16 documentaries and animated works join the production slate at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The Board released today the list of productions and co-productions. Feature documentaries include The Crossing from director Aisling Chin-Yee, who debuted the streaming hit The Pink Pill earlier this year. The documentary captures the plight of two Ghanaian men fleeing persecution. Meanwhile, in Prairie Chicken, Sinakson Trevor Solway follows his consideration of masculinity in Blackfoot Country Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man) with a look at the titular powwow dance in the heart of community.
In The Whale Effect, director Duncan McDowall considers the role that whales play as allies in the face of climate change. Rounding out the doc features is You Don’t Know Dick, Adam Lordon’s freewheeling take on former New Brunswick premier Richard Hatfield and his exploits involving Studio 54 and Queen Elizabeth II.
Among the documentary mid-length works and shorts are new films directed by Chelsea McMullan, Connie Edwards, and Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux.
The list of documentary projects announced for NFB production are as follows:
*The order of producer credits are listed and attributed as received.
Documentary Features
The Crossing
Director: Aisling Chin-Yee
Producers: Nabil Mehchi, Frank Fiorito (Noble Television), Sami Tesfazghi (Rane Films) Rob Vroom (NFB)
The Crossing follows the journey of two young men who flee Ghana to escape persecution, only to find themselves on harrowing journeys across continents. Through a chance encounter, they embark on a final journey: crossing into Canada on foot through a deadly winter storm.
Prairie Chicken
Director: Sinakson Trevor Solway
Producer: Coty Savard | Western Documentary Unit
Prairie Chicken searches for the cultural roots of the popular powwow dance style, the Prairie Chicken Dance. The film takes us to the heart of Blackfoot Country and to the ceremonial source of the Niitsitapi worldview.
The Whale Effect
Director: Duncan McDowall
Producer: Rob Vroom | Eastern Documentary Unit
The Whale Effect invites viewers to rediscover whales as overlooked allies in the climate crisis and learn how conservation is levelling up to reframe these majestic animals as agents in shaping the living systems we depend on.
You Don’t Know Dick
Director: Adam Lordon
Producer: Liz Cowie | Eastern Documentary Unit
Adam Lordon’s feature film re-examines the ridiculously true story and complicated legacy of Richard Hatfield, New Brunswick’s enigmatic longest-serving premier, from the rural Bible Belt to Studio 54 and a pot scandal involving Queen Elizabeth II.
Medium-length documentaries
Demain Depuis Diane
Director: Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux
Producer: Melanie Brière | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
In Yellowknife, Diane raises $1.5 million by recycling copper from a mine nearing closure. When the mine ends the partnership after seven years of collaboration, Diane sets out to convince other mining companies to support her cause.
Garolou
Director: Louise Lalonde
Producer: Christine Aubé | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
Who were Garolou, really? This documentary uncovers the story of the legendary group that revolutionized Canadian music, as told by one of its own members, in this rare portrait of some of music’s unsung heroes.
Making Lemonade
Director: Connie Edwards
Producer: Coty Savard | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
This film is an intimate story about one man’s desire for meaning and purpose after a devastating diagnosis. We are offered rare, personal insight from Fred Keating, who is aware and willing to share what he is thinking and feeling as he travels through the stages of cognitive decline alongside his family, who are navigating this journey with him.
Short documentaries and series
The Garden Where the Flowers Grew
Director: Michelle Mason
Producer: Teri Snelgrove | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
As filmmaker Michelle Mason revisits the past, she discovers the real nature of justice paradigms that raise difficult questions about the difference between retribution, healing and the true meaning of justice.
God in a Roadside Ditch
Director: Karsten Wall
Producer: Alicia Smith | Central Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
Set in the Interlake region of Manitoba, this 15-minute stylized nature film explores the short life of the adult mayfly and how light pollution and climate change affect its time on Earth.
Nooshafarin
Director: Leila Khalilzadeh
Producer: Rob Vroom | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
Nooshafarin, the iconic Iranian-Canadian singer and actress, shares her story of resilience, survival and artistry in exile through the lens of an Iranian-Canadian diaspora filmmaker.
A Place to Call Home
Director: Katłı̨̀ą Lafferty
Producer: Chehala Leonard | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
A Place to Call Home explores the housing crisis in the Northwest Territories through the stories of Indigenous women in the community of N’dilo. This short documentary sheds light on the struggles they face due to displacement, inadequate and unaffordable housing, and the impacts of government policy on their rights.
Snow King: From Olympian to Narco
Director: Chelsea McMullan
Producers: Sean O’Neill (Visitor Media), Sherien Barsoum (NFB)
Snow King: From Olympian to Narco is a three-part documentary series tracing the extraordinary transformation of Ryan Wedding from snowboarding prodigy into one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives.
Sundance Harvest
Director: Aïcha Diop
Producers: Niki Little, Kate Vollum, Hannah Donegan | Central Documentary Unit
Twenty-nine-year-old urban/rural farmer Cheyenne Sundance sets out to find a radical and permanent solution to land access that could revolutionize small-scale agriculture. She just needs to get through this farming season first.
