Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell 2012

7.10

Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending of their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.

2012

The Boys of St. Vincent: 15 Years Later

The Boys of St. Vincent: 15 Years Later 1992

6.50

Fifteen years after the events of The Boys of St. Vincent took place, the various boys involved are brought in to testify against the brothers, now finally standing trial, who assaulted them when they were children.

1992

Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry

Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry 1976

5.70

This feature-length Oscar®-nominated documentary focuses on Malcolm Lowry, author of one of the major novels of the 20th century, Under the Volcano. But while Lowry fought a winning battle with words, he lost his battle with alcohol. Shot on location in four countries, the film combines photographs, readings by Richard Burton from the novel and interviews with the people who loved and hated Lowry, to create a vivid portrait of the man.

1976

Léolo

Léolo 1992

7.10

The story of an imaginative boy who pretends he is the child of a sperm-laden Sicilian tomato upon which his mother accidentally fell.

1992

The Last Trapper

The Last Trapper 2004

6.80

Norman is not just an admirer of nature, he's a part of it. He survives the harshness of the climate and the wildlife by coexisting with it. With his wife Nebraska, they live almost entirely off the land, making money by selling their furs.

2004

Surviving Progress

Surviving Progress 2011

7.20

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

2011

To Kill a Tiger

To Kill a Tiger 2023

7.50

Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

2023

The Man Who Planted Trees

The Man Who Planted Trees 1987

8.00

The story of one shepherd's single-handed quest to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the French Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century.

1987

Subservience

Subservience 2007

5.50

The selfishness of the bourgeoisie and the dull passivity of its servants are the theme of this puppet animation presenting the tragicomedy of a society in its death throes, taking refuge in absurd behaviour.

2007

The Forbidden Room

The Forbidden Room 2015

5.70

A submarine crew, a feared pack of forest bandits, a famous surgeon, and a battalion of child soldiers all get more than they bargained for as they wend their way toward progressive ideas on life and love.

2015

The Big Snit

The Big Snit 1985

7.10

A couple has a fight over a game of Scrabble unaware that a full-scale nuclear war has started.

1985

Ryan

Ryan 2004

6.60

Centres on Canadian animator Ryan Larkin, who in later years lived on skid row in Montreal following a history of drug and alcohol abuse.

2004

Blinkity Blank

Blinkity Blank 1955

6.22

A playful exercise in intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. Playing with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after-image on the retina of the eye, McLaren engraves pictures on blank film creating vivid, percussive effects.

1955

The Cat Came Back

The Cat Came Back 1988

7.00

A pesky yellow cat becomes the bane of Mr. Johnson's life as it constantly outsmarts his increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of it.

1988

The Railrodder

The Railrodder 1965

6.60

After literally swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, an Englishman takes a country trip across Canada on a railcar.

1965

Cry of the Wild

Cry of the Wild 1973

6.00

This feature-length documentary from Bill Mason imparts his affection for the big northern timber wolves and the pure-white Arctic wolves. Filmed over three years in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, the High Arctic and his home near the Gatineau Hills in Quebec, Mason sets out to dispel the myth of the bloodthirsty wolf. Going beyond the wolf's natural habitat, Mason relocated three young wolves to his own property and was able to film tribal customs, mating and birth. As a result, Cry of the Wild offers viewers access to moments in wildlife never before seen on film.

1973

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives 1992

6.40

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 etiquette of butch and femme roles. Interspersed among the interviews and archival footage are four dramatized chapters from a pulp novel, "Forbidden Love".

1992