1. The Power Of Music - Darrell's Story
Ben Power interviews his father, Darrell Power of Great Big Sea, and asks what it was like on the road, being away from his family, and how being in one of the most memorable Newfoundland bands shaped his life.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
2. Seadrift
On August 3rd, 1979, a Vietnamese refugee shoots and kills a white crab fisherman at the town docks in Seadrift, TX. What began as a fishing dispute erupts in violence and ignites a resurgence of the KKK and open hostilities against the Vietnamese along the Gulf Coast. Set during the early days of Vietnamese refugee arrival, “Seadrift” examines the circumstances that led up to the shooting, its tumultuous aftermath, and the unexpected consequences that continue to reverberate today.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
3. Sea the Truth
This is the planet we still know so little. We call it Earth but less than 1/3 is land, over 2/3 is water and we use that water as a dumping site for our waste and as if it's an inexhaustible "horn of plenty" for humans. Our most important ecosystem is on the verge of collapse unless we act now. At this very moment the main problem with the oceans is that they're getting emptier and emptier. If we don't do anything then we face one of the biggest disasters in history of mankind.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
4. Lube Job
Two veteran journalists uncover the oil and gas industries' role in what could be one of the greatest environmental catastrophes in modern times, an ecological tragedy that threatens to eradicate much of southern Louisiana, including its revered fishing trade and age-old way of life.
5. No Otter Zone
The Southern Sea Otter was historically abundant along the California coastline until intense hunting pressures reduced their numbers to near-extinction levels. But now the otters are coming back, and with them they bring the potential for drastic change to the modern-day economics and ecology of the Santa Barbara Channel.
6. Threatened: The Controversial Struggle of the Southern Sea Otter
Sea otters are once again in peril after being brought back from the brink of extinction. An unprecedented number of sea otter deaths have occurred along the California coast in the last three years. Meanwhile, the Fish & Wildlife Services decision to eliminate their No Otter Zone from Southern California waters remains controversial. This fragile species threatened by pollution, infectious diseases, starvation, and competition with fishermen struggles for survival.
7. Fish: Farming in Troubled Waters
Fish are an important part of the ecosystem and the human diet. Unfortunately, overfishing has depleted many fish stocks, and the proposed solution — fish farming — is creating far more problems than it solves. Not only are fish farms polluting the aquatic environment and spreading disease to wild fish, farmed fish are also an inferior food source, in part by providing fewer healthy nutrients; and in part by containing more toxins, which readily accumulate in fat. Farmed Salmon = Most Toxic Food in the World Salmon is perhaps the most prominent example of how fish farming has led us astray. Food testing reveals farmed salmon is one of the most toxic foods in the world, having more in common with junk food than health food.1 Studies highlighting the seriousness of the problem
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
8. Watermen
In 1965, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, there was the last operating fleet of sailing work boats in the United States. Forty-odd "Skipjacks" were still used by Maryland watermen to dredge up oysters from the Bay. At that time, the fleet had survived because of a Maryland conservation law which prohibits the use of motor power for oyster dredging. The watermen traditionally marked the opening of each oystering season with a skipjack race which the Maryland State Tourist Board incorporated into its annual "Chesapeake Bay Appreciation Day."
9. A Tainha e a Onda (A Tainha e a Onda)
(A Tainha e a Onda)
10. Turning Tides
In this documentary short, summer trippers line up for the famous local fried clams and whole families dig for the white mollusc in the tangy air of the sandbars. But as the clams dwindle, so do these tableaux from Maritime culture. For commercial fishermen it's the end of a livelihood; for others, it's the death of a tradition. Can this really be the end of a resource that used to be as plentiful as the air we breathe?
11. Newfoundland: Atlantic Province
With simple ceremony on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Newfoundlanders are welcomed as fellow-Canadians. Prime Minister St. Laurent starting off the carving of Newfoundland's coat of arms in the tenth and formerly blank shield over the entrance to the Parliament Buildings, writing in stone another chapter of Confederation. So begins this survey of Canada's tenth province, Newfoundland, its resources and how its people live. The film takes us to St. John's, Corner Brook, Bell Island, and includes a visit to Labrador where we see the giant airport at Gander.
12. A Little Fellow from Gambo: The Joey Smallwood Story
This feature-length documentary paints a lively portrait of Father of Confederation and first premier of Newfoundland Joseph Roberts Smallwood, or "Joey," as he is known to most Canadians. Following one of Canada’s most colourful political figures during a two-and-a-half-month period that included a stormy Liberal leadership convention, the film reveals a man misunderstood even by his close associates.
13. Vistas: Red Ochre
Combining archival photos with new and found footage, this short film presents a personal, impressionistic rendering of what it's like growing up Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland, while living in a culture of denial. Vistas is a series of 13 short films on nationhood from 13 Indigenous filmmakers from Halifax to Vancouver. It was a collaborative project between the NFB and APTN to bring Indigenous perspectives and stories to an international audience.
14. Julie O'Brien
This short film depicts Newfoundland’s “old times” as seen by Julie O’Brien, an 11-year-old living in Tors Cove. Told in the first person with cutaway shots to the girl’s many activities, the film illustrates the way traditions are maintained, remembered and evolved. This film is part of the Children of Canada series.
15. Åens Havørred - Spin (Åens Havørred - Spin)
(Åens Havørred - Spin)
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
16. Drømmefiskeri i Alaska (Drømmefiskeri i Alaska)
(Drømmefiskeri i Alaska)
It has an average vote of 4.5 on TMDB.
17. Violated Paradise
A modern geisha travels through Japan trying to find a job as entertainer, and ends up by finding love and a job as ama, a pearl diver.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
18. Land of Little Rivers
The Land of Little Rivers, a network of tributaries in the Catskill Mountains of New York, is the birthplace of fly fishing in America and home to anglers obsessed by the sport.
19. Eden Alone Surpasses Thee
Jarred by the loss of his closest friend, a farmer on Tasmania’s remote West Coast, begins to mentor at-risk local youth. In an area renowned for its poverty, low literacy and high suicide rates, Stafford Heres is determined to provide opportunities for kids who have few. Eden Alone Surpasses Thee explores his relationship with the land, loss and the young men he takes under his wing.
20. Return of the Islander (An tOileánach a d'Fhill)
Through economic necessity, an Aran Islander is forced to travel to England to work on building sites so that he can earn money to support his family back on the Islands.
It has an average vote of 5.3 on TMDB.
