All Films

Coming Home from Space: The Challenge of Re-Entry

2003 • 52 min • United States of America

The complex engineering challenges that make re-entry into the earth's atmosphere so dangerous. Scientists have labored for years to bring a crew safely home in what is essentially a meteorite, wrapped in a cocoon of fire, hurtling towards earth six times faster than the fastest bullet. Scientific experts from NASA explain the significance of Columbia's events as they unfolded, offer insights into what may have caused them and how those key events contributed to the shuttle’s ultimate destruction.

Wad

2003 • 4 min • Netherlands

The Dutch 'Wad' (coastal mud flats) is a strange place. At low tide, many square miles of mud flats surface between the mainland and the northern islands. The Netherlands grow and shrink with the movement of the moon. Sudden incoming tide make these flats 'sea' again, sometimes drowning hikers by surprise. The Wad does not know what to make of itself. Land, see, mud, ocean floor... Two characters (and their dog) are stranded there in that desolate place. The only dramatic elements in this comical short are the sea, the wind, the sand and a lonely sea gull. Drawn in mud and tar on wet sandpaper.

Invaders from Venus!

2003 • 35 min

A small Texas town battles intergalactic invaders.

Ultimate Enemies: Elephants and Lions

2003 • 60 min

Over eight years of filming in the northern wildernesses of Botswana, the Jouberts have now released this follow up to their famous Emmy Award winning film Eternal Enemies; Lions and Hyenas. A young pride of lions sets out on a grand adventure, leaving their safe home range and walking west into the unknown. When they finally arrive at a water hole, it is a vision of paradise, except the huge bull elephants that dominate stop them from drinking

Assassin

2003 • 10 min • United States of America

Two brothers play at being assassins.

Terminally Ambivalent Over You

2003 • 3 min • Canada, United States of America

Animated music video based on Stephen Coates' song under the same title from the album "When Psyche meets Cupid".

Rice Distribution

2003 • 35 min

The Ghost Festival takes place during the seventh lunar month. The gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who wander the world seeking food. During this month, Chinese pay tribute to their ancestors and offer food to the deceased to appease them and ward off bad luck. In Hong Kong, besides staging ceremonies to honor the dead, many Taoist organizations also give away rice to the elderly and the poor. The rice distribution depicted in this film was one of the largest events, and attracted over eight thousand people. The event was scheduled to last from nine in the morning to six in the evening. In order to ensure a place in the line, most of the participants arrived before dawn.

Lenny & Sid: 'Tis the Reason

2003 • 30 min

Christmas is a time of peace and hope! Unfortunately, Lenny won't be at peace until he nabs the perfect part next to Jenny in the church Christmas play. Meanwhile, Sid's hope is that a brand-new racing bike will make him the coolest kid in the neighborhood! Discover how the search for a missing cat helps Lenny & Sid find the real reason for the season. Witness as the desire for material things withers away when Lenny & Sid are reminded of the true message of Christmas - the ultimate gift of love - in 'Tis the Reason, the second release in the Lenny & Sid series.

While the Cat's Away

2003 • 5 min • Iceland

When a young pedantic daughter is at work, her mother transforms into a passionate dancer, using their overfilled flat as a stage. A heartwarming comedy about prejudice, self-respect and dreams fulfilled.

Poor Girl!

2003 • 14 min • France

Finding herself alone and pregnant, Esther, soon to be in her thirties, rejects the proposal of Gontran, her roommate and gay lover, to raise her child together.

Secret Love

2003 • 3 min

This is a music clip for Percy Grainger's extraordinary orchestration of a gory Nordic folk song - Father and daughter. It is animated by scratching frame by frame into filmstock and features Jason Morrell and Annie Carpenter as the father and daughter who wreak havoc on each other and everyone around.

Trust Me - I'm a Politician

2003 • 60 min • United Kingdom

Last December's "Cheriegate" affair did little to abate the rampant public cynicism reserved for politicians - a mistrust evidenced in the turnout at the 2001 general election, which was the lowest for more than 80 years. In this documentary, Michael Cockerell talks to figures including Edwina Currie, Max Clifford, Geoffrey Robinson and Neil Hamilton in an effort to see if spin, sleaze and ministerial failure is to blame, or whether the media's sneering political coverage is most at fault.

Thong Girl

2003 • 4 min

Thong Girl takes on the forces of evil as she and her trusty sidekick BoxerBrief Boy defend Music City, USA from Chaz Chernobyl and the Dark Widow.

Submerge: Kami No Yu

2003 • 1 min • Canada

A “water poem,” set in a Japanese ofuro hot bath. It explores water as a medium and repository for collective stories and was created in a hybrid new media form using animation, video and split screens. This film was made as part of the first edition of the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship.

Kochuu

2003 • 52 min • Sweden

A film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition and its impact on the Nordic building-tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future, traditions, nature, concrete, gardens and high-tech, KOCHUU tells us how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions. Interviews with, and works by, Japanese architects Tadad Ando, Kisho Kurokawa, Toyo Ito and Kazuo Shinohara and Scandinavian architects Sverre Fehn, Kristian Gullichsen and Juhani Pallasmaa.

Love and Anarchy: The Wild Wild World of Jaimie Leonarder

2003 • 52 min • Australia

A roller coaster ride through the wild world of Australian performer, musician, diversional therapist and lost media archivist, Jaimie Leonarder. A multi-layered exploration of one of Australia most unique exponents of media counterculture.

The Louisiana Purchase

2003 • 45 min • United States of America

The History Channel looks at the background of the Louisiana Purchase and how Thomas Jefferson's emissaries managed to double the size of the United States with the stroke of a pen.

Unhung Heroes

2003 • 15 min

A comic fiction about five transgender guys who, after finding an internet article announcing the first actual penis transplants are about to be performed, imagine a scheme to come up with over a million dollars in surgery money.

Afghan Stories

2003 • 60 min

Horrified by the 9/11 attacks on America, filmmaker Taran Davies and Afghan American, Walied Osman, set out for Afghanistan to observe how the Afghan people have survived 24 years of war. They meet a member of the Afghan royal family once tortured by the Taliban, a refugee family stuck in a one-room apartment, a revered Muslim elder, an aid worker and a warlord. A unique and intimate film, Afghan Stories documents the torment, resolve and dreams of a people whose lives have been torn apart by war.

Little Light

2003 • 15 min • Senegal, France

Fatima is a little girl of eight years. By opening and closing the refrigerator, she wonders if the light stays on when the door closes...

La reina del bar Canalla

2003 • 9 min

The young wife of a millionaire hears some terrible news on the television. There has been a train accident near her house. It’s such a serious accident that it will be impossible to identify some of the victims. This is a terrible catastrophe for the city but it will mean something completely different for her.

Reinvenção da Rua

2003 • 32 min • Brazil

Helena Ignez's first film as a director is a homage to American architect and contemporary artist Vito Acconti, who made an urban intervention over a bridge in São Paulo, transforming that space for it to be used as shelter by nearby homeless people.

On the Edge of Destruction: The Frank Slide Story

2003 • 48 min • Canada

April 29, 1903, the coal mining town of Frank, in the Crowsnest Pass of the southern Canadian Rockies, was shattered by the sudden roar of a landslide, earning Frank a place of history as the site of North America's deadliest rockslide. This film explores the coincidences and explains its geological conditions.

Wildness

2003 • 56 min • Australia

Olegas Truchanas and Peter Dombrovskis were perhaps Australia's greatest wilderness photographers. Their work became synonymous with campaigns to protect Tasmania's natural heritage. They shared many things, including a bond that was more like that of father and son. Both came from Baltic Europe and migrated to Tasmania, where their passion for nature became a crusade to save an environment under threat. Both died in the wilderness, doing what they loved, and left a legacy in extraordinary images. Their philosophy was simple and remarkably effective - if people could see the beauty of Australia's wild places then they might be moved to save them.