Peter Raymont

History · Music

A confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robbie Robertson's young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band.

Documentary

Vancouver-based filmmaker and TV news veteran Fred Peabody explores the life and legacy of the maverick American journalist I.F. Stone, whose long one-man crusade against government deception lives on in the work of such contemporary filmmakers and journalists as Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, David Corn, and Matt Taibbi.

Documentary

William Shatner sits down with scientists, innovators and celebrities to discuss how the optimism of 'Star Trek' influenced multiple generations.

Documentary

The views and thoughts of Canadian writer Margaret Atwood have never been more relevant than today. Readers turn to her work for answers as they confront the rise of authoritarian leaders, deal with increasingly intrusive technologies, and discuss climate change. Her books are useful as survival tools for hard times. But few know her private life. Who is the woman behind the stories? How does she always seem to know what is coming?

Documentary · Music

A documentary on the mysterious and influential pianist.

Documentary

The story of Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire and his controversial command of the United Nations mission to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. The documentary was inspired by the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda which was published in 2003.

Documentary

A democracy should protect its most vulnerable citizens, but increasingly the United States is failing to do so. This investigation blends the insights of experts with the experiences of citizens of the Rust Belt in the Midwest where the steel industry once flourished, but where closures and outsourcing have left urban areas desolate. It is here where Donald Trump finds some of his most fervent supporters.

Documentary

Magic in the Sky investigates the impact of television on the Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic. The film also documents the establishment of the first Inuit-language television network, called Inukshuk, which began broadcasting to six Inuit communities in December 1980. The Inuit's efforts to create an indigenous television network mirrors the struggle of any culture trying to preserve its unique identity.

Documentary · Drama

We are engulfed in a digital tsunami—a toxic mix of artificial intelligence, state and corporate surveillance, and social media addiction controlled by powerful algorithms. Digital Tsunami shows how these are all elements of a digital ecosystem that is changing us as humans—just as the prophetic media guru Marshall McLuhan predicted 60 years ago. The unexpected consequences of this digital revolution have created an urgent need for strategies for survival.

Documentary

Native control of education is explored in THE LEARNING PATH. Director Todd, a Metis, introduces Edmonton elders Ann Anderson, Eva Cardinal, and Olive Dickason, remarkable educators who are working with younger natives. They recount harrowing experiences at reservation schools, memories which fuelled their determination to preserve their language and identities. Using a unique blend of documentary footage, dramatic re-enactments, and archival film, Todd weaves together the life stories of three unsung heroines who are making education relevant in today's native communities.

Documentary

Lumsden, Saskatchewan is a town of 850 citizens on a river called the Qu'Appelle. In the spring of 1974, the river doubled its volume and threatened to flood the town. The townspeople organized themselves and the whole province stood behind them. Lumsden is the story of an incredible battle against impossible odds.

Documentary

This feature documentary reveals how Bank of Montreal chairman William Mulholland dealt with his debt-laden customers Dome Petroleum and Mexico during the global debt crisis of '82. Interviews with bankers and financial experts demystify the causes of debt crisis, confirm the fragility of the international banking system and outline the problems to be solved if the system is to survive.

Documentary

This documentary examines the media's coverage of the Canadian federal election of May 1979. Filmed over a 3-week period, it takes a fascinating look at journalists in action and the politicians who attempt to manipulate the media.

Documentary · Animation

Made up of excerpts from animation films made at the Cape Dorset animation workshop, interspersed with live-action footage of modern-day Cape Dorset. The contrast is uncomfortably evident.

Documentary · TV Movie

Admirers of Lawren Harris, founding member of the iconic Group of Seven, discuss his paintings and his place in the pantheon of Canadian artists.

Documentary

This film joins a hunting-party of inhabitants of the Frobisher Bay Correctional Centre. The stalking, killing and skinning of seal and caribou are featured prominently, with explanations as to the importance of these animals to the Inuit way of life.

Documentary

Mosha Michael made an assured directorial debut with this seven-minute short, a relaxed, narration-free depiction of an Inuk seal hunt. Having participated in a 1974 Super 8 workshop in Frobisher Bay, Michael shot and edited the film himself. His voice can be heard on the appealing guitar-based soundtrack…. Natsik Hunting is believed to be Canada’s first Inuk-directed film. – NFB

Documentary

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of 1975, hailed by governments as a model for future land claims and self-government settlements - is considered Canada's first "modern Treaty." 15 years later, Robert Bourassa's dream of northern hydro-electric power has become a nightmare for the James Bay Cree. In FLOODING JOB'S GARDEN, Boyce Richardson revisits communities he first filmed in the 1970s, before Hydro Quebec began its work, documenting 20 years of massive change in Cree country. As Bourassa and Hydro Quebec prepare for Phase 2, the Crees are mounting an international campaign to protect the environment and ensure responsible development.

Documentary

The human side of town planning, as exemplified in Baltimore, Maryland. The Coldspring Project concerned a proposed housing development for lower and upper income levels on a three hundred-acre site adjoining a wildlife sanctuary. The film records the differences aired in meetings of various interest groups that tried to modify the plan according to their views, and the compromise reached, based on plans drawn up by Montréal architect Moshe Safdie.

Documentary

Following the first ever African women's team to go to a Lacrosse World Championships. These incredible, driven young women are on a life changing journey as they rise from the slums of Nairobi.

Documentary

This feature film is a documentary portrait of Joseph Idlout, a man who was once the world's most famous Inuit. Unknown to most Canadians today, Idlout was the subject of many films and books, and one of the Inuit hunters pictured for many years on the back of Canada's $2 bill. In this film Idlout's son, Peter Paniloo, takes us on a journey through his father's life - that of a man caught "between two worlds."

Documentary

The World is Watching is a political film about the moral issues surrounding news gathering and newsmaking in the electronic age. Who decides what constitutes the news? How do they decide? And what about the men and women who report from the field. Are foreign correspondents allowed to tell all that they see? The film examines these complex issues by focusing on several international journalists in Nicaragua as they cover the negotiations surrounding the Arias Peace Plan in November 1987. With unprecedented access to the inner workings of ABC News, what follows is a unique portrait of a news crew in the field, as it interacts with the editorial process in the newsroom in New York City.

Documentary

Mosha Michael's third film follows six Inuit hunters from Frobisher Bay, N.W.T. setting out on a spring whale hunt. Once again, Michael documents the process on Super 8 film, from pushing the canoes out over the thin spring ice to open water, to the killing and cleaning of the whale and storing the meat. An original score features music and songs in Inuktitut by the filmmaker himself.

Documentary

The famed painter reinvents representation of the Canadian landscape before disappearing in mysterious circumstances.

Documentary

This feature documentary offers an incisive look at Canadian politics at the 1976 Progressive Conservative Party leadership convention. Cape Bretoner Flora MacDonald is campaigning for the Party’s leadership, the first woman to do so. We follow MacDonald behind the scenes as she works with her staff to prepare policy, speeches, and strategies to win the race. We also get a glimpse of MacDonald’s sprightly and upbeat attitude as she puts her best foot forward in front of voters, media, and the Party’s elite.

Filmed at great personal risk, this documentary exposes the plight of "the last tribe of Israel", the Falashas of Ethiopia. They are persecuted by the Ethiopians for being Jewish and subject also to Israeli discrimination. The impoverished Falashas live in tiny, mountainous villages where the film crew found them practicing their religion in isolation, as they have done for the past 2,000 years. These Ethiopian Jews long to go to Zion, but the government will not allow them to emigrate and deals harshly with those who endeavor to escape.

Exploration of the fascinating life of the controversial arctic anthropologist and explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, this documentary includes the fresh perspective of Stefansson's six forgotten Inuit grandchildren.

Documentary

An extraordinary mother–daughter documentary story, their escape from war-torn Vietnam, a birth on a sinking ship, a heroic rescue at sea, and a new life in Canada.

Crime · Drama

The Psych Crimes Unit, a unique team of police detectives and mental health professionals, is tasked with solving bizarre and chilling crimes that cross the boundary between law enforcement and psychological disturbance.

Drama · Action & Adventure

The Border is a Canadian drama that aired on CBC Television and 20 other TV networks worldwide. It was created by Peter Raymont, Lindalee Tracey, Janet MacLean and Jeremy Hole of White Pine Pictures. The Executive in Charge of Production is Janice Dawe. Episodes in the first season were directed by John Fawcett, Michael DeCarlo, Ken Girotti, Kelly Makin, Brett Sullivan and Philip Earnshaw. The first season had a total budget of 20 million dollars, with about 1.5 million dollars per episode. The series is set in Toronto and follows agents of the fictitious Immigration and Customs Security agency. ICS was created by the Government of Canada to deal with trans-border matters concerning Canadian national security including terrorism and smuggling. The cancellation of The Border was announced by the CBC after three seasons were aired.

Documentary

French current affair show

Documentary

Explores the furious post-9/11 pace of immigration police work in Canada, revealing individual investigators staggering in the blur of competing urgencies. The series pulls back the layers of bureaucracy to reveal the priorities and the police work behind individual cases involving illegals, following their progress through investigation, detention, and deportation.

Documentary

We follow veterinarian, "Dr. Marty" Haulena and his team of animal care specialists, on the seas off Vancouver, Canada, and in the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, as they rescue, rehabilitate, and release iconic ocean animals.