Origins of consciousness (2023)

BMFD

The all powerful goddess of feet showing off her very interesting, soft and thick assets to you in every way she can imagine, while the sounds of the rave club rage on. Loaded with tons of sole scrunching, big bunching, feet waving, heel wagging, meat jiggling, toe wiggling, pad waggling, arch curling, foot furling, body bouncing, fancy dancing, sweating wetness and much much more ensues in this exciting experimental generative ai visual album.

Dawson City: Frozen Time

The true history of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s to 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until being discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

Formosa

A girl from Hainan recounts her youth in a seaside village she couldn't leave.

Finding Dawn

Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh puts a human face on a national tragedy: the murders and disappearances of an estimated 500 Aboriginal women in Canada over the past 30 years. Explores the deep historical, social, and economic factors that contribute to this epidemic of violence against Native women.

Our Century

A man paves his own way to his own soul through an intellectual quest, tragedies of nations and personal drama. The road moving through the cosmic distances is a flight into one's internal world. This flight and this drama are revealed in this philosophical film-poem.

For Winter

In the frozen heights of Canada’s tallest peak, an international team of scientists launches a daring expedition to unearth thousands of years of climate data in one record-breaking ice core. Glaciologist and National Geographic Explorer Alison Criscitiello is the brain and brawn behind this ambitious quest. As she leads her team on a 10-day climb up the mountain, through whiteout conditions and precarious icefalls, Ali and her team defeat the odds and reach Mt. Logan’s summit plateau where they camp for 16 days, while drilling in frigid conditions.

The Park Closes at Sunset.

An experimental short film exploring themes of depression and existentialism through various empty spaces and poetic narration by a young French-speaking woman.

A Letter from Kak Lafiif

A farewell letter from a friend about moments, archives, and memories.

Broken Harbors

An ambient short film of seaside cinematography accompanied by Stars of the Lid's 'Broken Harbors pt.2' and 'Broken Harbors pt.3' It is shot in black and white, but switches to color near the end.

Stopping the Next Pandemic

How can we prevent epidemics? Why do viruses and bacteria move? Rather than trying to contain epidemics one after another, why not stop the processes that encourage their emergence? The challenges are enormous, but scientists argue that solutions exist. Because if emerging diseases are the collateral consequences of our lifestyles, our lifestyles are under our control.

First Drafts: The Outcasts

What if you rediscovered the script you wrote when you were 12? And what if you performed it with real actors, without changing a word? In this unique comedy, actors faithfully bring their director's hilariously bad childhood script to life, while their "Teacher" Michael Smallwood uproariously reacts to the chaos.

The Pig Farm

The life and murders of one of the worst serial killers in history, Robert Pickton who went unchallenged for decades.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

A hilarious introduction, using as examples some of the best films ever made, to some of Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek's most exciting ideas on personal subjectivity, fantasy and reality, desire and sexuality.

Vibrant Matter

A silent city symphony, projected from gorgeous black and white 16mm film. Materia vibrante lets the resonating frequencies of the urban environment create the inaudible hum that keeps the engines of society running, absent of the inhabitants running around like little ants toiling away.

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

In 2007 the legendary American duo White Stripes toured Canada. Besides playing the usual venues they challenged themselves and played in buses, cafés and for Indian tribal elders. Music video director Emmett Malloy followed the band and managed to capture both the special tour, extraordinary concert versions of the band's minimalist, raw, blues-inspired rock songs and the special relationship between the extroverted Jack White and the introspective Meg White - a formerly married couple who for a long time claimed to be siblings. The film makes striking use of the band's concert colors: red, white and black.

Memory

Memory is a collaboration with musician Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), exploring the relationship between a musician and filmmaker and their personal reflection on memories. From Super 8 home movies and entirely handmade, this film explores familiar memories, the present moment combined with past experiences and how it all seems to evade from our present memory.

Into Great Silence

An intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse, high in the French Alps (Chartreuse Mountains). The idea for the film was proposed to the monks in 1984, but the Carthusians said they wanted time to think about it. The Carthusians finally contacted Gröning 16 years later to say they were now willing to permit Gröning to shoot the movie, if he was still interested.

Einstein's Universe

A documentary produced in 1979 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Albert Einstein. Narrated and hosted by Peter Ustinov and written by Nigel Calder.

The Secret of Dr. Grinberg

In the early nineties, Dr. Jacobo Grinberg’s career was blooming and he gained lots of international credit as a researcher in the fields of telepathy and neurophysiology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. When Dr. Grinberg mysteriously disappears in 1994, the police find no trace of him. The only thing that is clear, is that all his research material, including his computers, disappeared along with him.

Samadhi Part 1: Maya, the Illusion of the Self

Samadhi Part 1 (Maya the Illusion of the Self) is the first installment in a series of films exploring Samadhi. Samadhi is an ancient Sanskrit word which points toward the mystical or transcendent union that is at the root of all spirituality and self inquiry. The saints, sages and awakened beings throughout history have all learned the wisdom of self surrender.

EXPO 67 Mission Impossible

This documentary let us to relive the challenge of the men behind the 1967 Universal Exposition in Montréal, Canada. By searching trough 80,000 archival documents at the national Archives, they managed to bring light on one of the biggest logistical and political challenges that were faced by organizers during the "Révolution Tranquille" in the Québec sixties. Includes the accounts of the Chief of Advertising Yves Jasmin, and businessman Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.

American Hardcore

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

The Atom: A Love Affair

With a wealth of fantastic archive footage and a series of revealing interviews with those who had first-hand experience, filmmaker Vicki Lesley tells the turbulent story of the West’s love-hate relationship with a nuclear power over the past seventy years. Capturing both the tantalising promise and the repeated disappointments of this singular technology, the film reveals how the post-war, romantic fantasy of an Atom-powered future developed into the stormy, on-off relationship still playing out today. A tale of scientific passion and political intrigue all wrapped up in the packaging of a sentimental screen melodrama.

The Portal

Documentary approach follows six people (and a robot) who transform their lives using stillness and mindfulness.

Merci Bocuse

A young and ambitious team of chefs face the life-changing challenges of competing in the world's most prestigious culinary competition.

Headspace: Unwind Your Mind

Do you want to relax, meditate or sleep deeply? Personalize the experience according to your mood or mindset with this Headspace interactive special.

The Whale and the Raven

Director Mirjam Leuze’s The Whale and The Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.

USSR (1917-1991)

Experimental short film that explores the rise and decline of the Soviet Union, from the revolutionary spark of 1917 to the challenges and sacrifices endured during World War II, until its dissolution in 1991.

Looking for Simone

In 1949, philosopher and novelist Simone de Beauvoir wrote the groundbreaking The Second Sex, launching a disruptive discourse on women’s oppression and second-class citizenship. This film dissects the origins and relevance of this bible of feminism, charting de Beauvoir’s fact-finding journey across the US to research her book. The timely and fascinating film honors de Beauvoir’s brilliance and limitations, connecting her revolutionary ideas to the pressing issues women face today.

Out of Plain Sight

From Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rosanna Xia and Academy Award®-winning L.A. Times Studios, OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT is a cinematic exposé of an environmental disaster lurking just off the coast of Southern California. Not far from Catalina Island, aboard one of the most-advanced research ships in the world, David Valentine discovered a corroded barrel on the seafloor that gave him chills. The full environmental horror sharpens into greater clarity once he calls Los Angeles Times journalist Rosanna Xia, who pieces together a shocking revelation: In the years after World War II, as many as half a million barrels of toxic waste had been quietly dumped into the ocean – and the consequences continue to haunt the world today.

Here We Are

A housekeeper received a film made by her daughter. It's a film that combines found footages of Thailand during the Cold War with the present days images of Bangkok. Through these images she tells a story of the house owner and her own story of coming to the capital.

Festival Express

The filmed account of a large Canadian rock festival train tour boasting major acts. In the summer of 1970, a chartered train crossed Canada carrying some of the world's greatest rock bands. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and others lived (and partied) together for five days, stopping in major cities along the way to play live concerts. Their journey was filmed.

Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

The story of a young boy forced to spend all five years of his short life in hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which was responsible for his care, as well as the long struggle of Indigenous activists to force the Canadian government to enforce “Jordan’s Principle” — the promise that no First Nations children would experience inequitable access to government-funded services again.

There's Something in the Water

Elliot Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in his home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.