James Beveridge

In 1967, Canadian documentarian James Beveridge traveled to Kolkata to film director Satyajit Ray at work. The resulting program, produced for the American public television series “The Creative Person,” features interviews with Ray, several of his actors and crew members, and film critic Chidananda Das Gupta.

In this short documentary we learn the back story of the Buddha – the religion he founded and how it is manifested today. Travel through Southeast Asia to India, Burma, Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Thailand, Japan, China and many other countries to discover the history and ideas behind Buddhism.

This Colin Low documentary from 1959 depicts Venice in all its splendor. In the tradition of Venetian painter Canaletto, the film captures the great Italian city’s elusive beauty and fabled landscapes, where spired churches and turreted palaces soar into a blue Mediterranean sky. Narration by William Shatner.

Canadian concert pianist Glenn Gould enjoys a respite at his lakeside cottage. It is an aspect of Gould previously known only to the collie pacing beside him through the woods, the fishermen resting their oars to hear his piano, and fellow musicians like Franz Kraemer, with whom Gould talks of composition. (First of two parts.)

This short documentary (the second of two parts) follows Glenn Gould to New York City. There, we see the renowned Canadian concert pianist kidding the cab driver, bantering with sound engineers at Columbia Records, and then, alone with the piano, fastidiously recording Bach's Italian Concerto.

The misbehaving public performs for the camera in a half-hour miscellany of misdeeds. In a behind-the-scenes look at the hour-by-hour operation of a large metropolitan police force, this film presents a fair sampling of what keeps Toronto's police officers busy twenty-four hours a day.

This short documentary records the rural sights and sounds of the Eastern Townships of Quebec. The day of the big stationary threshing machine is almost over, as the machine is pushed into obscurity by the combine harvester. But there are still parts of Canada where crops are gathered in the old-fashioned way as the men work out in the fields and the women manage the kitchen. This film offers a rare and charming glimpse into mid-20th-century rural and family life in Canada.

This short film from 1949 introduces us to the Gitxsan and Tsimshian First Nations of northern British Columbia. These peoples of the Skeena River exist in two worlds. Ancient totem poles tower against the mountains and the forests, old graveyards reveal fragments of shared history, and traditional crafts are still practiced on the reserves. But in the school games, in a wedding complete with white veil and white rice, and in the sawmill, we see how other ways of life are being adopted.

This film shows the growth of cooperatives in the Maritime provinces and how they brought new life and hope to poverty-stricken fishermen. The Rising Tide is a 1949 Canadian short documentary film directed by Jean Palardy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Colourful puppets illustrate the old French song about Cadet Rousselle, who falls down a ladder, who trips on battlements, and whose dogs will not obey him. The animated figures carry our hero through his predicaments with colour and verve.

Land for Pioneers is a documentary about economic development in the Canadian North from a 1944 nationalist perspective.

The historic post of Moose Factory on James Bay is still a centre of Canada's fur trade. The camera follows Cree trapper George McLeod as he goes out from the post to visit his trap lines. Bivouacing in the open, in bitter cold, he traps mink and beaver, skillfully skinning the animals and drying the rich pelts. Back at the post, he sells his furs to the Hudson's Bay trader.

This short documentary offers a panorama of ancient cities, palaces and temples whose splendor has awed mankind. The film moves from one tradition to another, illustrating how each reflects the sentiments and values of its time, from the massive temples of the pharaohs to the soaring skyscrapers of today.