Jean Chrétien

Quebec, on the cusp of the 1960s. The province is on the brink of momentous change. Deftly selecting clips from nearly 200 films from the National Film Board of Canada archives, director Luc Bourdon reinterprets the historical record, offering us a new and distinctive perspective on the Quiet Revolution.

A teenage Quebecer in the 1960s evolves from pro-independence activist to radical terrorist, in this gripping chronicle of the origins of the FLQ in the decade preceding the 1970 October Crisis.

Canadian director Catherine Annau's debut work is a documentary about the legacy of Pierre Trudeau, the long-running Prime Minister of Canada, who governed during the 1970s. The film focuses particularly on Trudeau's goal of creating a thoroughly bilingual nation. Annau interviews eight people in their mid-30s on both sides of the linguistic divide. One tells of her life growing up in a community of hard-core Quebec separatists, while another, a yuppie from Toronto, recalls believing as a child that people in Montreal got drunk and had sex all day long. Annau has all of the interviewees discuss how Trudeau's policies affected their lives and their perceptions of the other side, in this issue that strikes to the heart of Canada's national identity.

Robert Lepage directed this Canadian comedy, filmed in black and white and color and adapted from Lepage's play The Seven Branches of the River Ota. In October 1970, Montreal actress Sophie (Anne-Marie Cadieux) appears in a Feydeau farce at the Osaka World's Fair. Back in Montreal, her boyfriend Michel (Alexis Martin) watches the October Crisis on TV and sees Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau declare the War Measures Act. The Canadian Army patrols Montreal streets. Sophie learns she's pregnant and phones Michel. However, Michel is immersed in politics, while Sophie rejects the amorous advances of her co-star (Eric Bernier), becomes friendly with a blind translator, and passes an evening with frivolous Canadian embassy official Walter (Richard Frechette) and his wife Patricia (Marie Gignac). Meanwhile, in Montreal, Michael plots terrorist activities. Commenting on East-West cultural distinctions, the film intercuts between Quebec (in black and white) and Japan (in color).

This feature documentary retraces the century of haggling by successive federal and provincial governments to agree on a formula to bring home the Canadian Constitution from England. This film concentrates on the politicking and lobbying that finally led to its patriation in 1982. Five prime ministers had failed before Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau took up the challenge in the early 1970s. Principal players in this documentary are federal Minister of Justice Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister Trudeau, 10 provincial premiers and a host of journalists, politicians, lawyers, and diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic.

Made shortly after the referendum on Quebec's independence was held, this documentary illustrates what the politicians' promises were and how the population did not really care nor truly understand what was really at stake, even though just about everyone had an opinion on the subject.

A six part documentary series which seeks to explore the role Canada's foreign policy has played in the international arena since the post-World War II era.