Stephen Dunn

Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute. While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.

Observe the funny, romantic, heartfelt, inspiring, and surprising stories of immigrants in America.

The lives of a diverse group of friends in New Orleans are transformed in the aftermath of a tragedy.

A group of humans arrive on Sirius 6-B to investigate an SOS signal sent out from the planet, which has been supposedly deserted since the destruction of the man-made weapons known as "screamers." Once the squad arrives, they find a group of human survivors eking out an existence in an old military outpost.

A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.

Good Morning comically examines the ideas of sexual identity and age anxiety via the story of a man who on the morning after his 30th birthday party wakes up with both a massive hangover, and a 17-year-old boy sleeping on his couch.

Deep in the Mojave desert, under a scorching blood-red sun, four travelers have set up camp to make art. One fateful night, the group is thrust into a feverish tornado of flayed flesh and mind-boggling monstrosities, the likes of which mere humans simply cannot fathom.

While gift shopping at an "enlightened" toy store, a mother and son are out of luck finding the latest Spider-Man and Transformers toys-because all this eccentric shopkeeper proudly sells are Rick Mercer-themed toys that are meant to inspire the next generation of Canadian youth.

Insecure thirteen year-old Esther Weary is on the brink of puberty and must come to terms with the realities of becoming a woman with her well-meaning grandpa and his pet pug.

Pioneering gay activist Jim Egan publicly challenged a culture of rampant homophobia in the press starting in the late 1940s, when it was dangerous to speak out.

A dark drama-comedy about the honest story of Martin Crimp, a young detective, whose fears of rejection manifest into a gigantic menacing owl that prevents him from finding true love.

The haunting fable of a young woman who spends her entire life mourning the loss of her husband in a cast iron bathtub after he is swallowed by a whale.

Boys On Film's twelfth collection of gay short films exposes private lives, uncovers secrets and presents a choice — to conceal or to confess? Volume 12: Confession features nine new stories, including: Robert Hawk's "Home From The Gym" starring Jake Robbins; Samuel Leighton-Dore's "Showboy" starring Lucas Pittaway and Malcolm Kennard; Bobby de Groot and Arjan van Meerten's animated "Cruise Patrol"; Denis Theriault's "I Am Syd Stone" starring Gharrett Patrick Paon and Michael Gaty; Dustin Shroff's "Deflated" starring Carson Trinity Haverda and Greg Baglia; Filippo Demarchi's "Age 17" starring Fabio Foiada and Ignazio Oliva; Christophe Prédari's "Human Warmth" starring Thomas Coumans and Adrien Desbons; Dominic Haxton's "Tonight It's Me" starring Jake Robbins, Caleb James, and Christian Patrick; and Peter Knegt and Stephen Dunn's "Good Morning" starring Peter Knegt and Oliver Skinner.

When a marriage is threatened by a long excursion for work, domestic trouble is buffeted by family and friends.

Lionel, a hapless romantic at the end of his rope, suddenly and inexplicably starts receiving roses in the mail. Somebody out there must be paying attention - but who?

An indie-rock singer loses her voice on the precipice of her first world tour.

A psychological experiment between two friends spirals out of control. How bad could it be?

A poetic short about the satisfaction in unrequited love.

Lucy Maud Montgomery battled depression, rejection, and sexism to become known around the world for Anne of Green Gables and 19 other novels. This Heritage Minute tells her story in her own words, as drawn from her journals.