Ron Alexander

Lesbians (1986)

Three politically incorrect lesbians talk about being lesbian. ...

Seconds to Play (1976)

A documentary detailing the live ABC broadcasting of a 1975 college football game from the Los Angeles Memorial Colosseum, between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the UCLA Bruins, taking us behind the scenes into the fast-paced demands and technical impediment ...

Ballet Adagio (1972)

A slow-motion study by Norman McLaren of the pas-de-deux adagio, one of the most exacting and difficult dances of classical ballet. A ballet originally choreographed by the Russian ballet master Asaf Messerer is performed for this film by the international ...

When I Go - That's It! (1972)

Ex-fisherman Billy Crane in Brampton, Ontario, at an industrial job with regular hours. Here he tells why he left Fogo Island and says he has no regrets. (See also Billy Crane Moves Away. ...

Act of the Heart (1970)

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

Ashes of Doom (1970)

A chain-smoking woman has an encounter with a vampire. ...

The Hoarder (1969)

A greedy little blue jay carries away whatever his beak can grasp. Berries, birds' eggs (nests and all), and even the sun in the sky go into his secret cache. ...

Pas de Deux (1968)

Two ballet dancers perform a dance enhanced with surreal after-image visuals. ...

Fluxes (1968)

Fluxes is Arthur Lipsett's view of the human condition and the mixed-up planet where humans are found. As in his other films (Very Nice, Very Nice; 21-87), Fluxes has a disconnected flow of images that, in their erratic way, build up into a cutting indictm ...

Blades and Brass (1967)

This short documentary showcases the best of the 1967 National Hockey League season, set to music in the Tijuana Brass style. Filmed with an eye to grace and style of movement, the film suggests the bullring as much as the hockey arena. ...

The Times That Are (1967)

Four years after Pour la suite du monde (1963), director Pierre Perrault asks Alexis Tremblay if he'll agree to travel with his wife Marie to the country of their ancestors, France. In a montage parallel, we follow them in France and listen to them talking ...

Sabre and Foil (1967)

The ancient and deadly sport of fencing, demonstrated by world masters in competition. The film is not a record of individual duels but it does capture the cool, merciless attack in a way to focus the eye on every swift maneuver. The cold clash of steel on ...

Waiting for Caroline (1967)

An indecisive young woman with an abnormal devotion to her father can't decide on which of her two boyfriends she should end her relationship with. ...

Kurelek (1967)

A documentary about the self-taught painter William Kurelek, told through his paintings. There are scenes of village life in the Ukraine and the early days of struggle on a prairie homestead and the growing comfort of family life. In Ontario, Kurelek paint ...

A Child in His Country (1967)

A childhood fantasy where dreams carry a boy far to adventure. He arrives in Canada on an ocean liner and is, in turn, a hunter of polar bear, a cowboy, a hockey star, and a swimmer. ...

A Search for Learning (1967)

A film for teachers, describing the use of the "discovery method" in teaching. All it needs is a teacher whose encouragement is natural and unobtrusive. The film shows a free environment where even the furniture can be arranged to meet the needs of a parti ...

A Trip Down Memory Lane (1966)

In this experimental collage film, Arthur Lipsett reworks over fifty years of newsreel footage into a surreal audiovisual montage of twentieth-century life. Juxtaposing images of scientific progress, political figures, spectacle, warfare, and everyday leis ...

YUL 871 (1966)

An engineer from Paris flies to Montreal, partly on business, partly in search of parents displaced by World War II, and partly because of the prevailing restlessness of the age. ...

Paddle to the Sea (1966)

A boy's carved boat travels through the Canadian wilderness until it reaches the ocean. ...

Helicopter Canada (1966)

A view from a helicopter of the ten Canadian provinces in 1966. The result is a big, beautiful and engrossing bird's-eye portrait of the country. Nothing here is quite the same as seen before, even Niagara Falls. Canadians will be thrilled by this panorami ...

Angel (1966)

In this short film, a young man, a girl and a dog attempt to fly with wings more symbolic than practical. ...

Cityscape: Impressions of a City (1966)

In this experimental animated short, Ryan Larkin (Walking) creates a series of figures who move across the screen and disappear into a hole. Eventually, the hole metamorphoses into a bridge, on top of which stands the young man from whom the others figures ...

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 ...

Notes for a Film About Donna & Gail (1966)

The story of two young women who go to the city to work in a dress factory, and who share a room to ease their expenses and their loneliness. The film shows the currents that brought them together and the facets of their natures that first made them seem c ...

Never a Backward Step (1966)

This feature documentary is a profile of Canadian press tycoon Roy Thomson, whose single-minded attention to business brought him riches, power, and even a baronetcy in England. A native of Timmins, Ontario, Thomson had a tremendous career as publisher, te ...

Knowing to Learn (1966)

This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tap ...

Bird of Passage (1966)

A young Japanese-Canadian businessman, now established in Montréal, recalls the time during World War II when the Japanese-Canadian community of Canada's west coast was uprooted and moved inland. There are some flashbacks to the events he describes, but t ...

The Quiet Racket (1966)

This short film tells the amusing tale of a man who feels the common urge to escape the city's noise for the weekend. Made without words, but with a wide range of other sounds, this film tracks our hero to a perfect haven of pandemonium. The countryside, i ...

60 Cycles (1965)

On your marks. Follow cyclists from 13 countries as they cover 2.400 km of Gaspé countryside in 12 days-a course longer than those of Italy, Belgium or Spain. The long shots of curving landscape and open road are set to a mesmerizing soundtrack in this do ...

The Merry World of Leopold Z (1965)

A worker, called in a hurry to remove the snow in the city street, try to buy his remaining gifts in the tumult of Christmas eve without quitting his work. ...

Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965)

In the fall of 1964, just over a year before his death, Buster Keaton traveled to Canada to make The Railrodder, a short subject that now enjoys a small cult following. Documenting this mobile production in fascinating and unexpected detail, Buster Keaton ...

Mosaic (1965)

A man sets a ping-pong ball into motion and it becomes fruitful and multiplies. ...

Mission of Fear (1965)

A young Jesuit missionary reflects on his life and his faith while awaiting his execution at the hands of the Native Americans he came to convert. ...

High Steel (1965)

A dizzying view of Manhattan in the 1960s, the tallest town in the world, and the men who work cloud-high to keep it growing. They are the Mohawk Indians from Kahnawake, near Montréal, famed for their skill in erecting the steel frames of skyscrapers. The ...

Judoka (1965)

The unusual short story of a Canadian Judoka Doug Rogers, who developed, in Japan, a talent for Judo that led him into competition for the world championships at the Tokyo Olympics and subsequent competition at the Pan American Games. The short film shows ...

You're No Good (1965)

Troubled youth Eddie McGeer, on a whim, steals a motorcycle and takes it on a short joy ride with his girlfriend Marie before they ditch it when they hear police sirens. Indeed, the police do know he stole the bike. Eddie doesn't know what to do except han ...

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. ...

Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak (1964)

This documentary shows how an Inuit artist's drawings are transferred to stone, printed and sold. Kenojuak Ashevak became the first woman involved with the printmaking co-operative in Cape Dorset. This film was nominated for the 1963 Documentary Short Subj ...

The End of Summer (1964)

A 16 year old girl recalls the last moments of her summer vacation, spent with friends in the Laurentians north of Montreal. She reminisces about their talks on life, death, love, and God. Shot in direct cinema style, working from a script that left room f ...

The Big Swim (1964)

This short documentary shows Canada's top swimmers in training for the 1964 Olympic Games. Under the critical eye of coach Ed Healy, they practice long hours in the gym and in the pool to build strength and stamina. ...

Phoebe (1964)

A young, unmarried teenager finds herself pregnant. The film mirrors the state of her mind as she worries about the possible positive and negative reactions of her parents, boyfriend, etc in a series of vignettes. ...

Percé on the Rocks (1964)

This quirky little short by Gilles Carle was filmed on the pierced rock that stands near Quebec's Gaspé peninsula. It is perhaps the most photographed natural phenomenon on Canada's East Coast. Shot in the 1960s, the film has a very psychedelic feel to it ...

Huit témoins (1964)

Filmed in 1964, this feature-length documentary by Jacques Godbout explores the world of delinquency through the stories of eight young people who have already committed offenses. With a touch of humor, the filmmaker paints a portrait of these youths from ...

Haida Carver (1964)

On Canada's Pacific coast this film finds a young Haida artist, Robert Davidson, shaping miniature totems from argillite, a jet-like stone. The film follows the artist to the island where he finds the stone, and then shows how he carves it in the manner of ...

Country Auction (1964)

Household effects and farm implements under the hammer. Here is the auctioneer's cajoling patter, the jostling crowd, pungent observations from one or two old-timers and, over all, the kindly curiosity of folks who gather to see the end of a neighbour's li ...

Fields of Sacrifice (1963)

This 1964 documentary returns to the battlefields where over 100,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. The film also visits cemeteries where servicemen are buried. Filmed from Hong Kong to Sicily, this documentary is de ...

Of Whales, the Moon, and Men (1963)

At the instigation of the filmmakers, the young men of the Ile-aux-Coudres in the middle of the St-Lawrence River try as a memorial to their ancestors to revive the fishing of the belugas interrupted in 1924. ...

Kindergarten (1963)

One day in a kindergarten classroom at Van Horne Public School in Montreal. The teacher encourages children to turn their curiosity into questions and organizes group activities and play periods. ...

The Rink (1963)

This short, silent film captures a Sunday afternoon at a community skating rink. Iconic Quebec director Gilles Carle has the camera follow toddlers learning to skate, young girls flashing their skates and boys decked out in the colours of their favourite h ...

Toronto Jazz (1963)

Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau Trio, the Don Thompson Quintet and the Alf Jones Quartet. Their styles show creative self-expression, hard ...

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 ...

Cornet at Night (1963)

Based on a short story by Sinclair Ross, this short film recalls rural life on the Prairies in the 1930s. In the film a farmer's young son, sent to town to hire a man for the harvest, readily accepts when an itinerant trumpet player, down on his luck, begs ...

My Financial Career (1962)

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

September Five at Saint-Henri (1962)

This short film is a series of vignettes of life in Saint-Henri, a Montreal working-class district, on the first day of school. From dawn to midnight, we take in the neighbourhood's pulse: a mother fussing over children, a father's enforced idleness, teena ...

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 ...

Drylanders (1962)

The epic story of the opening of the Canadian West and the drought that brought the Depression in the thirties. This is the saga of a family who left eastern Canada to stake their future in the Prairies. ...

Visit to a Foreign Country (1962)

They come in high-powered convertibles, with cameras and curiosity, to look at French Canada and French-Canadians. Their usual objective is Québec City, where they can soak up a bit of French culture without a trip to France. With an eye for humour, VISIT ...

Children of Silence (1962)

This film looks at the world of children with hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis. With its straightforward, rigorous cinematic style and intimate approach to the subject, the film focuses on the human rather than the technical side of the p ...

Magic Molecule (1962)

A film showing the new world created by the techniques and processes of the plastics industry. Transmuted from coal, oil or wood, synthetic substances can make thousands of new products, from silk threads to furniture. With a light and lively treatment, th ...

Strangers for the Day (1962)

This short documentary shows the reactions of European immigrants as they land in Halifax at the beginning of the 1960s. From the port, we follow them on a snowy journey by train to Montreal. ...

The Joy of Winter (1962)

How Canadians adjust to their long, snowbound season. Filmed with humour, 'The Joy of Winter' shows people making the best of what they cannot change. From tiny tots to human polar bears the film leaves no doubt that, in the eyes of many Canadians, winter ...

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. ...

Cattle Ranch (1961)

This short documentary offers a portrait of life on a cattle ranch, for both its human and animal inhabitants. Featuring sprightly music by folk singer Pete Seeger and narration by theatre actress Frances Hyland, the film is shot through the seasons on a l ...

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 ...

Golden Gloves (1961)

A classic NFB documentary about the Golden Gloves boxing tournament, the Canadian amateur's hope for success in the boxing world. This Gilles Groulx film shows three Montreal boxers in training. In behind-the-scenes interviews they talk about their ambitio ...

Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-God (1961)

This short drama is a portrait of Quebec lawyer and politician Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871). A proud, defiant man, skillful in parliamentary debate, and Speaker of the Lower House, his heart was with the people being pillaged by the business elite. Wh ...

Yukon Old, Yukon New (1961)

The old spirit of the Yukon returns as Dawson City prepares for its Discovery Day celebrations. Witness a round of nostalgic scenes: a main street parade, refurbished saloons, the can-can. Time recedes as the film explores the hazardous mountain passes and ...

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 ...

Emergency Ward (1959)

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

Glenn Gould: Off the Record (1959)

Canadian concert pianist Glenn Gould enjoys a respite at his lakeside cottage. It is an aspect of Gould previously known only to the collie pacing beside him through the woods, the fishermen resting their oars to hear his piano, and fellow musicians like F ...

Glenn Gould: On the Record (1959)

This short documentary (the second of two parts) follows Glenn Gould to New York City. There, we see the renowned Canadian concert pianist kidding the cab driver, bantering with sound engineers at Columbia Records, and then, alone with the piano, fastidiou ...

The Promised Land (1959)

Pioneers struggle to establish a town in the harsh unsettled wilderness of northern Quebec during the depression. ...

Tourist Go Home (1959)

This short film is a humorous look at the tourist industry in Canada. In tongue-in-cheek fashion, it points out the importance of good public relations in the tourist industry - more specifically, what not to do to tourists. (Sourced from the National Film ...

Télesphore Légaré, garde-pêche (1959)

A Foreign Language (1958)

This film observes, in a Montréal public school, the teaching of English to immigrant children. To thousands of children arriving in Canada from Greece, Italy, France, Germany or Japan, English is "a foreign language." Under able coaching they begin to un ...

The Snowshoers (1958)

This short documentary records the celebration and ritual surrounding a snowshoe competition in Sherbrooke in the late 1950s. The film marked the beginning of a new approach to reality in documentary and prefigures the trademark style of the NFB's newly fo ...

A Day in June (1958)

This short documentary profiles Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal in 1959. The annual parade takes place every June 24th in memory of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the patron saint of Québec. Candid shots of youngsters preparing their costumes for the fes ...

Laundromat (2008)

Set in a neighborhood laundromat, "Laundromat" is a Romantic drama-edy that follows a young gay couple, who after a chance encounter with an older man, realize that the little things mean nothing and everything when it comes to love. ...