A short film commissioned by CBC based on a poem by Canadian poet Irving Layton.
Social & External
The people behind it
Irene Beatie
Old Woman
Jon Granik
Narrator
Mona O'Hearn
Hyo-jeong, a 69-year-old woman, is raped—but few people, including the police, are willing to believe what she says.
A disgruntled Democrat follows through on a drunken campaign promise to move to Canada if George "Dubya" Bush gets re-elected.
17-year-old Asher is split between his charismatic teacher and his brash father, who wants him to take over his scaffolding business.
A married woman, who has set aside her dreams for the sake of her husband and daughter, rediscovers her true self and becomes an achiever.
Looking for Angelina is based on one of the most important murder trials in Canada. Angelina Napolitano murdered her husband with an axe and was sentenced to be executed...
A pretty girl arrives on a small island on a dark and stormy night. She becomes an excuse for the turbulence and evil that occurs when one man forgets his dignity and becomes a beast.
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
About the life and work of the poet Sergei Yesenin, his connection with his native country, its people and nature. Childhood, love, painful searches for his place in the new, revolutionary Russia — everything found a place in Yesenin's lyrics. Frames illustrating Yesenin's poetry and poems are side by side in the film with episodes of the poet's biography: the film reflects the days of his stay in America, World War I, revolution and village round dances, a daring uncle, a wise mother...
Conversations with four people — an artist, a woman struggling with her identity as a high achiever, an actor, and a priest — exploring their inner worlds, their self-image and how they feel they fit into society. Are all of them acting, or only Sam Neill? The film features readings from Ash Wednesday, the poem written by TS Eliot after converting to anglicanism.
At the turn of the century on Prince Edward Island, Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla decide to take on an orphan boy as help for their farm. But they get an unexpected jolt when they're mistakenly sent a girl instead: Anne Shirley.
Captured on HUAWEI P60 Pro, "The Sea Is Not Blue At Seberang Takir" is a glimpse into the lives of three characters in a village by the sea in Kuala Terengganu. Written and directed by Ariff Zulkarnain, the short film features an anthology of poems by the great T. Alias Taib, also known as the "People's Poet".
He stood, in pain, near the rope, in tears, while his creator hung.
In a Canadian mountain resort, Vixen Palmer resides with her naive pilot husband Tom. While he's away flying in tourists, she sleeps with practically everybody including a husband and his wife, and even her biker brother. However, the only one she won't bed is her brother's friend... who is Black.
Nícolas, a quiet young boy, receives an invitation to join a secret rebel group against the school's authoritarian rules. At first, he hesitates, but as he learns valuable lessons with his new friends about following his dreams and being who he truly is, the boy begins to change his view of the school system.
A solitary Frenchman seeks inspiration in a ruined duchy, meeting eccentric figures with their visions of art, madness, and myth. During 15 minutes he wanders across the broken edges of reality and sanity, he questions what form inspiration can still take among fragments of ruins and environment, as the viewer steps into his eyes and ears, discovering beauty within decay.
In 1896, three survivors of a whaling ship-wreck in the Canadian Arctic are saved and adopted by an Eskimo tribe but frictions arise when the three start misbehaving.
A film about existence from the perspective of 20 nameless black females. Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular.
Grace lives an idyllic life in a British seaside town, but her world soon comes crashing down when her husband of 29 years tells her he's leaving her for another woman. Through stages of shock, disbelief and anger -- and with support from her son -- Grace ultimately regains her footing while learning it's never too late to be happy.
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
A look at the lives of two teenage girls - inseparable friends Ginger and Rosa -- growing up in 1960s London as the Cuban Missile Crisis looms, and the pivotal event the comes to redefine their relationship.
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
In the 1990s, an immigrant single mother raises her teenage son in the Canadian suburbs, determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in South Korea.
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.
Young, beautiful, talented Alexis Winston comes from nowhere to become a figure skating superstar. But her rise to stardom isn’t easy. She has to push herself, reinvent herself, and most painfully of all, leave her hometown boyfriend behind. When a tragic fall leaves her blind, she needs someone to believe in her, to love her; someone to convince her she has the strength to skate and dream again.
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.