The Fall of the I-Hotel brings to life the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the International Hotel's tenants culminated a decade of spirited resistance to the razing of Manilatown. The Fall of the I-Hotel works on several levels. It not only documents the struggle to save the I-Hotel, but also gives an overview of Filipino American history.
A vibrant kaleidoscopic tribute to the guitar that meshes dance, mime, visual art, and virtuoso performances to create a spectacular yet intimate celebration of the instrument. For one exciting week the city of Toronto plays host to the International Guitar Festival. The streets echo with the sounds of the instrument as the great masters from every tradition gather to play for each other -- John Williams from England, Leo Brouwer from Cuba (classical), Turibio Santos from Brazil (folk), Vladimir Mikulka from Czechoslovakia (avant-garde), Rik Emmett and Kim Mitchell from Canada, Steve Morse from the USA (rock).
Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer profiles the young people of Villaways Park, a housing project on brink of historic change.
A cruise ship and 3,000 men – it is a universe without heteros and women that usually remains a mystery to the outside world. Once a year the Dream Boat sets sail for a cruise exclusively for gay men where most passengers are united by the wish to live life authentically as themselves in a protected place.
The baker, the pie-maker and the diminished long-term community of Hoxton Street face gentrification in this compelling portrait of a rapidly changing London.
Kensington Market: Heart of the City” tells the story of the many generations of immigrants who have made Kensington home for over 160 years, the personalities in the market today, and the forces that are threatening the market’s survival. Today, Kensington is still a delightfully human and colourful alternative to the skyscraper-draped Toronto metropolis shooting up around it. The times are changing, and quickly. The market has managed to hold onto its unique, eclectic charm for over a century. But will Kensington be able to survive?
This incisive, urgent documentary examines the history of anti-Black racism in hockey, from the segregated leagues of the 19th century to today’s NHL, where Black athletes continue to struggle against bigotry.
A documentary about Who's Emma, a collective of punks and anarchists that existed in Toronto's Kensington Market from 1996 to 2000.
On the tiny island of Martha's Vineyard, where presidents and celebrities vacation, trophy homes threaten to destroy the islands unique character. Twelve years in the making, One Big Home follows one carpenters journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When he feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, he takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera.
A short film about the changing face of London Soho and the implications of gentrification on Mimi, an aging transvestite.
1988 CBC docudrama on Canada's role in WW1. Terence McKenna tours the Battlefields of Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge and Paschendaele. Actors portray several Canadian soldiers in WW1 in re-enactments based on their memoirs, diaries and letters.
Kathy's family left on a Saturday morning in 1965. The rumble of bulldozers echoed through the neighborhood, and her block was empty. Federally-funded urban renewal had arrived in Charlottesville, scattering dozens of families like Kathy's. The once-vibrant African American community, built by formerly enslaved men and women who had secured a long-denied piece of the American dream, disappeared.
A young and ambitious team of chefs face the life-changing challenges of competing in the world's most prestigious culinary competition.
Filmed over four years, this documentary focuses on the impacts of gentrification as gay white professionals move into a largely black working-class neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio.
A retrospective documentary on 9/11 in connection with the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival.
Stompin' Tom performs live at the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen St. in Toronto.
From a boy on the streets of the Congo to becoming an NBA champion, Serge Ibaka has risen to a level even he can hardly believe. Watch as he brings the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy back to Africa for the first time, and re-visits all the places he used to go as a young man in this emotional journey.
Faceless is a documentary film about the workings of an inpatient psychiatry unit, seen through the eyes of both the patients trying to get well and the staff trying to help them.
A taxi drives through the city of Berlin. Its driver is a punk, left and a well-known figure in the autonomous scene. The stations of his trip are the most important places of the autonomous scene: all in the struggle for survival. The last evictions have not yet been processed and the next ones are coming right up.
Here in Toronto, four young Somali refugees are finishing high school. What did they bring with them? What did they find in Canada? Their testimonies, about us and about themselves, interspersed with newsreel footage and sequences of a theatrical creation in which they put all their soul, make them immediately endearing and overturn many prejudices held against refugees. A film that makes you want to get to know them better.