Jean-Pierre Joutel

When the Dust Settles (1997)

This animated short features 2 neighbouring gophers with very un-neighbourly appetites for anger and revenge. By sundown, they have destroyed everything... even theirhomes. Will they be able to put the pieces back together. ...

The Voyage of the St. Louis (1995)

Documentary on the German luxury liner St. Louis that sailed from Hamburg to Cuba in 1939 carrying 937 German Jews. For 30 excruciating days the ship wandered the seas and was refused haven by every country in the Americas. ...

Mystery of the Maya (1995)

Filmed in IMAX, a young Mayan boy who lives close to the ruins becomes acquainted with an archaeologist (Guerra) and asks her to tell him about his ancestors. The crew travelled to over 15 locations in Mexico and Guatemala, including Tulum and Chichén Itz ...

When Love Is Gay (1994)

Documentary about men who break the silence about their homosexuality. They talk about their difficulty to accept and to make others accept their difference, of the place of sensuality in their lives, of their fierce desire to love freely. A film that ,in ...

The Glass Ark (1994)

The undertaking of an enthusiastic group of scientists to transform an indoor cycle racing-track built for the 1968 Montréal Olympics into an ecological park. The Biodôme of Montréal contains 4 ecosystems of the 3 Americas, from the Tropical Forrest to ...

Taking Stock (1994)

The cod fishery off the east coast of Newfoundland was a way of life, the backbone of society -- until it collapsed. A review of the history leading up to the crisis and the subsequent call for a moratorium of the northwest Atlantic cod fishery. ...

The Woman With Three Husbands (1993)

This is a fable about a woman's right to choose her husband: it tells the story of a princess, who has several suitors. She puts them to the test, and finally chooses the one who has demonstrated the finest moral qualities. ...

Expectations (1993)

Fanfares (1993)

Six composers work on a composition to be performed in a shopping mall. ...

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1992)

Ten women in Canada talk about being lesbian in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s: discovering the pulp fiction of the day about women in love, their own first affairs, the pain of breaking up, frequenting gay bars, facing police raids, men's responses, and the ...

Full Circle (1992)

Authors, teachers, social activists and feminists explore manifestations of contemporary women's spirituality in the Western world. ...

The Devil's Dream (1992)

The folkloric Dance of the 24 Devils sheds new light on the reality of Guatemala. The Devils reveal a strong antagonism, both contemporary and mythological: they've declared war on humanity and have set out "to capture all souls", while Death heralds the e ...

Blackfly (1991)

A young surveyer, new to Ontario, encounters the blackflies. Over and over again, he encounters those blackflies. ...

Two Sisters (1991)

A facially disfigured author's life with her guardian of a sister is disrupted when a stranger arrives at their door, claiming to be a fan. ...

Sabina (1991)

This short animated film is an impressionistic exploration of sensuality within the feminine imagination. Inspired by Anaïs Nin's poetic writing, Sabina breathes with lush, elemental energy where colours embrace and shapes caress in the soft currents of w ...

Le patro Le Prévost - 80 Years Later (1991)

Alanis Obomsawin turns her lens to Le Patro Le Prévost, a recreational centre in the Villeray quarter of Montreal. On the eve of its 80th anniversary in 1989, Le Patro is a vital focal point in the predominantly working-class neighbourhood. Beloved by the ...

Mother Earth (1991)

This short documentary is a celebration of life on planet Earth. Made from haunting visual images selected from 50 years of NFB productions, the film looks at human beings, their place on earth, and their deep interconnection with all other beings. Evocati ...

Un homme de Parole (1991)

Chandler's Mill (1990)

A historical drama set in 1889, Chandler's Mill examines the plight of workers, and particularly child workers, in the New Brunswick wool industry. The story revolves around the efforts of one young teenage girl to better the lives of her friend and other ...

The Burning Times (1990)

This documentary takes an in-depth look at the witch hunts that swept Europe just a few hundred years ago. False accusations and trials led to massive torture and burnings at the stake and ultimately to the destruction of an organic way of life. The film q ...

Justice Denied (1989)

Donald Marshall is imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit. ...

Robichaud (1989)

Portrays Louis Robichaud, Canadian politician and former Premier of New Brunswick. ...

Goddess Remembered (1989)

Goddess Remembered is a salute to 35,000 years of "pre-history," to the values of ancestors only recently remembered and to the goddess-worshipping religions of the ancient past. This documentary features Merlin Stone, Carol Christ, Luisah Teish, Starhawk ...

Liberty Street Blues (1988)

This feature documentary uses music to reveal the many faces of jazz, New Orleans style. Colourful and alive with music, the film captures the street life and traditions of this vibrant city and explores the roots of the music that springs from the soul of ...

A Nice Day in the Country (1988)

An amorous couple prepares for a picnic in the country. But the man's rage at a stuck doorknob leads to tragedy for both of them. ...

A Song for Quebec (1988)

Produced in 1988, this feature documentary presents a living history of Quebec's last 40 years as seen through the eyes of one couple. Pauline Julien and Gérald Godin, two Quebec artists, share their perspectives on the events that have marked Quebec's ev ...

Dreams of a Land (1987)

The story of Samuel de Champlain's futile search for a passage to China in North America and his later founding of Quebec. ...

To a Safer Place (1987)

Sexually abused by her father from infancy to early adolescence, Shirley Turcotte is now in her thirties and has succeeded in building a rich and full life. To further reconcile her past and present, she is returning to the people and places of her childho ...

Bam Pay A! – Rends-moi mon pays! (1986)

In this feature documentary, a Haitian, exiled in Canada for twenty years, returns to his country after the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Through his encounters with former friends, professors and colleagues, the face of this newfound Haiti gradually ...

The Decline of the American Empire (1986)

Four very different Montreal university teachers gather at a rambling country house to prepare a dinner. Remy (married), Claude (a homosexual), Pierre (involved with a girlfriend) and Alain (a bachelor) discuss sex, the female body and their affairs with t ...

The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (1986)

Faustus is a clerk in St. John's at the Newfoundland Department of Education. He dreams of becoming ruler of Newfoundland and seceding from Canada. In the real world, Faustus' boss Eddie Peddle plans to indoctrinate the citizenry of Newfoundland with a cul ...

Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief (1986)

A tribute to Indigenous women everywhere, this short documentary focuses on 5 women from across Canada. Of varied ages and backgrounds, they have achieved success in a variety of careers: as the Yukon legislature's first Indigenous woman minister (Margaret ...

90 Days (1985)

90 Days is a tongue-in-cheek look at the misadventures of two modern men in search of romantic bliss: macho Alex, who receives the offer of a lifetime from a mysterious woman, and sincere Blue, who goes to extravagant lengths to find the perfect bride. ...

Paradise (1985)

A magnificent bird performs for the Emperor inside a glittering palace. Its plumage is a blaze of colour. A blackbird, watching enviously, strives to acquire what he so desperately covets, only to discover that a golden cage can't compete with the open ski ...

Discussions in Bioethics: A Chronic Problem (1985)

One of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern medical technology. This film considers the chronic patient's right to quality care, and the acutely ill patient's right to a hospital b ...

Shipbuilder (1985)

This film recreates the true story of Tom Sukanen, an eccentric Finnish immigrant who homesteaded in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s. Sukanen spent ten years building and moving overland a huge iron ship that was to carry him back to his native Finland ...

Speaking Our Peace (1985)

Women peace activists speak out. ...

Abortion: Stories from North and South (1984)

Women have always sought ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies, despite powerful patriarchal structures and systems working against them. This film provides a historical overview of how church, state and the medical establishment have determined policies ...

Behind the Veil: Nuns (1984)

The history of nuns mirrors the history of all women -- in what we are taught about the past, women are almost invisible. Although today's one million nuns outnumber priests two to one, they must struggle to be heard by the all-male Roman Catholic hierarch ...

The Vinland Mystery (1984)

This short documentary depicts the search, discovery and authentication of the only known Norse settlement in North America - Vinland the Good. Mentioned in Icelandic manuscripts and speculated about for over two centuries, Vinland is known as "the place w ...

Narcissus (1983)

In this short film by Norman McLaren, dancers enact the Greek tragedy of Narcissus, the beautiful youth whose excessive self-love condemned him to a trapped existence. Skilfully merging film, dance and music, the film is a compendium of the techniques McLa ...

Flamenco at 5:15 (1983)

Students in their final year at the National Ballet School of Canada are seen learning the flamenco from Susana and Antonio Robledo, who come to the school every winter to conduct classes which are held after the day's regular schedule has ended. ...

The Shimmering Beast (1982)

A documentary film about a group of hunters who gather annually to hunt moose near Maniwaki, Quebec. ...

If You Love This Planet (1982)

Australian pediatrician Helen Caldicott delivers a lecture on the potential medical and societal consequences of a nuclear war, and advocates for nuclear disarmament. The film includes newsreel records of the beginnings of the arms race and the bombings of ...

Ted Baryluk's Grocery (1982)

Ukrainian-Canadian Ted Baryluk's grocery store has been a fixture in Winnipeg's North End for over 20 years. In this photo study, Ted talks about his store, the customers who have come and gone and the social changes his multicultural neighbourhood has see ...

The Great Chess Movie (1982)

In this Gilles Carle feature documentary on the game of chess, the international chess match is cast as a classic Western shoot-out. Three chess greats dominate the film: Russia's Anatoly Karpov; Viktor Korchnoi, a Russian defector; and American Bobby Fisc ...

Dream Flight (1982)

It is the story of a creature living on another planet and dreaming that he flies across space like a bird and arrives on Earth. Typical scenes are set in Paris and New York. Others show natural scenes such as ocean, trees, and birds. ...

It's Just Better (1982)

In a farmhouse on Cape Breton Island where Shawn Peter Dwyer, age 10, lives with his mother and nine brothers and sisters, children's pockets are usually empty and their lives well filled. ...

Kate and Anna McGarrigle (1981)

A short documentary about singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle made by animator Caroline Leaf. ...

Dief! (1981)

This documentary short is a portrait of Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and 13th prime minister of Canada, John George Diefenbaker (1895-1979). Diefenbaker's political career spanned 6 decades. When he died in 1979, his state funeral and final ...

The Sweater (1980)

Roch Carrier recounts the most mortifying moment of his childhood. At a time when all his friends worshipped Maurice "Rocket" Richard and wore his number 9 Canadiens hockey jersey, the boy was mistakenly sent a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey from Eaton's. Unab ...

Cordélia (1980)

In a little village at the end of the 1890's, a young woman offends all the 'right-thinking' villagers by allowing men in her house in the absence of her husband. When he is found dead, all of the suspicion is directed towards the liberal woman. She is jud ...

The Skiff of Renald and Thomas (1980)

Five men work together in a communal effort to build a skiff on Ile-aux-Coudres, an island in the St. Lawrence River. It is built in a traditional fashion, all the more remarkable because no blueprint is used. The film does not merely record a building tra ...

Chairmen (1978)

This short animated film presents an allegorical portrait of a society where men have lost their autonomy in the struggle to be recognized by the very society that restricts their freedom. ...

Song of the Paddle (1978)

Join outdoorsman Bill Mason in this short documentary as he and his family go canoe camping in the wilderness. Gain an appreciation for the art of canoeing while watching a small group experience the sheer joy and beauty of Nature. Along the way, the Mason ...

A Day in Forillon (1978)

This short film illustrates a day in the life at Forillon National Park. Situated on the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, the park offers spectacular views of sea, mountain and forest. A monumental landscape not to be missed. A film without words. ...

26 Times in a Row (1978)

This short documentary revisits the 1976 Olympic Marathon. A modern-day addition to the Games, the marathon commemorates the soldier who ran cross-country, in 490 B.C., to announce the Greek victory at Marathon and then died. Here, great film footage of th ...

The Gossips (1978)

This feature fiction film describes Acadia from a new and humorous angle. In a small village in the Acadian region of Nova Scotia, a couple living out of wedlock and a broad-minded priest scandalize the village gossips. They suspect that a treacherous act ...

20 Years Later (1977)

This film is about the Moroccan Jews who have come to Québec since 1956. It explodes the myth of Jewish unity, showing the Moroccans caught between the Ashkenazy Jews, English-speaking and long established, and the French-speaking Québécois. The film as ...

J.A. Martin Photographer (1977)

At the turn of the century, Rose-Aimée, the hard working wife of photographer J.A. Martin, decides to leave her children with an aunt to go with him on his annual tour of the Québec countryside. She hopes the intimacy will rekindle their marriage. ...

One Man (1977)

In this socially conscious drama, a TV journalist begins investigating a large factory that has been threatening the health of the children who live in the town's poorest, most polluted section. Because of his investigation, he and his family are threatene ...

Ethnocide: Notes on El Mezquital (1977)

Through the direct testimony of the Indians, the phenomenon of acculturation suffered by the Otomí minority of the Mezquital Valley, one of the poorest rural areas of the state of Hidalgo, in Mexico, is analyzed. It tries to show a broader problem that en ...

Back to the Land (1976)

Feature-length documentary as part of Pierre Perrault's Abitibian Cycle. The filmmaker questions the past and present of Abitibi and draws up, face to face, the promises of colonization in the 1930s and the great disappointment caused by the closing of the ...

Blanche et Claire (1976)

Waiting for Fidel (1975)

This feature-length documentary from 1974 takes viewers inside Fidel Castro's Cuba. A movie-making threesome hope that Fidel himself will star in their film. The unusual crew consists of former Newfoundland premier Joseph Smallwood, radio and TV owner Geof ...

Boo Hoo (1975)

A cemetery in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada is seen through the eyes of its former superintendent. ...

Our Dear Sisters (1975)

Alanis Obomsawin, a North American Indian who earns her living by singing and making films, is the mother of an adopted child. She talks about her life, her people, and her responsibilities as a single parent. Her observations shake some of our cultural as ...

Earthware (1975)

This short, impressionistic film takes us to Nigeria, Japan, Mexico and India, where craftsmen work clay to produce ritual vessels and everyday objects. ...

The Brothers Byrne (1975)

Torn between the world of their childhood and the world where they must now live and work, two flamboyant Newfoundlanders pay a nostalgic visit to the deserted outport where they were born. This is their story, and the story of so many others who, like the ...

My Friends Call Me Tony (1975)

Meet Tony Rossi, a 10-year-old boy who can only distinguish light from shadow. Despite this difficulty, he leads a very active life. The short documentary shows the ingenious ways in which Tony manages his life. This film is part of the Children of Canada ...

My Name Is Susan Yee (1975)

Young Chinese-Canadian Susan Yee gives a tour of Montreal. ...

...and They Lived Happily Ever After (1975)

A group of young girls and married women express their views of marriage and motherhood while glossy advertisements extolling romance, weddings, and babies flash across the screen in contrast to their words. Could the solution to dashed expectations be as ...

King of the Hill (1974)

This feature documentary follows one of the greatest Canadian baseball players of all time, Ferguson Jenkins, through the 1972-1973 season. From the hope and innocence of spring training to the dog days of an August slump, the camera gets up close and pers ...

À votre santé (1974)

Focuses on the state of the Quebec health system in the early 1970s. This film reveals the harsh reality of emergency rooms. There, medical teams, facing a serious shortage of staff, are facing a real invasion of patients. The technical means, often insuff ...

This Riel Business (1974)

This documentary short is a cinematic recording of Tales from a Prairie Drifter, a stage comedy about the North-West Resistance during the opening of the Canadian West. Highlighting the roles of Louis Riel, the Resistance leader, prime minister Sir John A. ...

The Light Fantastick (1974)

A detailed retrospective of animation and animation techniques at the National Film Board of Canada. ...

Tiger on a Tight Leash (1974)

Cathy, mother of three, is a university department head in a Maritime city. She speaks of the insecurity she experiences because of unpredictable day care arrangements, and of the reflection of the same difficulty in the work of her married students. 'They ...

Freshwater World (1974)

This documentary explores a variety of projects undertaken by scientists at Environment Canada's Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg to study the processes that pollute or disrupt clean and balanced freshwater environments. ...

The Islanders (1974)

This short film uses photographs from various public and private collections, interwoven with the memories of islanders who lived at the turn of the century, to tell the tale of how Prince Edward Island somewhat reluctantly became a Canadian province. ...

Grierson (1973)

A portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and in ...

Ten: The Magic Number (1973)

An amusing introduction to the metric system, presented through the person of George, a tropical fish fancier who is stymied in estimating the weight of his aquarium because he doesn't remember what a cubic inch of water weighs in ounces. How he is jolted ...

Du coq à l'âne (1973)

This animated film, a small educational musical comedy, offers the viewer a proper enigma. He is very smart who succeeds in solving it the first time; because against this background of cold reasoning, fantasy and delirium retain all their rights. ...

Tickets s.v.p (1973)

An incident from the early days of Québec's quiet revolution, tailor-made for the cartoonist. It is the story of a Montréal commuter train, a unilingual ticket collector and a bilingual passenger. The passenger appears on screen himself to describe his b ...

The Sunny Munchy Crunchy Natural Food Shop (1973)

This short documentary takes you on a tour of one of Montreal's first health food stores. The camera scans shelves stocked with all manner of natural foods to which nary an additive has been added: soybean and sesame seed products, wild honey, and even egg ...

Horsing Around (1973)

Humorous, full of unimaginable finds, this animated short invites the viewer to follow the antics of a horse trying to acquire a force equivalent to that of a horsepower. ...

Backyard Theatre (1973)

Backyard Theatre is a documentary about playwright Michel Tremblay and director André Brassard's flavourful brand of Quebec theatre, which captured the earthy wit and joual (slang) of Montreal's East End working-class neighbourhood. The film features impr ...

Downhill (1973)

Actor Michael Kane stars in this brief winter romance filmed partly in the dazzling outdoor splendor of a Laurentian ski resort and partly in the cardiac wing of a city hospital. It is the story of a man's second youth, the time in his middle years when he ...

Les indrogables (1972)

Air! (1972)

Although only a couple of minutes long, this animated short makes the point that oxygen is the stuff of life whether on land, in the air or water, but that it is becoming scarcer as man-made pollutants crowd it out. ...

Le reel du pendu (1972)

Feature-length documentary filmed in three locations as far apart as possible: Louisiana, Acadia and Quebec, but where Le reel du pendu is played – a musical piece performed on the violin, harmonica and guitar or the accordion for over two hundred years. ...

Anger After Death (1971)

A film mingling documentary and dramatic elements to portray the effects of the threat of chemical and biological warfare on the contemporary mentality. The chemist who manufactures the secret weapons, the scientist who comments on them with complete detac ...

Death of a Legend (1971)

This documentary film is about wolves and the negative myths surrounding the animal. Exceptional footage portrays the wolf's life cycle and the social organization of the pack, as well as film of caribou, moose, deer and buffalo. ...

The Males (1971)

Two incredibly primitive backwoods types have just been released from prison for kidnapping the local police chief's daughter but still have a hankering for a woman. When they return to their campsite, they discover a woodland nymph whom they both bed and ...

Act of the Heart (1970)

A woman's peculiar religious convictions lead her on a self-destructive path. ...

Occupation (1970)

Students seeking greater control over the hiring of faculty occupy the offices of the Political Science Department at McGill University. The film crew lives with the students and follows their action through confusion, argument, dissent, and negotiations w ...

The 80 Goes to Sparta (1969)

This feature documentary studies the different faces of Montreal's Greek community in 1969. Instead of giving voice to the businessmen and well-integrated few, the film highlights the cultural and economic problems encountered by new immigrants and their f ...

You Are on Indian Land (1969)

The territory of Akwesasne straddles the Canada-U.S. border. When Canadian authorities prohibited the duty-free cross-border passage of personal purchases - a right established by the Jay Treaty of 1794 - Kanien'kéhaka protesters blocked the international ...

Stravinsky (1966)

This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here ...

Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964)

A teenage boy rebels against parental authority and must face a harsh reality when he tries to live on his own. ...

The Hutterites (1964)

A look at the Hutterites, an Anabaptist religious community similar to the Amish or the Mennonites in rural Alberta. The followers of religious leader Jacob Hutter live in farm communities, devoutly holding to the rules their founder laid down four centur ...

Trans-Canada Journey (1963)

A jetliner spans the miles, sheering through clouds to open sky and scenic vistas of the provinces below. Glimpses of town and country, of people of many ethnic origins, of a resourceful and industrious nation - impressions it would take days and weeks to ...

Robert Baldwin: A Matter Of Principle (1961)

This film is a reconstruction of Robert Baldwin's involvement in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Though bound to the cause of constitutional reform by principle, Baldwin's heart was with the rebels and in the midst of armed revolt, he withdrew to fight ...

La tête au neutre (1972)