A portrait of a Vietnamese-Canadian family opening up a restaurant and cocktail bar in Calgary's Chinatown, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Batali: The Fall of a Superstar Chef (2022)
This astonishing glimpse into the restaurant world examines sexual harassment concealed within the industry, causing many employees to suffer in silence or leave their jobs rather than confront a celebrity chef or powerful owner who can ruin their career.
Blood Road (2017)
Blood Road follows the journey of ultra-endurance mountain bike athlete Rebecca Rusch and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, as they pedal 1,200 miles along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Their goal: to reach the site where Rebecca’s father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was shot down in Laos more than 40 years earlier.
The General And Me (2017)
Over the period of 25 years the director met General Võ Nguyên Giáp, a legendary hero of Vietnam’s independence wars, a number of times. She was the first American who entered the home of the “Red Napoleon”. The fruit of this friendship is a film, personal and politically involved at the same time. Travelling across the country and talking to important figures as well as ordinary people, the director finds out more about her roots and offers the audience a unique perspective on Vietnam’s present and past.
The Fog of War (2003)
Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
We Were the Scenery (2025)
In 1975, soon after the end of the Vietnam War, Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che fled the country on a small boat. After nine days at sea, they docked in the Philippines, where they were utilized as background extras for “Apocalypse Now.”
The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice (2022)
Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.
Vietnam: Secret Negotiations that Ended the War (2015)
While the war raged on, Henry Kissinger, national security advisor to President Nixon, and Lê Duc Tho, member of Vietnam's Politburo, held secret meetings in France.
Hearts and Minds (1974)
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Everything Will Be (2014)
Sundance award-winning director Julia Kwan’s documentary Everything Will Be captures the subtle nuances of a culturally diverse neighbourhood—Vancouver’s once thriving Chinatown—in the midst of transformation. The community’s oldest and newest members offer their intimate perspectives on the shifting landscape as they reflect on change, memory and legacy. Night and day, a neon sign that reads "EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT" looms over Chinatown. Everything is going to be alright, indeed, but the big question is for whom?
She Chef (2023)
We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.
Latvian Coyote (2019)
An absurd game of “finding happiness” is being played by local Latvian coyotes* and illegal immigrants on the Russian and the European Union border. It is a game with no winner – all participants are driven to play by the sense of despair. While one side leaves home and undertakes a perilous journey to the other side of the globe, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in a free country, the other side risks their freedom to earn a chance to stay right where they are, in their homeland. *coyote – someone who smuggles illegal immigrants
Radioactive Vampire Teeth (2023)
A short documentary exploring Calgary noise-rock band, Radioactive Vampire Teeth.
Forever, Chinatown (2016)
Forever, Chinatown is a story of unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth.
Return with Honor (1999)
The story of U.S. fighter pilots shot down over North Vietnam who became POWs for up to 8 and a half years.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.
100 (1971)
Push-ups to the rhythm of a metronome, a meter counting backward from 100; three words are shouted time and again: “dog – pig – monkey”.
El Bulli: Cooking in Progress (2011)
For six months of the year, renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria closes his restaurant El Bulli -- repeatedly voted the world's best -- and works with his culinary team to prepare the menu for the next season. An elegant, detailed study of food as avant-garde art, EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS is a rare inside look at some of the world's most innovative and exciting cooking; as Adria himself puts it, "the more bewilderment, the better!"
The Lebanese Burger Mafia (2023)
The heir to a Burger Baron franchise, the filmmaker chases clues through rural Alberta, capturing the trials and tribulations of Arab immigrants while uncovering the saga of a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins and a cult following.
Outliers: Calgary's Queer History (2018)
A deep dive into the historical, social and political forces which shaped the development of the queer community in Calgary. Featuring extensive footage and B-roll film from Calgary Pride in the 90’s, queer leaders recount a decade of turmoil, loss, and growth of activism and human rights. The film is a first-hand account of the frontlines of LGBTQ2+ activism at a time when the right to be out in Alberta was not legally protected, visible or developed. Spanning stories from 1960-present day, this feature length documentary delves into the moments and victories which brought an entire community from the darkness into the light.