The best of VOD

Still Recording

For five years, at the heart of the Syrian civil war, a group of aspiring filmmakers documented the fighting and the daily life of the people in the city of Douma, in Eastern Ghouta, a besieged suburb of Damascus.

After the Odyssey

After a Dantean journey, women from Nigeria arrive alone and ever younger in Italy, looking for a better life. Such horrors as human trafficking and sexual slavery are waiting for them, as we discover in this ensemble film, featuring harrowing stories told in a sensible way that spares us from the unbearable. These tales provoke a broader reflection on migration and otherness. 

Dog Stories

_Dog Stories_ reveals as much about the people telling the stories as the dogs they are describing. The dog owners are more honest about their feelings about a dog than almost any other aspect of their lives, and in the process they reveal a lot about themselves.

Damascus Dreams

How does one remember a homeland they are so deeply connected to and disconnected from? When Canadian-born filmmaker Emilie Serri travels to Syria for the first time in ten years, she feels alienated. A year later, when her grandmother dies and the war begins, she tries to piece back together an image of this elusive country she desperately wants to call her own. Gathering evidence from the pas...

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protesto...

Still Recording

For five years, at the heart of the Syrian civil war, a group of aspiring filmmakers documented the fighting and the daily life of the people in the city of Douma, in Eastern Ghouta, a besieged suburb of Damascus.

Chasing the Dazzling Light

Director Yaser Kassab followed in his father’s footsteps, emigrating from Syria to Europe as a young man, and, like his father, he also aspired to become a filmmaker. They now work together on this film remotely. From Syria, the father provides guidance to his son over the phone or via video calls, offering advice on future film projects and life in general—loving conversations punctuated by we...

Damascus is Breathing

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, director Omar Malas has been asking himself a question: what would be the impact of the pandemic on Syrians after years of war? This documentary project is an attempt to portray the work of a citizen-led initiative in which he took part during the first wave of the pandemic.

After the Odyssey

After a Dantean journey, women from Nigeria arrive alone and ever younger in Italy, looking for a better life. Such horrors as human trafficking and sexual slavery are waiting for them, as we discover in this ensemble film, featuring harrowing stories told in a sensible way that spares us from the unbearable. These tales provoke a broader reflection on migration and otherness. 

Toroboro: The Name of the Plants

Twenty-five years after a renowned ethno-botanical study in the Ecuadorian Amazon region inhabited by the Waorani, the central figures involved reunite. Members of the community talk about the genocidal colonization of their people since the arrival of Christian missionaries. The main threats to their survival are now the oil and timber industries.

Twice Colonized

Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people. A member of a historically marginalized and oppressed community, Aaju’s heritage puts her in the unique position of someone who has been “twice colonized” – first by European settlers who arrived in the Arctic, and then by modern-day Canadian policies and institutions. But while launching an effort to establ...