Patchery: NFB

Huge part of the Canadian cultural landscape. Fond memories of being a kid fresh in Canada, the lights in the classroom dimming, the whirr of the projector starting up and the magical images projecting across the screen. Classics like Helicopter Canada and Paddle to the Sea (along with other Bill Mason films) helped shape my perceptions of this new to me land.

(And as an interesting aside, the name “Boards of Canada” took their name from this very organization. As kids who spent part of their childhood in Canada, they too were very inspired by NFB films.)

Helicopter Canada

It seems appropriate to put this up, what with me posting a track yesterday by the great Boards of Canada, who have stated that their name was inspired by fond childhood memories of watching National Film Board of Canada productions.

I also recall watching this as a child in school, shortly after moving to Canada, and it shaping my view of Canada. It was already about a decade old by the time I saw it, but that was a view of the place that was planted in my head. Like Paddle To The Sea, another NFB production that did a lot to shape my view, albeit perhaps a slightly romantic one, of this amazing country I now live in.
                       

Helicopter Canada by Eugene Boyko, National Film Board of Canada

Song of the Paddle by Bill Mason

What’s the next best thing to going on a canoe trip? Watching Song of the Paddle by Bill Mason. Another one of his films that like Paddle to the Sea, had a powerful impact on me as a youngster, giving me a taste of how fantastic canoeing might be. And I’m happy to report it was borne out by my subsequent real life experiences.

Building a Kayak by Quentin Brown - NFB Documentary

Hour long (in two parts) documentary on Netsilik Inuit constructing a kayak, dating back to 1967 and done by Quentin Brown. 

I just built a kayak, and it’s great and all, and a super fun process, and a fully functional water craft...but it pales in comparison to people making one from driftwood and bone, seal skin and sinew, and bone and flint tools. And not only do they build it, but the idea of someone devising it in the long losts mist of time - and then to think that that first builder would have mustered up the courage to get in his new invention and paddle around in the arctic seas. Makes any thing I did pale in comparison.

Oh, and I’d also like to say that the National Film Board of Canada is a real treasure.

César's Bark Canoe

This documentary shows how a canoe is built the old way. 67-years old at the time of filming César Newashish, an Attikamek of the Manawan Reserve north of Montreal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots and gum. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Native peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is without commentary but text frames appear on the screen in Cree, French and English. 

Paddle To The Sea

I think everyone should watch this film.

This has to be the most vivid recollection I have of being a young lad in a new country, not entirely fluent in the language, and sitting in class, the projector being set up, that whirr, and being shown this. It really drove home how fantastic being in Canada is. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration that this film had a profound effect on me. It helped fuel my love of being outside and exploring this land around me.

I especially love the fact that it features a boy, using sharp knives, around an open fire, using molten lead, roaming around outdoors without adult supervision. As if that would be allowed today.