transformed into children’s toy soldiers has been called one of the most quietly powerful moments in animation history. The anger and poinancy of “Reveille” is enhanced by a haunting Acadian folk song.

  • Prom Fight: The Marc Hall Story

    Over the years conventional wisdom on Homosexuality has changed dramatically and a more liberal attitude of acceptance and tolerance has evolved. But no one seems to have told the Durham Catholic School Board in the province of Ontario.. “I am writing to request that the school board reverse the policy taken to deny me the opportunity to attend my school prom with the person of my choice, my boyfriend. That’s all I want: to go to the prom with my date, like everybody else, and to make sure that no other student of the Durham Catholic School Board will never…

  • Lift

    Addiction leads individuals to commit crimes against others in violent ways, with no awareness of the implications of their actions on themselves or society. In an effort to get high, Jerry breaks into his doctor’s house – leading to a confrontation of unexpected consequences.

  • Cape Breton Endangered Spaces, The

    This film documents the large scale clear-cutting on public lands on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and areas that are still uncut that are in urgent need of wilderness preservation.

  • No You Cyant Touch It!

    Shot in black-and-white and sepia tones, “No You Cyant Touch It!” incorporates an understanding of race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality as it deals with Black women’s favourite obsession – hair – from an interesting perspective. The film’s creatrix and subject examines the link between her locks, her Black, queer identity, and other people’s understanding/assumptions of who she is and where she “belongs.” The stark tones and political subject matter are mediated by Rhizome Syndrigast Coelacanth Flourishing’s lyrical poetics.