Canada Vignettes: December Lights

After a brave rescue mission in stormy weather, a young rescue boat is headhunted to a larger harbor where he realizes that bigger is not always better.

A young boy encounters a curious octopus while snorkeling on a seaside vacation. The persistent mollusk attaches itself to the boy’s head and becomes his constant companion.

In northern Canada, a young boy sets a goal for himself to to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother. Goran Visnjic joins the cast as Muktuk, a half Inuit and half Canadian, who knows the terrain where the polar bears live and who agrees to help the boy.

Nestor the donkey is a bit of an oddity--his long ears are enough for six donkeys and stretch all the way to the ground. One night, when Nestor is locked out in the cold, he begins to wander the desert.

A Ken Burns-style documentary exploring the first 100 years of our National Christmas Tree. On Christmas Eve 1923, President Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. We follow the tree through its first 100 years, where it served as a backdrop to many events in our nation's history. We meet the designers and learn their process of lighting our federal fir each year. Available to view here: https://odiesnoutproductions.vhx.tv/

When Nic’s daughter heads off to college, he expects a quiet Christmas. Instead, his wife leaves him, his friends rope him into chaos, and he finds himself facing life’s curveballs with a little grump and a lot of humor. Starring Glenn Morshower, Kevin Farley, and Gary Valentine, Grumpy Old Santa is a festive comedy about family, forgiveness, and moving forward.

Izzy is an energetic 9-year-old. Overscheduled and running late, Izzy's parents can't pick her up on-time the last day of school before Christmas break. A blizzard complicates the matter, but not as much as a pair of bad guys who are freezing in an ice cream truck. The school's janitor is kidnapped by the intruders, and it's up to Izzy to save the day.

At Santa Claus School, the principal has called a meeting. Lucia, her parents Julius and Claudia and everyone else at school are excited. But the tension is replaced by a shock when the headmaster cancels Christmas. He seems confused, and it soon becomes clear that he is trapped in a Christmas trauma from his younger days as Santa Claus. Lucia sets out to find out what has happened and with the help of the younger student Elias and a magical time machine, she travels back in time in the hope of saving Christmas.

The action-packed feature film tells the dramatic tale of two siblings and their Alaskan Malamute, who must make an emergency landing when their small plane has engine problems. They find themselves in a beautiful but potentially dangerous natural environment that they must overcome together.

Transferred to a new job, the Peoples family arrive on the planet Bolognia. Feeling very insecure about the move, they become even more intimidated by the sight of their hosts who are green, spotted and have antennae! Their new Bolognian neighbors, Charlick and Mavo Zox, find the look of the Earth family just as shocking. However, when little Benny Peoples gets "lost", he unwittingly brings the two families together and life on this new planet begins to look promising.

Los Reyes Magos

Filmed on location in Saskatchewan from the Qu'Appelle Valley to Hudson Bay, the documentary traces the filmmaker's quest for her Native foremothers in spite of the reluctance to speak about Native roots on the part of her relatives. The film articulates Métis women's experience with racism in both current and historical context, and examines the forces that pushed them into the shadows.

Years after a Christmas stranger gifted her a lucky sleigh bell, lawyer Andi shares her story on a holiday radio show. With host Jake and festive callers, she embarks on a joyful search for her lost holiday love.

Despite the fact that he is completely unrepentant about his crimes, when Regis Savoie's son asks to visit him, prison authorities grant permission for the boy to come. The thief and murderer (Gildor Roy) takes advantage of the moment of his son's arrival to steal a gun and take flight. He settles some old scores, gets together with his girlfriend, and heads for the hills, pursued by a detective who is not to be swayed in his efforts to follow and recapture him.

Emily Harris is not doing great. In a desperate attempt to improve her life and make this Christmas not totally suck, Emily writes a letter to Santa. Fortunately, and unfortunately, her wine-soaked wishes start coming true.

More than 7,000 km from his home in the Jura Mountains, Sébastien dos Santos Borges is taking seventeen of his dogs on an extraordinary adventure between Yukon and Alaska, following in the footsteps of the adventurers of the Far North. He is one of the most respected mushers in the world and is preparing to set off on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, one of the most difficult dog sled races. An expedition into the heart of the wilderness, where the relationship between man and animal is essential to triumph over the cold.

The world knows the image of the good Canadian. But what if there was a dark secret behind a national identity? THE GOOD CANADIAN exposes the truth behind the idea of a True North strong and free. In this unflinching and eye-opening documentary, directors Leena Minifie and David Paperny move us through the corridors of systemic inequity, from the Indian Act to residential schools, to modern-day family separation. Fusing shocking footage with detailed interviews with experts, advocates, whistleblowers and politicians, THE GOOD CANADIAN challenges national myth-making, while offering Canadians the chance to forge a new identity from the truth.

Immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have chosen to start their lives over north of the 49th parallel. Here, in the vast expanses of Northern Canada, they reflect on the challenges and splendors of a season they’ve never yet experienced: winter.

70-something Melanie invites her once young and idealistic hippie friends for a long-overdue reunion where everyone is told they have inherited the cabin where they once lived together in a commune fifty years earlier.

Anticipating a disaster, Antoine, a father, attends a survivalist training given by Alain in his autonomous hideout. In fear of a natural, economic or social crisis, the group trains to face the different possible apocalyptic scenarios. But the disaster they will experience will not be the one they predicted.