Canada Vignettes: December Lights

Nic (Glenn Morshower), a devoted father, husband, and friend with a passion for fishing and bowling, had the perfect life until his wife left after they became empty nesters, leaving him heartbroken. However, his world takes a hilarious turn when he secretly starts dating his best friend's (Kevin Farley as Pastor Kris) sister, leading to uproarious complications. This heartwarming comedy-drama follows Nic as he navigates the aftermath of his wife's departure, discovering the transformative power of love, friendship, and laughter in unexpected places, all while cherishing his favorite pastimes of fishing and bowling. Actor/Comedian Gary Valentine plays the role of Spike, Nic's high school rival.

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 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/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Los Reyes Magos

A group of archaeologists uncover a strange structure in Northern Canada, dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and it's not long before they begin to feel the effects of the solitude.

This short documentary illustrates rural French Canadian life in the early 1940s. The film follows Alexis Tremblay and his family through the busy autumn days as they bring in the harvest and help with bread baking and soap making. Winter sees the children revelling in outdoor sports while the women are busy with their weaving, and, with the coming of spring young and old alike repair to the fields once more to plough the earth in preparation for another season of varied crops. One of the first NFB films to be produced, directed, written and shot by women.

This short documentary tells the story of a cheese—the famous Oka—and of the monks who make it. The Trappists in Oka, Quebec, began making the cheese around 1890, when a Trappist monk from France taught them the recipe, which dates back to the 11th century. Today, Brother Albéric continues to make the cheese at an abbey in Manitoba according to traditional methods and a secret recipe written in a mysterious notebook.

A young boy travels to Alaska to visit his estranged father at the same time as a young woman also travels to Alaska to find her estranged mother.

December 24, 1983, 10:50 p.m.; Julie and her cousins ate too much sugar, and Santa Claus is late. Denis, alone in his car, is anxious about setting foot in his former in-laws’ house to pick up his children.

Amidst the pandemic, a woman embarks on a treacherous journey through the wilderness to reach her brother while grappling with her mental state.

Cree director Alexandra Lazarowich riffs off classic verité cinema to craft a contemporary portrait of Métis women net fishing in Northern Alberta.

This short documentary follows Frank Ladouceur, a man who lives alone for months at a time, trapping muskrat in the vast, desolate wilderness of northern Alberta. He receives no visitors, and rarely voyages to his family home in Fort Chipewyan. What some may consider an unthinkably lonely, isolated existence is the calling of this fiercely independent Métis man. Remarkably determined and self-sufficient, Frank makes his home in the wild bush.

This documentary is the story of two Mennonite brothers from Manitoba who were forced to make a decision in 1939, as Canada joined World War II. In the face of 400 years of pacifist tradition, should they now go to war? Ted became a conscientious objector while his brother went into military service. Fifty years later, the town of Winkler dedicates its first war memorial and John begins to share his war experiences with Ted.

How the Fiddle Flows follows Canada's great rivers west along the fur-trading route of the early Europeans. The newcomers introduced the fiddle to the Aboriginal people they intermarried with along the way. A generation later, their mixed-blood offspring would blend European folk tunes with First Nations rhythms to create a rich and distinct musical tradition. From the Gaspé Peninsula, north to Hudson Bay and to the Prairies, How the Fiddle Flows reveals how a distinctive Metis identity and culture were shaped over time. Featuring soaring performances by some of Canada's best known fiddlers and step dancers and narrated by award-winning actress Tantoo Cardinal.