Genres: documentary

  • Women Are Not Little Men

    Contemporary and archival images are contrasted against the text of a 1950’s industrial safety and training manual, exposing and critiquing the widespread belief in the existence of a weaker sex.

  • Got 2B There

    For those who haven’t yet been there, “Got 2B There” offers guest-list access into the world of gay circuit dance parties – the hedonistic social epicentre of North America’s “A” list gay men. Born out of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, the circuit scene has become something of a paradox. On one hand, the parties raise thousands of dollars for AIDS organizations. On the other, critics charge that the circuit itself contributes to the spread of the disease and encourages the widespread use of crystal meth and GHB. This provocative film gives ample time to both sides. Shot at…

  • Struck While the Iron Was Hot

    This documentary film offers a glimpse into the life of an ordinary housewife, the filmmaker’s grandmother, Sally Strauss, who 40 years ago was suddenly catapulted into a media hero by tripping a runaway bank robber. The film laces elements of another era, the sights and sounds of a tight Jewish community and the naiveté of good intent. A woman who reacts instinctually to the “just” way ultimately discovers that her heroic act unexpectedly creates an overwhelming tension in the family.

  • After Morning

    Things the filmmaker forgot and learned about birth control on her trip to America.

  • Tree Tales

    To meet an ever-growing demand for pulp and paper products, much of Canada’s forest land is being clear-cut. To redress this loss, every year one billion seedlings are planted. Each year as the snow melts and the ground thaws, thousands of young Canadians head into the northern bush to work in tree planting camps. For the next two months, these tree planters bare the physical brunt of sustaining the resource, working ten hours a day, day after day, to rebuild the forest. This is a story of challenge and triumph. It is about the relationships between people living and working…

  • Marquesa – Portrait of a Dominatrix, The

    This film sets the focus sharply on the often maligned and misunderstood world of sadomasochism. It gives us a glimpse into the life of the Marquesa, a Toronto Dominatrix who guides the audience on a journey through the SM community, its rituals and motivations. The marquesa explores and examines her own relationship to SM, and to the submissives that make the scenes possible. There is not a deliberate attempt to justify the practices of this unique sub-culture to the mainstream, but nonetheless, this piece and the Marquesa dismantle the myths and fallacies surrounding it by straightforward and frank talk. The…

  • Zyklon Portrait

    “Zyklon Portrait” is about Zyklon B – the pesticide transformed into a genocidal weapon by the Nazis in the 1940s. It is also an elegy for the filmmaker’s grandparents. After years of silence, the filmmaker’s mother finally talks about her parents’ horrific fate. “Zyklon Portrait” is a Holocaust film without Holocaust imagery: family photographs, underwater photography and hand-painted imagery draw a personal story out of historical minutiae. “Elliptical and eerily beautiful.” – John Doyle, The Globe & Mail Awards: Grand Prize, Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film, Spain; Best Short, Best Editing and Vision TV Humanitarian Award, Hot…

  • Mothers of Me

    “‘Mothers of Me’ is a visually glorious, abstract study in which the filmmaker explores, partly out of fear, the women in her family, their history of insanity and their response to a repressive environment. Through the use of close-ups and fragmented composition we are compelled to participate in her examination.” – Stacey Donen, Toronto Intenational Film Festival, 1999 Awards: 2nd Prize Danzante de Plata, Festival de Cine de Huesca, Spain; Marian McMahon Award, Images Festival, 2001

  • POM

    This documentary is the story (saga) of whiskey-swilling, chain-smoking Joanna, who tries out for the University of Texas pom pom squad. In her words, “I don’t want to stand on the sidelines doing nothing, I want to stand on the sidelines doing something!” This funny video explores the relationship between gender and performance.

  • Sweet Heat

    Sixty thousand men and women of Asian ancestry served in the United States armed forces during the Vietnam War. Many fought in Vietnam as gunners, helicopter pilots and infantrymen. Some worked as nurses, journalists and other support staff. This film chronicles the stories of San Francisco-born Cole Lew and Brooklyn-born Don Lau as they experienced Vietnam.