Rex Tasker

Hunters and Bombers

The hunters are the Innu people and the bombers are the air forces of several NATO countries, which conduct low-level flights over the Innu's hunting terrain. The impact of the jets is hotly debated by peace groups, Indigenous people, environmentalists and the military. But what is often overlooked are the many complex changes underway in Innu society, as social and technological changes confront a traditional hunting culture.

Robichaud

Portrays Louis Robichaud, Canadian politician and former Premier of New Brunswick.

Singlehanders

Follow two Canadians, Bob Lush and Mike Birch, aboard their yachts during the 1980 Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race. More than a record of this prestigious international sailing event, the resulting film is the starting point for an epic of challenge and determination.

I Like to See the Wheels Turn

To anyone outside the Atlantic provinces, K. C. Irving is virtually unknown. Yet he is reputed to be the richest man in Canada, patriarch of a New Brunswick-based industrial empire involving oil, transportation, newspapers, lumber and much more. This one-hour documentary marks the first time a filmmaker has gained access to the legendary Irving, whose business career began in 1924 with the purchase of an oil truck. It is an absorbing look at a man who amassed great wealth as a by-product of his main objective: "to see wheels turn."

Death in the Spring

In this animated short the artist tells the story of an Inuit hunter who clubs a seal pup on the ice and then later dies himself. The film's ethereal images are created and transformed in sand.

Empty Harbours, Empty Dreams

The film explores how the three British colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island became provinces of Canada and charts the subsequent decline of their economies after Confederation. Photographs, archival drawings, cartoons and interviews with Maritime historians are used to document the case.

Moses Coady

The film is about Moses Coady, who was called many things in his lifetime, but who proved to be the most effective social reformer Canada has known. He went into the villages, organized the people into study groups, helped them set up credit unions and co-operatives, and freed them from the semi-feudal conditions they lived in. Today, people from all over the world come to study his methods at the Coady International Institute in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. (NFB)

Boo Hoo

A cemetery in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada is seen through the eyes of its former superintendent.

Scoggie

This short documentary profiles 27-year-old Scoggie Watson, a Cape Breton stalwart who clings to the things he cherishes most: the waters of Lake Bras d'Or, his hand-built sailboat, his freedom, and the friends who stayed in Cape Breton instead of leaving for the big cities.

The Brothers Byrne

Torn between the world of their childhood and the world where they must now live and work, two flamboyant Newfoundlanders pay a nostalgic visit to the deserted outport where they were born. This is their story, and the story of so many others who, like them, became victims of the Newfoundland government's controversial Resettlement Program.

The Islanders

This short film uses photographs from various public and private collections, interwoven with the memories of islanders who lived at the turn of the century, to tell the tale of how Prince Edward Island somewhat reluctantly became a Canadian province.

The White Ship

Sailing ships on an open sea make an attractive sight, all the more to be valued because of their rarity. This film shows one of the Portuguese schooners that fished the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. From the moment the townsfolk turn out for the blessing of the ship and crew, to the time when the ship turns homeward with the season's catch--leaving one crewman in a Newfoundland grave--this film holds the viewer's attention on an ancient calling that will soon disappear.