Best Canadian short movies

Wonders of the Arctic 3D centers on our ongoing mission to explore and come to terms with the Arctic, and the compelling stories of our many forays into this captivating place will be interwoven to create a unifying message about the state of the Arctic today. Underlying all these tales is the crucial role that ice plays in the northern environment and the changes that are quickly overtaking the people and animals who have adapted to this land of ice and snow.

Struggling with depression, Louis finds out that his family is planning a prank on him for April Fools' day. Problem is: we're still in March...

A sex toy mishap leads to a night in the emergency room, where a freshly broken-up couple are forced to confront their issues on love and relationships.

You can't control the gibbering madness that lies waiting on the edge of our reality but for a small monthly premium you can ensure that you don't pay for it when things go eldritch.

This short 1966 documentary dedicated "to all victims of intolerance” depicts the dawn of skateboarding in Montreal. A new activity frowned upon by police and adults, skateboarding gave youngsters a thrilling sensation of speed and freedom. This film - the first Canadian documentary ever made about the sport - captures the exuberance of boys and girls having the time of their lives in free-wheeling downhill locomotion. Jutra's 1966 mockumentary film The Devil's Toy (Rouli-roulant), is a faux-anti-skateboarding propaganda film.

Ponders the possibilities of what awaits us at the end of our life.

It's the morning after - and four is a crowd. Couple Samantha and Peter negotiate a thoroughly modern and thoroughly awkward situation.

The colour pink has been ascribed many meanings, from a reflection of the feminine to a symbol of reclaimed humanity by LGBTQ2S communities. In his latest work, avant-garde filmmaker John Greyson explores the colonial implications of the colour pink, from its association with activist movements to its colouring of the water in Grassy Narrows due to mercury poisoning. Pink this.

A giant builds a wall to keep children out of his garden, but then winter sets in permanently. Children's classic story by Oscar Wilde.

Loik, a disfigured sailor, is posted to a remote lighthouse with Morlaix, a tyrannical head keeper. But soon, the two men find themselves besieged by a strange storm.

A view of man's perpetual struggle for self-destruction, in which we glimpse a world where rockets are part of everyone's lives.

This is the story of four people: ODNEY, RAJNI, ALUKI and MUFEEDA. Four lives, four journeys that led them in a search for freedom. Together they decide to live on the fringe of society and to finally find a place where they can do things their way.

After years of captivity, Stephen takes drastic measures to escape his violent world and his terrifying captor.

West Berlin, 1989. Manny Jumpcannon prowls his dingy apartment, phoning various degenerates from his past. He's hoping for some uncertain vindication but the ensuing conversations only reveal his own sordid history of deceit.

During a party, Gaby begins to suspect that spreading rumours of a football team gang-bang may well involve her best friend, Carla.

Plain and Simple” is a window that gives on the lives of 4 different characters that share an acute sense of loneliness while striving for a secret desire of belonging.

A woman will risk everything for the life of a young girl held hostage by a group of Mercenaries that hold her hostage high in the mountains.

Commissioned work for Concordia University's Sexual Assault Resource Centre, to be the basis of a sexual assault awareness campaign throughout the university campus.

An awkward dinner party among friends from an infertility support group takes an unexpected turn.

A man and a woman hit it off at a bar and decide to go back to her place. The man soon realizes that she is more than he bargained for.

In a post-pandemic society, a vampire in hiding is forced to make a stand when confronted with the oppressive regime who kidnapped and enslaved her family.

When a hungry Astronomer falls asleep while working on a problem, he discovers a solution not in outer space but in the surreal food-chain of his subconscious mind.

Two creatures wonder, 'What is a hole?' They have different points of view. Their debate leads to an idea, an idea that changes the world. This is a story of practical magic. This film was made as part of the 5th edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship.

An aspiring criminal mastermind (Owen Roth) assembles a crew (Mena Massoud, Ayinde Blake) and schemes to steal an experimental drug from a high profile medical facility.

After discovering her mother’s dead body, Luz tries to protect her younger sister, Catalina, from the harmful reality by using fantasy and games.

Blurred lines of friendship and an easy intimacy make Sasha think best friend Charlie is the one.

A director pressures an actress into full nudity on the morning of her first sex scene.

A stunning display of a stop-motion animation, Dancers of the Grass vividly depicts the majesty of the hoop dance, a tradition symbolizing the unity of all nations.

This work was commissioned for the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and made possible by support from the 2016 Champion and Patron Members of Reel Asian. Chinese Zodiac is 60-years cycle by 10 heavenly elements and 12 earthly animals, 20th anniversary is just one third. In this movie appearing and changing into 20 elements from 1997 that was started the festival to 2016.

On a winter evening, Émilie arrives unannounced at her neighbor Joëlle's house. As the evening goes by, Émilie longs for her neighbor who seems to be impervious to her charms. Exploration of an ambiguous relationship marked with admiration, power games, maternal tenderness and sexual attraction.

In the timeless world of fairy tales, villains and victims are visited by a vengeful fairy who offers to shift the balance of power.

During the heat wave, swimmers flock to a municipal pool. Rain or shine, as the days pass the place takes on a life of its own, and the lifeguards, while immature at times, shoulder considerable responsibilities.

Two strangers meet in a motel room where everything is not as it seems.

The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein is a 1992 short animated documentary directed by Joyce Borenstein about her father, the Canadian painter Sam Borenstein. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. In Canada, it was named best short documentary at the 12th Genie Awards.

A fan-made trailer for a hypothetical entry in the TRON series.

An android is trapped inside of a large maze. The maze is vast and filled with many surprises.

When elite-level chef Eloise Vaughn receives a scathing review from famed critic Alistair Brown, she invites him back for a private dinner service aimed at redeeming her name. Alistair accepts, and as the service commences, the pair's shared history is revealed, as are the extreme lengths Eloise is willing to go to impress him.

Six regal Indigenous women relish in an opulent feast. This dazzling and sumptuous fantasia is a vivid celebration of their majesty and power and a signal of new beginnings.

Restoration is a found-footage piece honouring Beau Dick's Copper Breaking ceremony on the steps of the BC Legislature during Idle No More in 2013.

A young couple sings from their apartment windows about the unshared bagel that ended their relationship. Part of the Seven Sins film project.

From one of anthropocene's most charismatic megafauna - Ailuropoda melanoleuca : " - and if I hear anyone else say 'isn't he cute'..."

A young boy raised by his grandmother finds her dead one morning.

Two rival robotics companies in the future release their latest creations at a robotics convention, claiming each to be the latest and greatest in technological advances. Mega Stellar Company's release is a robot boy named Romie-O, while Super Solar Cybernetics has released a girl robot named Julie-8. Unforeseen to each of the company's creators, is how each of the advanced robots soon falls in love with the other.

An animated documentary about a memorable event: in spring 1997, a coloring contest is launched for the release of a new variety of ketchup.

A local psychiatrist is urgently needed by authorities to help break through to a catatonic unidentified hiker, who may have just had a sinister encounter with something not from this world.

This film illustrates the life of the film director, Shui-Bo Wang in The People's Republic of China. We learn of the life of the director in his own words and images from a child steeped in the values of Chinese communism exemplified by Chairman Mao, to a young man striving to live up to those ideals both as an artist and a soldier.

A 90 second short film drawing on the theme of 'escape' - 18 year old Louisa has known nothing but the same streets her whole life. As she finally hits her breaking point of suffocation living in this town, she takes it upon herself to pack up and go, leaving nothing behind but a letter to her mom.

Impossible Figures and other stories I is the first and—paradoxically—the final part of the triptych. The city, which is its subject, grows not only in space but, most importantly, in time. With all consequences.

Home movies and family photographs mixed with drawings and texts tell the story of a family that has lived with disease.

Silas Rand and Charles Leland first wrote down the legends of the great spirit Glooscap before the turn of the century. Since then, Summer Legend has been retold many times, but never more beautifully than in this colourful animated interpretation. It tells of the Mi’kmaq people in the cold white dawning of their world, and of how Glooscap battled with the giant Winter in order to bring Summer to the North.

Native American Chief Sitting Bull seeks refuge in Canada.

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.

Estranged from the rest of the townsfolk, an eccentric lady is haunted by ghostly whispers that grow louder with each passing day.

An unexpected event threatens to undo the job interview preparation of an anxious young man.

Two teen girls find a body in the woods.

The combination of constantly moving abstract imagery and a familiar-yet-cryptic soundtrack in HERE reflects the struggle of being aware and present in life’s moment(s).

Mal comes across a freezing young woman named Serena and takes her back to his motel room, only to discover things are not what they seem.

Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics dives deeply into the innate contrast between the Seven Deadly Sins (Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Pride and Envy) and the Seven Sacred Teachings (Love, Respect, Wisdom, Courage, Truth, Honesty and Humility), as embodied in the life of a precocious Métis baby. Brought to life by Terril Calder’s darkly beautiful stop-motion animation, her inner turmoil of abuse is laid bare with unflinching honesty. Convinced she’s soiled and destined for Hell, Baby Girl receives teachings that fill her with strength and pride, and affirm a path towards healing. Calder’s tour-de-force unearths a hauntingly familiar yet hopeful world that illuminates the bias of colonial systems.

Animation created and premiered during the Ottawa International Animation Festival in 1998 at the National Gallery of Canada

On a cold ghostly autumn night, a mothers will to save her child's life is put to test.

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 festivities are partnered with a lively jazz soundtrack. All the Montrealers and out-of-town tourists featured in this film avidly participate in a public festivity that is dear to their hearts.

This short documentary depicts Christmastime in Montreal. The milling crowds, department store Santas, Brink's messengers, kindergarten angels and boisterous nightclubs all combine to make a vivid portrait of the holidays.

Terminal City records the demolition of the Devonshire Hotel in Vancouver; through extreme show motion (200 frames per second) and symmetrical diagonal framing, Gallagher underscores the passage from order to chaos within the event. The sparseness of this centering and he patience required of the viewer heightens the literally explosive climaxes of the film, and transforms the everyday violence of the events into moments of convulsive beauty. – Jim Shedden, Michael Zryd, The Independent Eye

An incident from the early days of Québec's quiet revolution, tailor-made for the cartoonist. It is the story of a Montréal commuter train, a unilingual ticket collector and a bilingual passenger. The passenger appears on screen himself to describe his bid to have tickets requested in French as well as in English. What ensued, and how even the railway president became involved, is illustrated with wit and humor.

Set in the year 2092 where 60% of the world is uninhabitable, governments and gangs fight for control of the new world. An engineer of a maximum security prison is captured by a rival gang and coerced in to breaking out their leader.