Kathleen Shannon

I Love You Forever (2025)

A subversive romantic comedy gone wrong that follows a young woman into and out of an emotionally abusive relationship. ...

Full Circle (1992)

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

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 ...

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 ...

Illuminated Lives: A Brief History of Women's Work in the Middle Ages (1989)

This animated short challenges enduring myths, spawned by fairy tales and romances, about women in medieval society. It explores the differences and similarities between that distant period and our own, and shows what medieval women's lives were really lik ...

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 ...

Sylvie's Story (1986)

This short film recreates the experience of Sylvie, a battered woman who seeks shelter in a Montréal transition house. Faced with the threat of violence, loneliness, the lack of financial resources or information about services, the victim is often unders ...

A Safe Distance (1986)

The short documentary looks at some innovative approaches to providing services and accommodation for battered women in rural, northern, and Native communities. Filmed in Thompson and Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, and West Bay Reserve, Ontario, the film in ...

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 ...

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 ...

Waterwalker (1984)

Naturalist Bill Mason on his journey by canoe into the Ontario wilderness. The filmmaker and artist begins on Lake Superior, then explores winding and sometimes tortuous river waters to the meadowlands of the river's source. Along the way, Mason paints sce ...

Turnaround: A Story of Recovery (1984)

The women who seek help at Aurora House share a common illness: they are physically and psychologically dependent on alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, or a combination of these. This documentary focuses on the lives of five women at various stages ...

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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

Julie O'Brien (1981)

Depiction of Newfoundland's "old times" as seen by Julie O'Brien, an 11-year-old living in Tors Cove. Told in the first person with cutaway shots to the girl's many activities, the film illustrates the way traditions are maintained, remembered and evolved. ...

Laila (1980)

Laila Paattinen is a working woman. Tired of low-paying jobs, she completed a five-month course in dry-wall installation. Because she had chosen a non-traditional job for women, she ran into resistance in the marketplace. She finally solved her problems by ...

The Right Candidate for Rosedale (1979)

This short documentary records Anne Cools' 1978 run for the Liberal Party nomination in Rosedale, one of Toronto's largest and socially most diverse federal ridings. The film records her bid for political power, and explains the nomination contest, a basic ...

Some American Feminists (1978)

A series of interviews, combined with newsreel footage, that placed the American feminist movement in historical perspective. Six of the movement's founding women, including Betty Friedan and Kate Millett, discuss the issues that most concern them. ...

Canada Vignettes: Holidays (1978)

A montage of watercolour images of the work and occasional play of a farm family. ...

Canada Vignettes: Stunt Family (1978)

This short film from the Canada Vignettes series profiles a unique French-Canadian family, the Fourniers, 12 of whom work as stunt men and women for films. ...

Gurdeep Singh Bains (1977)

Gurdeep is a thirteen-year-old Canadian Sikh whose family runs a dairy farm near Chilliwack, British Columbia. They have retained their language and religion. Attendance at the Sikh temple, playing soccer with his schoolmates, and working on the farm are a ...

I'll Find a Way (1977)

When nine-year-old Nadia is allowed to attend a regular school, she knows the kids will tease her but she'll "find a way to deal with it." Nadia has spina bifida, a congenital condition that has caused a lack of sensation from the knees down. She uses crut ...

Beautiful Lennard Island (1977)

Kevin Alec (1977)

In the mountainous country near Lillooet, British Columbia, eleven-year-old Kevin Alec of the Fountain Indian Reserve learns to make fishnets with his grandfather, and skin and tan hides with his aunt. He goes fishing with his grandmother and horseback rid ...

Great Grand Mother (1975)

This short film is an ode to the women who settled the Prairies, from the days of early immigration to 1916 - when Manitobans became the first women in Canada to receive the provincial vote - and beyond. Recollections of women are complemented by a series ...

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 ...

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 ...

Goldwood (1975)

Kathleen Shannon describes the look and feel of her childhood to an artist friend, and uses his paintings and her visit to the ruins of the mining site where she grew up to reflect on her early life and how it influenced the adult she became. ...

...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 ...

Like the Trees (1974)

This short film is told in the first person by Rose, a Métis woman from northern Alberta who has left a difficult life in the city to rediscover her roots by returning to her Woodland Cree community. Rose reveals the racism, isolation and health issues sh ...

Luckily I Need Little Sleep (1974)

Kathy worked as a nurse in Greece and then came to Canada. She and her family live in northern Alberta, where they are developing a farm. Kathy works outside the home as a nurse, sews for the children, maintains the house, and helps with the farm work. ...

Would I Ever Like to Work (1974)

Joan is a welfare mother with seven children. Originally from the Maritimes, she now lives in Montréal. She would like to work as a waitress, and feels she'd be a better mother if she could. But day care costs more than she can afford. ...

They appreciate you more (1974)

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 ...

Mothers Are People (1974)

Joy is a research biologist, a consultant to a large company. She is also a widow with two school-age children. In discussing her own dilemmas she speaks for many other women. "The powers that be know that women do work, but they turn a deaf ear." Apart fr ...

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 ...

Powwow at Duck Lake (1967)

This powerful short documentary showing Indigenous youth resistance and emerging voices that will continue to define the landscape of Indigenous cultural and political activism for the next generation. Members of the National Youth Council, including Duke ...

23 Skidoo (1964)

If you erase the people of downtown America, the effect is bizarre, not to say disturbing. That is what this film does. It shows the familiar urban scene without a soul in sight: streets empty, buildings empty, yet everywhere there is evidence of recent li ...

The Persistent Seed (1963)

A film by Christopher Chapman, known for his lyrical films of countryside and wilderness. He turns his colour camera on the growing city and there finds cheering proof that despite concrete and bulldozer, the persistent seed prevails. The film is without c ...

My Financial Career (1962)

A neurotic man relates his unsuccessful attempt to open a simple savings account at a bank. ...

Lonely Boy (1962)

This short film portrays the story of singer Paul Anka, who rose from obscurity to become the idol of millions of adolescent fans around the world. Taking a candid look at both sides of the footlights, this film examines the marketing machine behind a gene ...

Runner (1962)

Young long-distance runner Bruce Kidd practices and competes. ...

Buddhism (1962)

In this short documentary we learn the back story of the Buddha – the religion he founded and how it is manifested today. Travel through Southeast Asia to India, Burma, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Thailand, Japan, China and many other countries to disco ...

Georges-Étienne Cartier - The Lion of Québec (1962)

This short biopic profiles Montreal lawyer-turned-politician George-Étienne Cartier as he campaigns to unite English and French Canada under Confederation. The political world of a century ago comes to life as we hear debates in the Parliament of Upper an ...

Circle of the Sun (1961)

A young man of the Kainai Nation (Blood tribe) shows us contemporary life of people as he attends a Sun Dance ceremony with the tribe. ...

Festival in Puerto Rico (1961)

This short documentary features Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester as she sings at the Festival Casals, a musical event founded by the great Spanish cellist and conductor Pablo Casals and sponsored annually by the Puerto Rican government. Part concert fi ...

The Days of Whisky Gap (1961)

Rousing tales of the North-West Mounted Police are brought to life through photos and artists' sketches. In 1873, the North-West Mounted Police were established to maintain law and order in the North-West Territories. They undertook a trek from Fort Duffer ...

Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia (1961)

This short drama is a portrait of Nova Scotian journalist and politician Joseph Howe (1804-1873) and his battle for freedom of press. When, in 1835, Howe was accused of seditious libel, no lawyer dared defend him. Choosing to defend himself, he addressed t ...

Universe (1960)

A triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space, this film was among the sources of inspiration used by Stanley Kubrick for his 2001: A Space Odyssey. Realistic anima ...

The Cars in Your Life (1960)

A light, humorous look at the motor car and the great North American itch for a place on the road. From the comparative peace of Honest Joe's used-car lot, this film hustles you onto our public speedways, where hot rubber erases any distance between all po ...

Four Families (1960)

A cross-cultural study of child-rearing in India, France, Japan, and Canada, observing how family practices around a one-year-old reflect broader cultural values, with commentary by Margaret Mead. ...

Emergency Ward (1959)

This 1959 documentary short is a frank portrait of the daily operations inside the Montreal General Hospital's emergency ward. ...

Train 406 (1958)

This short documentary offers a step-by-step account of a fast freight train on a run from Toronto to Halifax, with glimpses of the vast amount of organization necessary in the operation of a country-wide transportation network. ...

Wolfe and Montcalm (1957)

Two generals prepare for battle at the Plains of Abraham. ...

Fires of Envy (1957)

A dramatization of Canadian author W.O. Mitchell's penetrating story about the racial prejudice encountered by a Polish immigrant farmer in a rural Saskatchewan community. ...

Kathleen Shannon: On Film, Feminism & Other Dreams (1997)

With quiet intelligence and wry humour, retired documentary filmmaker Kathleen Shannon takes us through the arc of her life and career. Beginning with childhood, moving through her formative years, to her overwhelming desire to give women a chance to tell ...

Goldwood (1975)

Kathleen Shannon describes the look and feel of her childhood to an artist friend, and uses his paintings and her visit to the ruins of the mining site where she grew up to reflect on her early life and how it influenced the adult she became. ...