Island of Whales

Le souffle de vie

2026 · ★ 8.3

In Polynesia, as humpback whales come to breed in the warm waters of the Pacific, Natoo immerses herself in a timeless experience.

Nomoto: A BC Tragedy

2022

The injustice of the Japanese internment is explored through the story of Kyuichi Nomoto, one of the first Japanese Canadians to graduate from UBC, who suffered a breakdown deep in the BC Interior.

Saints And Warriors

2025

Throughout the course of the Haida basketball season, leaders of iconic rez ball team the Skidegate Saints compete for two titles - defending their All Native Basketball Championship, while also battling for title to their land and waters with the government that stole it from them with the Indian Act.

Gurdeep Singh Bains

1977

Gurdeep is a thirteen-year-old Canadian Sikh whose family runs a dairy farm near Chilliwack, British Columbia. They have retained their language and religion. Attendance at the Sikh temple, playing soccer with his schoolmates, and working on the farm are all part of Gurdeep's well-integrated life, but sometimes he feels a little different from the other children because he wears a turban. This film is part of the Children of Canada series.

Memories of Earth

2002 · ★ 9

Set against the unforgettable beauty of Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), Memories of Earth takes viewers on a journey guided by traces of the past. The film records the meeting of two artistic worlds: that of the Haida, an indigenous people whose cultural life and mythology bespeak their belief in a tangible link between the real and the imaginary, and that of Frédéric Back, a master of animated film and committed humanist, whose works is an appeal to respect all things created. Through the magic of animation, the documentary casts fresh light on the legends and spirituality of the Haida.

Profundo

Between documentary and animation, this film delves into collective memory, rescuing ancestral symbols and reopening old questions: what future remains when we forget the past? Profundo is born to inspire—to remind us that each whale carries the history of the planet, that each sea holds what we have not yet been able to protect. It is an urgent, sensitive, and visually intimate appeal that invites us to see the ocean as a living, sacred, and vulnerable territory.

The Water Dwellers

1963 · ★ 7

This short documentary introduces us to a town where no one pays rent: Simoom Sound in central British Columbia, where loggers live on sturdy river craft. Every week there are visitors: the general storekeeper, the flying postman and most importantly, the forest ranger, who is ever alert to the threat of fire.

Out of the Interior: Survival of the small-town cinema in British Columbia

The hard-working cinema owners and operators of the small towns found in BC's southern interior are doing more than showing movies and selling popcorn––they are bringing their communities together.

Salmon People

1976 · ★ 8

Contrasting ancient myth and modern reality, this short documentary examines the legendary relationship between West Coast Indigenous people and salmon, once their staple food. In the mythical realm, we learn how Raven finds riches in the harvest of the salmon, only to lose everything through a thoughtless act against the Spirit of the Salmon. So too does modern man jeopardize his living from the sea by heedless action. Images of ancient spear-fishing and smoke-houses contrast with images of today's Indigenous people operating a seiner and working in a cooperative cannery.

Coast Modern

2012 · ★ 8

A core group of architects embraced the West Coast from Vancouver to LA with its particular geography and values and left behind a legacy of inspired dwellings. Today, architects celebrate the influence established by their predecessors.

A Life Ascending

2011

This multiple-award winning documentary chronicles the life of acclaimed mountaineer Ruedi Beglinger. Living with his wife and two young daughters on a remote glacier in the vast mountains of British Columbia, Beglinger has built a reputation as one of the top ski mountaineering guides in the world. The film follows his family’s unique life off the grid and their journey in the years following a devastating avalanche that killed seven people. Documenting the sublime beauty and ever-present risk of a life lived on the edge, the film ultimately explores the power of nature as both an unforgiving host and profound teacher.

When Whales Could Walk

2024

In Egypt's Sahara Desert, massive skeletons with strange skulls and gigantic teeth jut out from the sandy ground. This fossil graveyard, millions of years old, is known as the "Valley of the Whales." Now, paleontologists have unearthed a whole new species of ancient whale dating to 43 million years ago, and this predator wasn't just able to swim – it also had four legs and could walk. Follow scientists as they search for new clues to the winding evolutionary path of mammals that moved from the land into the sea to become the largest animals on Earth.