Joan Henson
Directing
Known For

A long and thoughtful look at those desperate days of October 1970, when Montréal awaited the outcome of FLQ terrorist acts. This film puts the October Crisis in the long perspective of history. Compiled from news and other films, it shows independence movements past and present, and their leaders; it reflects the mingled relief, dismay, defiance, when the Canadian army came to Montréal; and it shows how political leaders viewed the intervention.
Action : The October Crisis of 1970
A historical drama set in 1889, Chandler's Mill examines the plight of workers, and particularly child workers, in the New Brunswick wool industry. The story revolves around the efforts of one young teenage girl to better the lives of her friend and other workers, on the eve of a public hearing of the Canadian Royal Commission on Capital and Labour. Through the use of historical re-enactment, Chandler's Mill explores the issues of child labour, worker's rights and union organizing in 19th-century Canada.
Chandler's Mill
Set in 1815, this is the dramatic story of a child of the fur trade, son of a Native mother and a Scottish-Canadian fur trader. John Mackenzie's father is a wintering partner of the Montréal-based North West Company, which was for decades the wealthiest merchant enterprise in North America. To mark his entry into adulthood, twelve-year-old John is travelling for the first time to Fort William, the Company's lavish winter headquarters by Lake Superior. In following his journey, the film reveals the complex network of people--Scottish, French and Native Canadian--that made up fur-trading society and gave a unique flavor to the opening up of Canada's northwest.
First Journey, Fort William

In this film Eric Nilsson takes up the contrasts in the well-ordered Swedish society--order versus spontaneity; individual desires set against collective needs; subordinates vis-à-vis superiors. The young Swedes interviewed make a plea for independence, imagination, and the discussion of existing conditions.
A Place for Everything
A team of divers to the Arctic Ocean places a Canadian flag at the North Pole.
Canada Vignettes: Under the Pole
A team of divers assemble a big bubble in the Arctic Ocean.
Canada Vignettes: Arctic Mission
This installment in the Canada Vignettes series depicts the Canadian Forces Air Demonstration Aerobatics team at work.
Canada Vignettes: Canada's Snowbirds

The dramatic story of two youths--one French and one Indigenous--who share a pivotal time in Canada's history: the first contact between European and First Nations peoples.
Rendezvous Canada, 1606

A vignette exploring the depths of the Arctic Ocean.
Canada Vignettes: Arctic Seascape
The story of firearms and the role they have played since the first musket was introduced in this country over 400 years ago.