How People Got Fire centres on Grandma Kay (based on elder Kitty Smith) and the connection she forges with the village children through the oral tradition of their culture. Twelve-year-old Tish is one of those children - an introspective, talented girl who feels particularly drawn to Grandma Kay's kitchen. Here, past and present blend, myth and reality meet, and the metaphor of fire infuses all in a location that lies at the heart of the community's...

Who hasn't felt apprehensive at the thought of starting high school? This is the central theme of this short animated film. Playing on imagination and humour, the director offers viewers a thought-provoking piece dealing with the transition that young people between the ages of 10 and 13 experience. Inspired by the work of Escher and Magritte, Catherine Arcand has created a graphically rich film through optical illusions and trompe-l'oeil effects....

Can we trace the chain of events that lead to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter? The narrator of The Danish Poet considers these questions as we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry...

Milo is always losing his lunchbox, screwing up in class and humiliating himself on the playground. He'd like to be invincible like his comic book hero Captain Cosmo, but for a shy near-sighted kid, the humiliations of Grade One know no bounds! He lives in a lonely, blurry world and is blind to his one true friend, Gwenny. A visit to the eye doctor brings things into focus. His first pair of glasses enables Milo to excel in class and on the playground....

Seraphim "Joe" Fortes, born in the West Indies, became one of Vancouver's most beloved citizens. Using a colourful blend of music, poetry, cut-out and computer animation, this film celebrates Joe's life. For more than thirty years, Joe Fortes swam in English Bay. He was a self-appointed lifeguard at first, but he became so famous that the city of Vancouver finally rewarded him with a salary for doing what he loved best. He taught thousands of people...

An advanced race of giant lobsters from outer space land on Earth "sunny side up," but no one knows why. An utter failure of communication with these galactic crustaceans catapults the world towards Armageddon bisque! World peace is at stake! What can save us? A little straight talk, perhaps? With tongue planted firmly in cheek, director and writer Janet Perlman untwines the classic 1950s B-movie motif to weave a thoroughly madcap, animated parable...

A young man is getting ready to fight at the front. On the battlefield and in the depths of the ditches, the recruits are dreading the order to attack. It’s war. The roar of explosions moving ever closer forebodes a spectacle of horror. Anxiety tightens its grip. The signal is given. The soldier leaps out of the trench and into a hellish expanse where the earth engulfs both the living and the dead as far as the eye can see. Using brush and India...

Once Jennie had everything. She had two bowls to eat from, two pillows, and for cold weather, a red wool sweater. She even had a master who loved her. But Jennie didn't care. In the middle of the night she packed everything she had in a black leather bag with gold buckles and looked out of her favorite window for the last time... Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life follows Jennie's surreal, suspenseful and unexpectedly moving journey...