Tess Girard

Two strangers, Joanne and Chris share a winter road trip through rural eastern Ontario. After losing her husband John, Joanne faces the rituals of remote rural life on her own, while Chris is processing his failing eyesight and the loss of his mother and the new responsibility of taking over her old home in the country. As their journey together unfolds, their drifting memories reveal parallel experiences, helping each of them shift the focus of their destination.

The Acadians are descendants of early French settlers who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1604 and built a distinct culture and society over generations. Their peaceful existence was uprooted in 1755 when over 10,000 Acadians were ripped from their homeland to ensure British rule in North America. This Heritage Minute portrays the deportation through the eyes of an Acadian mother.

At 68, a formerly enslaved Black Loyalist enlists men for the Coloured Corps, an instrumental company in the War of 1812.

In her latest wallhanging, artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona reimagines the Inuit legend of Sedna, transforming a tale shaped by patriarchal violence into a vision of female sovereignty and self-determination.

Royal Canadian Air Cadets at the top of their class undergo seven weeks of training to get their pilot’s license in an intense program that normally takes six to eight months.

A founding member of Cape Dorset’s famed printmaking co-op, Kenojuak Ashevak introduced Inuit art to the world.

Two strangers, Joanne and Chris share a winter road trip through rural eastern Ontario. After losing her husband John, Joanne faces the rituals of remote rural life on her own, while Chris is processing his failing eyesight and the loss of his mother and the new responsibility of taking over her old home in the country. As their journey together unfolds, their drifting memories reveal parallel experiences, helping each of them shift the focus of their destination.

The Acadians are descendants of early French settlers who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1604 and built a distinct culture and society over generations. Their peaceful existence was uprooted in 1755 when over 10,000 Acadians were ripped from their homeland to ensure British rule in North America. This Heritage Minute portrays the deportation through the eyes of an Acadian mother.

The Acadians are descendants of early French settlers who arrived in Nova Scotia in 1604 and built a distinct culture and society over generations. Their peaceful existence was uprooted in 1755 when over 10,000 Acadians were ripped from their homeland to ensure British rule in North America. This Heritage Minute portrays the deportation through the eyes of an Acadian mother.

At 68, a formerly enslaved Black Loyalist enlists men for the Coloured Corps, an instrumental company in the War of 1812.

In her latest wallhanging, artist Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona reimagines the Inuit legend of Sedna, transforming a tale shaped by patriarchal violence into a vision of female sovereignty and self-determination.

Royal Canadian Air Cadets at the top of their class undergo seven weeks of training to get their pilot’s license in an intense program that normally takes six to eight months.

Royal Canadian Air Cadets at the top of their class undergo seven weeks of training to get their pilot’s license in an intense program that normally takes six to eight months.

A founding member of Cape Dorset’s famed printmaking co-op, Kenojuak Ashevak introduced Inuit art to the world.

A founding member of Cape Dorset’s famed printmaking co-op, Kenojuak Ashevak introduced Inuit art to the world.

A founding member of Cape Dorset’s famed printmaking co-op, Kenojuak Ashevak introduced Inuit art to the world.

A filmmaker's exploration of fleeting existence. Filtered through a personal story, "Benediction" is a last attempt to pay homage to those things left and leaving. When faced with the realization of her grandfather's mortality, a young filmmaker journeys to find meaning in the wake of absence and loss. Is she trying to hold on to something that was never there?

While many have migrated to new spaces during the pandemic, we've all become intimately familiar with the places we call home over the past two years. It's a basic human need, but we're increasingly transient—and in a virtual world, where is our community? Returning to her rural Ontario hometown Horning's Mills and its philosophical residents, filmmaker Tess Girard delicately ponders the spaces we choose to occupy. Conversations with a youthful gravedigger who provides locals with their final resting place contrast with an eccentric elderly couple who plan to save humanity with a bunker of buried school buses known as Ark Two. Girard seeks solace through these interactions while attempting to reconnect to her roots, questioning where she is meant to be. This deeply personal meditation embraces bucolic landscapes down to the smallest detail and grounds itself in quiet, reflective moments.

An old man's daily routine and the things he encounters.

Mohawk Chief John Norton and 80 Grand River warriors hold off American soldiers until reinforcements arrive and the Battle of Queenston Heights is won (1812).

A meditative and philosophical exploration of rhythm and synchronization. A complex, artfully constructed and densely layered film that creates an immersive experience that can, at times, make the viewer feel almost in situ with the images and sounds on the screen. Interview subjects span a broad range of disciplines. As individuals and as a society, we have a tendency to keep in step.

A meditative and philosophical exploration of rhythm and synchronization. A complex, artfully constructed and densely layered film that creates an immersive experience that can, at times, make the viewer feel almost in situ with the images and sounds on the screen. Interview subjects span a broad range of disciplines. As individuals and as a society, we have a tendency to keep in step.

A meditative and philosophical exploration of rhythm and synchronization. A complex, artfully constructed and densely layered film that creates an immersive experience that can, at times, make the viewer feel almost in situ with the images and sounds on the screen. Interview subjects span a broad range of disciplines. As individuals and as a society, we have a tendency to keep in step.