FEATURE FILM
BUTTERFLY TALE [LA LÉGENDE DU PAPILLON]
Country: Canada, Germany
Director: Sophie Roy
Runtime: 82 minutes
Animation, English and French versions available, in-cinema only
Recommended for Grades P-6
Butterfly Tale is an animated feature film for the whole family set along the diverse, picturesque, and ever-changing backdrop of the great Monarch butterfly migration. A heartwarming tale of a gutsy and loveable one-winged butterfly named Patrick who stows away in a milkweed trailer in order to be part of the journey of a lifetime.
Le papillon monarque Patrick veut plus que tout participer à la migration de sa nuée, mais, comme il ne peut pas voler en raison d'une aile plus petite que l'autre, on le met à l'écart du groupe. Il décidera donc de se cacher dans les réserves de nourriture afin de faire partie voyage d'une vie.
Discover more about the monarch butterfly migration and find activities and coloring pages here: www.butterflytale.ca
Themes: Cooperation, self-realization, accepting differences and different abilities, environment
Content advisories: Frightening scene with birds of prey
SHORT FILMS
6 MINUTES/KM (6 minutes per kilometer)
Country: Canada
Director: Catherine Boivin
Runtime: 3 minutes
Live-Action, Atikamekw with English subtitles
Recommended for Grades 10-12
In rhythm with the footsteps of her Atikamekw ancestors, Catherine immerses us in the dreamlike universe of her morning runs.
Au rythme des pas de ses ancêtres Atikamekws, Catherine nous plonge dans l’univers onirique de ses courses matinales.
Themes: Resilience, Indigenous studies
CAT AND MOTH
Country: Canada
Director: India Barnardo
Animation, 7 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
A fluffy white cat wants nothing more than to find the most comfortable spot in the universe, but little does she know someone else has their eye on it too.
Une adorable chatte blanche ne veut rien de plus que trouver l'endroit le plus douillet de l'univers, mais elle ne sait pas encore que quelqu'un d'autre convoite également la place.
Themes: Compromise, empathy
DISAPPEARING JEWELS
Country: USA
Director: Will Kim
Runtime: 15 minutes
Animation, English and Korean with English subtitles
Recommended for Grades 7-12
In remembrance of his grandfather, who was a walking weather forecast, filmmaker Will Kim interviews ocean experts and brings his perspective on the impact of climate change and ocean warming.
Themes: Science, Environmental studies, Family
DRÔLE D’OISEAUX [FUNNY BIRDS]
Country: France
Director: Charlie Belin
Runtime: 34 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades 7-12
Ten-year-old Ellie is fascinated by nature and birds; she spends all her time reading about them. One day, a few miles from school, she goes onto a little island on the Loire River to take a book back to the library—an island full of birds where her greatest fascination comes to life.
Ellie, dix ans et demi, entre en sixième à Saumur. Timide et passionnée par la nature, elle passe son temps plongée dans des livres, en particulier d’ornithologie. Elle intrigue Anna, la documentaliste du collège, une femme mystérieuse avec qui elle tisse une relation pleine de malice. Le jour où Ellie doit absolument lui rendre un livre, la porte du CDI est fermée. Ellie décide alors de le ramener directement chez Anna, qui vit sur une île sur la Loire, à quelques kilomètres du collège. Une île pleine d’oiseaux.
Themes: Nature, Animals
Content advisories: Instances of children teasing
ENTRE DEUX SOEURS [TO BE SISTERS]
Country: France
Directors: Anne-Sophie Gousset and Clément Céard
Runtime: 7 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
To Be Sisters is about sharing a special bond and laughing together. To be sisters is to be propelled by love. But these particular sisters share something a bit different—one of them has use of her legs, the other uses a wheelchair to get around—and that’s absolutely fine.
Entre deux sœurs, il y a de la complicité et des rires. Entre deux sœurs, il y a l’amour comme moteur. Entre ces deux sœurs-là, il y a un petit quelque chose en plus, et c’est très bien comme ça.
Themes: Family, Resilience, Disability
LA FILLE AU BÉRET ROUGE [THE GIRL WITH THE RED BERET]
Country: Canada
Director: Janet Perlman
Runtime: 5 minutes
Animation, No dialogue, French music
Recommended for Grades 4-12
Whimsical, funny and full of good cheer, The Girl with the Red Beret celebrates harmony and togetherness in its lighthearted look at the vagaries of taking public transit. The film borrows from elements of everyday life to create an irresistible celebration of the city.
Fantaisiste et humoristique, plein de bonne humeur, La fille au béret rouge jette un regard rafraîchissant sur les aléas des déplacements dans le transport en commun tout en célébrant l’harmonie et le vivre-ensemble. Le film, qui emprunte des éléments du quotidien, nous emporte dans une irrésistible fête urbaine.
Themes: Community, Diversity, City living
HARVEY
Country: Canada, France
Director: Janice Nadeau
Runtime: 9 minutes
Animation, English and French versions available
Recommended for Grades 10-12
A short film adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, Harvey depicts a young boy who candidly recalls the spring day his world turned upside down. Filled with original touches and told through the eyes of a child with an overflowing imagination, this luminous work poetically examines bereavement and coping with the loss of a parent.
Court métrage adapté du roman graphique du même nom, HARVEY met en scène un petit garçon qui raconte avec candeur le printemps où son monde a basculé. Par petites touches singulières, cette œuvre lumineuse de Janice Nadeau, sertie dans un écrin musical signé Martin Léon, jette un regard poétique sur le deuil d’un enfant à l’imagination débordante et sur sa façon d’échapper à la disparition d’un parent.
Themes: Family, Grieving
Content advisories: Potentially upsetting sequence involving the depiction of an open casket
HOPPER’S DAY
Country: USA
Director: Jingqi Zhang
Runtime: 5 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
A cricket works toward achieving its dream of growing a garden in an abandoned quarry.
Themes: Science, Nature, Resilience
Content advisories: Instance of cricket in danger
I SEE [NI WAPITEN]
Country: Canada
Director: Noémie Echaquan, Julie Ottawa
Runtime: 3 minutes
Live-Action, Atikamekw with English subtitles
Recommended for Grades P-6
Ni Wapiten is a plea to better respect Mother Earth. In this poetic film, we follow a child's journey through the woods to his community's local dump. Playfully, he reuses the waste to build a bear.
Ni Wapiten est un plaidoyer pour un plus grand respect de la Terre mère. Dans ce film poétique, on suit le parcours d'un enfant à travers les bois jusqu'au dépotoir de sa communauté. De façon ludique, il réutilise les déchets pour y construire un ours, symbole de la nature.
Themes: Environment, Language arts, Indigenous studies
LA CALESITA
Country: Argentina
Director: Augusto Schillaci
Runtime: 10 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades 4-9
A heartfelt retelling of the true story of the beloved Argentinian merry-go-round operators who dedicated their lives to providing happiness to children while bringing their communities together.
Themes: Community, Cooperation
LA REINE DES RENARDS [QUEEN OF THE FOXES]
Country: Switzerland
Director: Marina Rosset
Runtime: 9 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades 4-9
The queen of the foxes is the saddest of them all. In order to make her happy, her worried gang swarms out at night to lay at her feet the secretly written, but ultimately unsent love letters retrieved from the city's rubbish.
Dans l’espoir de redonner le sourire à leur reine, les renards descendent chaque nuit dans la ville et fouillent les poubelles des humains à la recherches de toutes les lettres d’amour qui n’ont jamais été envoyées.
Themes: Friendship, Language arts
LE TOUT PETIT VOYAGE [A TINY VOYAGE]
Country: France, Switzerland
Director: Emily Worms
Runtime: 8 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades P-3
John sees an extraordinary sight: his parakeet, Titi, has opened the door to his cage all by himself! Yet the bird doesn’t fly away, so John decides to help Titi overcome his fears as the pair set out on a tiny voyage.
Jean est témoin d’une chose extraordinaire : Titi, sa perruche, peut ouvrir la porte de sa cage ! Pourtant l’oiseau ne part pas. En essayant de comprendre pourquoi, Jean se retrouve embarqué dans un monde magique. Titi va pouvoir montrer ses failles et peurs, et Jean l’aidera à les surmonter. En traversant d'étonnants paysages, ils enrichiront leur amitié et apprendront que dire au revoir, ce n’est pas dire adieu.
Themes: Friendship, Language arts
LUCE ET LE ROCHER [LUCE AND THE ROCK]
Country: Belgium, France, The Netherlands
Director: Britt Raes
Runtime: 13 minutes
Animation, French and English versions available
Recommended for Grades P-6
Luce lives a happy life in a peaceful little village, together with her mother and the other villagers. Every day is the same, and that’s the way everyone likes it. One day a giant Rock Creature disturbs the quiet life in the village. Luce is angry and determined to take the Rock Creature back to his home. But the Rock Creature might have more in common with Luce than she first thought.
Luce mène une vie heureuse dans un petit village paisible, avec sa mère et les autres villageois. Chaque jour se ressemble, et c’est très bien comme ça. Un jour, un énorme Rocher vient perturber la tranquillité du village. Luce est en colère et déterminée à ramener le Rocher là d’où il vient. Mais le Rocher a peut-être plus en commun avec Luce qu'elle ne le pensait au départ…
Themes: Community, Friendship
MITATA - GRANDFATHER
Country: Canada
Director: Desmond Simon
Runtime: 6 minutes
Live-Action, English and Mi'kmaq with English subtitles
Recommended for Grades 7-12
The story of one family, their connection to their land, and discovering their resilience.
Themes: Family, Environment, Indigenous studies
MY NAME IS EDGAR… AND I HAVE A COW
Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia
Director: Filip Diviak
Runtime: 8 minutes
Animation, English
Recommended for Grades 7-12
Edgar’s ordinary life is disrupted by a newborn calf he sees on a tourist trip to a slaughterhouse. After finding out that the calf would become schnitzel, he takes it home and soon finds his life transformed by his new bovine friend.
Themes: Friendship, Food, Sustainable living
Content advisories: Themes of animal death
NAISSANCE DE OASIS [BIRTH OF THE OASES]
Country: France
Director: Marion Jamault
Runtime: 9 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades 4-9
A cold-blooded snake and a hot-blooded camel become close friends.
Un serpent au sang trop froid et un chameau au sang trop chaud se lient d’amitié.
Themes: Friendship, Storytelling, Language Arts
PEBBLE HILL
Country: Switzerland, France, Belgium
Director: Marjolaine Perreten
Runtime: 29 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades P-6
A small family of shrews lives on the edge of a stream. But one day, heavy rainfall sweeps away the village. Luckily, the family escapes the worst, but their house is destroyed. The little family must combine their skills and work together to find a new place before winter.
Une petite famille de musaraignes composée d’une grand-mère, d’une maman et de ses trois enfants, vit au bord d'un ruisseau. Mais un jour, de fortes pluies s’abattent, apportant des crues qui emporte le village. Par chance, la famille échappe au pire, mais leur maison est totalement détruite. Forcée à l’exil, la petite famille se met alors en route afin de trouver un nouvel endroit pour passer l'hiver.
Themes: Community, Teamwork, Environment
SHELTER
Country: France
Director: Julie Daravan Chea
Runtime: 3 minutes
Animation, French
Recommend for Grades 4-6
Two friends at a summer camp are surprised by a storm. To overcome their fear, they invent a world of shadow puppets with their hands.
En colonie de vacances, deux amies sont surprises par l'orage. Pour vaincre leur peur, elles inventent un univers avec leurs mains.
Themes: Friendship, Coping skills
SONGS OF UNAMA'KI
Country: Canada
Director: Dawn Wells, Jeff Miller
Runtime: 22 minutes
Live-Action, English
Recommended for Grades 7-12
A documentary about the evolution of Indigenous musical styles in Unama'ki (Cape Breton).
Themes: Music, Indigenous Studies
STARRY-EYED
Country: Canada
Director: Emma MacCabe
Runtime: 3 minutes
Animation, English
Recommended for Grades P-6
What happens to wishes made on stars? This is what drives Starry-eyed, a journey through space, questioning the fates of wishes made to the sky. Wishes made to big stars go unanswered, only because those brightest stars are so backed up with work.
Themes: Language Arts, Science, Friendship
SUNFLOWER [TOURNESOL]
Country: France, Russia
Director: Natalia Chernysheva
Runtime: 4 minutes
Animation, No Dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
When a sunflower like no other chooses to take a new look at his environment, he will discover a totally different universe.
Un tournesol pas comme les autres choisit de porter un regard nouveau sur son environnement, il va découvrir un univers totalement différent.
Themes: Community, Conformity, Nature
THE TORNADO OUTSIDE
Country: United Kingdom
Director: Maria Tomazou
Runtime: 8 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades 7-12
A young woman named Anna lives in a stable, perfect house, anchored in space, locked safely away from the chaotic tornado that rages outside. But when her house keys are blown away, she’s forced to confront the chaos that she works so hard to avoid.
Themes: Mental Health
THREE TREES
Country: Canada
Director: M.R. Horhager, Aaron Hong
Runtime: 5 minutes
Animation, English
Recommended for Grades P-6
Exploring themes of diversity and belonging, Three Trees is a sweet animated short for children, narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.
Themes: Diversity, Belonging
TRY HARD
Country: France
Director: Audrey Chevrolle, Yuha Cho, Hugo Lemonnier, Brian Lim, Yuxi Zhou
Runtime: 9 minutes
Animation, French
Recommended for Grades 10-12
Alex, an art student, dreams of attending EVE, an elite visual arts school. Together with her best friend Kimmy, they train hard to pass the notoriously impossible entrance exam.
Alex, une étudiante en art, rêve d’entrer à Eve, l’école visuelle de l’élite. Ensemble avec sa meilleure amie Kimmy, elles s'entraînent sans relâche pour passer le concours d'entrée réputé impossible.
Themes: Friendship, Determination, Managing career goals
TWO LITTLE BIRDS - A SMALL WORLD [TWO LITTLE BIRDS - UN MUNDO PEQUENO]
Country: Argentina, Uruguay
Director: Alfredo Soderguit, Alejo Schettini
Runtime: 3 minutes
Animation, No dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
The escapades of two birds who learn to share a tree.
Themes: Cooperation
UNIBROW
Country: Canada
Director: Nedda Sarshar
Runtime: 14 minutes
Live-Action, English and Farsi with English subtitles
Recommended for Grades 7-12
An Irani-Canadian girl is anxious to go to school with a ruined unibrow, but the new girl from Iran helps her rethink her relationship with her brows, and by extension, her Irani heritage.
Themes: Multiculturalism, Friendship
WHAT’S UP WITH THE SKY? [QUE LI PASSA AL CEL?]
Country: Spain
Director: Irene Iborra
Runtime: 10 minutes
Animation, No Dialogue
Recommended for Grades P-6
A stop-motion animated film that depicts the ecological effects of fossil-fuel use on a mountainside community.
Themes: Environment, Sustainability