Film Categories: history

  • Batteries

    As the only winter port on Canada’s Atlantic coast during WW II, Halifax was an active part of the Allies’ war effort. At the start of the war, thousands of dollars were poured into the construction of concrete embattlements to defend Halifax Harbour against attack, and ultimately, to guard against possible land invasion. The attack never came. The filmmaker presents a striking, ironic contrast between the footage of the batteries as they stand today, crumbling and abandoned with narratives that recall the anxious, sometimes frantic fear of an enemy attack.

  • Searching for My Mother’s Garden

    Partially shot in rural Czecho-Slovakia, this film investigates the phenomenon of no longer being rooted to a motherland, yet being tied to one’s origins.

  • Sikhs, The

    An in-depth study and description of the Sikhs and their faith, focusing on their unique and sometimes misinterpreted way of living. It covers Sikh history and its impact on forming the Sikh Culture. The universal institutions such as the “Sangat” – the holy congregation open to all – and the “Pangat” – free refectory or interdining for all, are stressed, and the “Typical Sikh Response” evident throughout their history towards crisis and events is presented. Recommended as a resource material for all public institutions as well as community organizations.

  • Sowesto

    A collection of footage from my friends or by my friends and me. It is amazing the number of events recorded by various means around London. “Sowesto” contains the opening of Region Gallery, The First Canadian Happening, Barbara Ann Scott in St. Marys, Nihilist events, etc. (GC)

  • Stories from the Land of Cain

    “Stories from the Land of Cain” is a film about Canada in a time of flux. It chronicles a journey from Batoche, Saskatchewan where the Metis under Louis Riel lost their struggle for independence, to the Plains of Abraham at Quebec where the course was set for the country that would become Canada. The journey breaks off in polyphonic reveries on home, landscapes, and stories from the road; casting back in history, moving forward through the landscape, drifting off in memory. A film about trying to hold a country together with stories.

  • Surviving Memory

    “Surviving Memory” is a film about the role of loss in the formation of identity. It is a narrative intercut with documentary fragments of political actions, which connect the various characters to event through collective memory. Through autobiographical spoken texts, the narrator relays fragments of a relationship between two Jewish women. The fragmented texts speak of the relation between these women as well as recounting various past and contemporary historical events of fascist and neo-Nazi activity (and resistance), Lesbian/Gay rights, Pro-Choice and AIDS demonstrations. While these instances tell a personal/political story about loss, they are also meant to elucidate the…

  • Tales from the Vienna Woods

    “Tales from the Vienna Woods” looks at a 19th-century romance through the courtship letters of a suitor. He writes of the role of women, money, clothes, shoes, keys, marriage – in short, all the preoccupations of his life. Among these, what is normal is debatable, not only for today’s society, but also for the society of the period. Through found images and period photographs, the setting shifts from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the 20th century, ending with Hitler’s Germany. This is a collage film which combines slide projections and live footage against musical variations on a famous Viennese waltz.

  • This is the end of me

    On September 15th, 1830, during the opening ceremony of the first major railway line in Britain, the member of parliament for Liverpool, William Huskisson, attempted to cross the tracks but was struck by the train and died of the injuries he sustained. “This is the end of me” sets out on a true documentary mission – to delve into this historical event – but gets continually sidetracked …. It’s about history, technology, memory, chaos theory, Canada, eyesight, books, trains, speed, death, and Saskatchewan. The film is visually as eclectic as its narration, including documentation (photos, paintings, diagrams, maps); footage of…

  • Ties That Bind, The

    “The Ties That Bind” tells the story of a woman who lived in Germany during the Second World War, and like most Germans has had to pay the price ever since for letting Hitler’s actions continue unchallenged. This woman is the narrator of the film as well as the filmmaker’s mother. “The best of New Directors/New Film Festival…The film is an original: a moving and courageous tribute from a achild to a mother’s beleaguered memory.” – David Edelstein, The Village Voice, April 1985 “‘The Ties That Bind’ is a scrutiny both of a mother/daughter relationship and the demands of natural…

  • Bible Plus

    Animated mosaic tiles, shaped by a magical hand, tell a witty, slightly irreverent history of man.