Genres: documentary

  • Mabou Fights Back

    When it came time to announce the closing of the Mabou post office in Cape Breton Island in Eastern Canada back in March of 1991, it was viewed as a “natural opportunity” by Canada Post. Here was a rural community servicing 1,000 residents whose post master had retired a few years ealier and had never been replaced. It was merely a matter of giving notice and assuming that a local store would be willing to take up the slack. It turned out that Mabou was not a typical rural community. There is a strong sense of heritage there, including the…

  • Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists

    What happens when a dedicated husband and father quits his job, adopts the persona of a Western-Movie Singing Cowboy, takes on the entire art establishment (including Christo and Andy Warhol), and refuses to accept money for his art ? Meet Gerry Gaxiola, AKA The Maestro, an ex-wage slave who gave up everything to make art for art’s sake. The Maestro’s story could inspire a whole new generation of Van Goghs. With: The Maestro Rides Again! (30 min. 2005)

  • Make Some Noise

    “Make Some Noise” is an hour -long documentary that examines the underground rap music scene in Toronto. It focuses on the rappers, disc jockeys, managers, producers, radio annoucers, and personalities who are creating a Canadian hip hop culture.

  • Marc & Ann

    An enchanting portrait of Marc and Ann Savoy, Cajun musicians who are dedicated to the preservation and continuance of Cajun culture. Marc is an irreverent storyteller and accordion maker; his wife Ann is the mother of four, and author of the book “Cajun Music: Reflection of a People.”

  • Mashiko Village Pottery, Japan 1937

    Produced by a pre-war cultural organization in Japan, the film is a work of great clarity and beauty which follows an entire pottery-making cycle as performed in Japan for centuries. Mashiko ceramic manufacture is said to date back to 1853. Also shown at work is the great painter of teapots, Masu Minagawa, an itinerant, illiterate painter of patterns who travelled amongst the kilns in villages. It is said that she decorated up to one thousand teapots per day. Some of her very rare drawings on paper are now held at the Fogg Art Museum in Massachusetts. The film was restored…

  • Matilda

    “Matilda” is an impressionistic portrait of a woman confined to a wheelchair. Through a series of five vignettes, the history of her life unfolds enhanced by a blend of experimental and documentary elements. In the last vignette, entitled ” Matilda’s Interview,” we leave the film with an understanding of her personal survival. Produced with assistance from the Ontario Arts Council.

  • Matinee, The

    A docudrama showing that bingo is more than monetary fantasy.

  • Matter of Expectations, A

    “A Matter of Expectations” depicts the life circumstances of women living in the Runnymede Hospital, a chronic care facility in Toronto. Longer life spans, low incomes, and a lack of housing alternatives force many women to be dependent on the health care system. This film surveys the problems confronting older women through interviews in which women discuss their feelings about aging, institutional life, the care they receive, and dying. Footage of life in the hospital with accompanying voice-overs presents a balanced view of the problematic position of older women in the 1980s.

  • McLuhan

    In “McLuhan”, Kerr recontextualizes a “question and answer period” for design students delivered by media theorist Marshall McLuhan at Sherdian College in 1975. Operating from McLuhan’s own aphorism “the medium is the message,” Kerr combines footage of the address with two scrolling texts in the borders, in one showing an asynchronous transcript that weaves around McLuhan’s dialogue, and in another, reinforcing McLuhan’s talking points like a ticker on cable news. It has the effect of sharply reconceptualizing the semantic and rhetorical values of the lecture in particular, yet also provides a fascinating perspective on McLuhan’s own ideas and intellectual form…

  • Me, Mom and Mona

    The women of the Shum family are a force to be reckoned with. Sitting around joking about how they pull the wool over Dad’s eyes, or remembering all the absurdities of growing up Chinese in Vancouver, it’s clear they’ve hit on a strategy that can handle both Chinese tradition and Canadian custom – humour. The laughter resonates throughout “Me, Mom and Mona” to touch off much deeper responses.