All the knowledge that they teach us, we cannot eat it.
For ancient Mayans, cocoa was as good as gold. For subsistence farmer Eladio Pop, his cocoa crops are the only riches he has to support his wife and 15 children. As he wields his machete with ease, slicing a path to his cocoa trees, the small jungle plot he cultivates in southern Belize remains pristine and wild. His dreams for his children to inherit the land and the traditions of their Mayan ancestors present a familiar challenge. The kids feel their father's philosophies don't fit into a global economy, so they're charting their own course. Rohan Fernando's direction tenderly displays a generational shift, causalities of progress in modern times and a man valiantly protecting an endangered culture. Breathtaking vistas of lush rainforests contrast with the urban dystopia that pulled Pops children away from him. Will one child return to carry on a waning way of life
05 Apr 2025
After a devastating fire ravages a milking parlor, a family and its community rally together. This short documentary showcases a journey of resilience, as a family farm rises from the ashes into a new era of cutting-edge robotic technology. The film explores the innovation in modern agriculture, shedding light on the strength of farming communities and the power of perseverance in the face of adversity.
07 Nov 2021
How did the willful daughter of a Himalayan forest conservator become Monsanto’s worst nightmare? The Seeds of Vandana Shiva tells the remarkable life story of Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva, how she stood up to the corporate Goliaths of industrial agriculture, rose to prominence in the regenerative food movement, and inspired an international crusade for change.
21 Feb 2025
Weaving animation and live action, Northlore delves into the transformational stories of people living in Canada’s North and their deep connection to the land and its wildlife.
19 Jul 1963
The people of Unamenshipu (La Romaine), an Innu community in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, are seen but not heard in this richly detailed documentary about the rituals surrounding an Innu caribou hunt. Released in 1960, it’s one of 13 titles in Au Pays de Neufve-France, a series of poetic documentary shorts about life along the St. Lawrence River. Off-camera narration, written by Pierre Perrault, frames the Innu participants through an ethnographic lens. Co-directed by René Bonnière and Perrault, a founding figure of Quebec’s direct cinema movement.
14 May 2022
In a dark, ambiguous environment, minuscule particles drift slowly before the lens. The image focuses to reveal spruce trees and tall pines, while Innu voices tell us the story of this territory, this flooded forest. Muffled percussive sounds gradually become louder, suggesting the presence of a hydroelectric dam. The submerged trees gradually transform into firebrands as whispers bring back the stories of this forest.
05 Nov 2012
The story of a town at the mercy of a landscape in transformation; standing on the brink of an encroaching reality, one in which the age-old fears of the inhabitants are being reproduced. A hamlet has survived, perched in a remote location where its children can grow up and the elderly can die and stay there.
11 Jun 2022
One of the great mysteries of history is how the ancient Maya built such an incredible society in a tropical rainforest over two thousand years - and then vanished. How? Why? New discoveries and new science can now tell the story.
07 Jun 2018
Euller Miller is a young native Brazilian of kaiwá ethnicity who leaves his small village just outside of Dourados (MS) to study dentistry at a public university in the crowded capital city of the state of Paraná. The film follows the complex transition between two very different worlds and the search for new horizons without abandoning his indigenous roots.
16 Oct 1989
A film made by Victress Hitchcock and Ava Hamilton in 1989 on the Wind River Reservation for Wyoming Public Television.
11 Mar 2016
A cinematic portrait of farmer and writer Wendell Berry. Through his eyes, we see both the changing landscapes of rural America in the era of industrial agriculture and the redemptive beauty in taking the unworn path.
01 Jan 1970
When Masset, a Haida village in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), held a potlatch, it seemed as if the past grandeur of the people had returned. This is a colourful recreation of Indigenous life that faded more than two generations ago when the great totems were toppled by the missionaries and the costly potlatch was forbidden by law. The film shows how one village lived again the old glory, with singing, dancing, feasting, and the raising of a towering totem as a lasting reminder of what once was.
06 May 2021
After marrying a settler, Mary Two-Axe Earley lost her legal status as a First Nations woman. Dedicating her life to activism, she campaigned to have First Nations women's rights restored and coordinated a movement that continues to this day. Kahnawake filmmaker Courtney Montour honours this inspiring leader while drawing attention to contemporary injustices that remain in this era of truth and reconciliation.
01 Jan 1989
In this short documentary, five black women talk about their lives in rural and urban Canada between the 1920s and 1950s. What emerges is a unique history of Canada’s black people and the legacy of their community elders. Produced by the NFB’s iconic Studio D.
19 Apr 2021
'Falas da Terra' sheds light on the plurality and the struggle of the indigenous people for the right to exist, in a historical rescue of valuing their cultures.
09 Dec 2012
This documentary exposes the massive public health dangers of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The film features the world's leading scientists, physicians, professors, politicians, attorneys, and environmental activists who reveal the frightening truth surrounding the vast use of GMOs in our food supply. You'll see the deception and deep layers of corruption being perpetuated against the public at large by the world's largest and most powerful biotechnology companies, chemical companies, agricultural companies, and governments.
01 Jan 2019
When the immigrants came to America, their cultures entered the "great melting pot." In Michigan's Upper Peninsula Finnish immigrants mixed their musical traditions with many other cultures, creating a sound that was unique to the "Copper Country."
01 Dec 1983
No overview found
08 Dec 2012
Ever since it was revealed that the chocolate industry is involved with child slavery in the Ivory Coast, the industry has been busy – due to consumer demands – explaining what exactly it does to actively fight trafficking and child labour. But does the industry live up to its own promises?In this investigative film, director Miki Mistrati tries to find out, if the chocolate industry – which is one of the largest corporations in the world – speak the truth, when they say that they provide education, medical care etc for the children of the Ivory Coast. But the project runs into trouble already from the get-go, because the embassy of the Ivory Coast won’t let Miki enter the country until he has an invitation – from the chocolate industry.
10 Feb 2010
A documentary investigation of the world of French agriculture today through various testimonials. A world that manages to resist the upheavals that it faces – economic, scientific, social – and which continues, for better or for worse, to maintain the link between generations.
01 Jan 1981
This documentary short is a visual portrait of “Prairie Sentinels,” the vertical grain elevators that once dotted the Canadian Prairies. Surveying an old diesel elevator’s day-to-day operations, this film is a simple, honest vignette on the distinctive wooden structures that would eventually become a symbol of the Prairie provinces.