Directed and produced by Charles E. Doucet/Moonglow Digital Video
Productions
© Atlantic Geoscience Society
26 min. 2006
Also available on DVD
How and when was Halifax Harbour formed? What secrets lie beneath its waters? Researcher George Jordan brings together a host of scientists, technologists and historians who examine the bedrock geology, glacial history and changing sea levels that have shaped what may be the world's largest ice-free harbour.
New seabed mapping techniques, the use of submerged forests and former lakes to date harbour formation, and the study of sediment cores help flesh out the harbour's story. Some of the more modern events are how geology affected the Halifax Explosion of 1917 and the discovery of the original bridge ruins in The Narrows. Halifax schoolchildren help pose questions to the harbour experts in their own examination of this complex body of water.
Subject(s): Geology, Nova Scotia, Science
Light: More than Meets the Eye
(A 2-part series)
Michaelin McDermott
Sunstroke Films
2004
Also available on DVD
This two-part series considers the fierce, wondrous power we call light. Featuring interviews with the world's leading scientists and thinkers, eye-popping displays of their fantastic innovations, historical re-enactments, and archival footage, these documentaries illuminate a vast, extended family of energies—a.k.a. light—that make up the forces at the very heart of our universe.
Beings of Light 46 min.
Since Edison popularized the electric light bulb, we've been busy refining life in the electric fast lane. In Beings of Light, some critical thinkers consider how we continue to be controlled by light even though we're no longer confined by the simple rhythm of day and night.
Novelist Victoria Glendinning and social critic Edward Tenner chronicle the electricity revolution, while international dark sky experts advocate a return to nighttime darkness. Neurobiologist Dr. George Brainard demystifies the esoteric notion of the "third eye"—pinpointing it as the tiny pineal gland that regulates melatonin in response to the amount of light our brains receive. Psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Lam considers light's healthy impact on those suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), PMS and bulimia. Biophysicist Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp reveals that even human beings emit light, in tiny ultra-low-intensity emissions known as biophotons, invisible to the naked eye.
Energies of Light 46 min.
Science has advanced more in the last few decades than all of previous human history but that pales in comparison to what lies ahead. Light is leading the next revolution. Energies of Light meets up with some extraordinary visionaries who are taming light's power.
Dr. Paul MacCready is an engineer, inventor and sunlight nut who has designed and built a long line of alternative vehicles, including the world's largest solar-powered airplane, Helios, built for high altitude flying and even perpetual flight. UBC astrophysicist Dr. Jaymie Matthews discusses the schizophrenic nature of light's many forms—radio waves, microwaves, infrared, UV, x-rays and gamma rays, to name a few. Richard Edlund, the special effects wizard best known for films like Star Wars and Poltergeist, explains how movie makers manipulates pixels of light. Radio-astronomer Dr. Jill Tarter attempts to make 'contact' with extraterrestrials via the light energy of radio waves. Dr. Louis Friedman, a former NASA project leader, is at the center of a private American-Russian initiative to launch the world's first solar-sail spacecraft, which could use the power of light to travel as far as Jupiter.
Subject(s): Biology, Careers, Energy, Science
Elizabeth Murray
5 min. 2003
Hatch, eat, fly, die…this enchanting short film shows the complete life cycle of the green bottle fly (phaenicia sericata) in minute detail.
Subject(s): Animals, Biology, Children's films, Science, Slice of life
Jeanne Corrigal/Susan Risk
Live Wire Video Productions
51 min. 2001
Near to Nature's Heart: Women of Waskesiu explores the diverse lives of eight First Nation, Métis and Euro-Canadian women who made their homes in Prince Albert National Park. Elder Agnes Dreaver guided her family to create an alcohol and drug-free traditional community. Victoria Patterson was a renowned Métis medicine woman. Speaking through her 1927 diary as an isolated pioneer, Elizabeth Pease welcomed her sole female visitor, a Montreal Lake Cree woman, with whom she did not share a language. Myrtle Strangway was a tourist teacher, photographer and community activist. Mohawk conservationist, Anahareo received international awards for her work. Dorothy Corrigal, Margaret Ferguson and Leona Leader-Genge were de facto park wardens, partners in every way in the tasks that their husbands were paid to do. With original music by Connie Kaldor, this moving documentary delves into the spiritual relationship these women enjoyed with the land, how this shaped not only their lives but the history of Waskesiu area.
Subject(s): Saskatchewan, Women
Oh Dad! II In this sequel to Oh Dad! using the same animation techniques, a young boy expresses his deep concerns about environmental issues. He grapples with what he sees as the collective responsibility of the adult world and his own father, an engineer, for the damaged environment and the disease, hunger, and pollution resulting from it. Despite the seriousness of the issues addressed,Oh Dad! II is as warm and witty as its predecessor.
Awards: Gold Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival; Honourable Mention, San Francisco International Film Festival; Honourable Mention, Oakland Educational Film & Video Festival
Subject(s): Children's films, Environmental issues, Peace/War
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