John Walker

Distress Signals

John Walker

Jackie Burroughs

A film about the predominance of American television programming around the world at the expense of regional cultural voices.

Place of the Boss: Utshimassits

John Walker

Shirley Cheechoo

In the '60s, the Mushuau Innu had to abandon their 6,000-year nomadic culture and settle in Davis Inlet. Their relocation resulted in cultural collapse and widespread despair.

Arctic Defenders

John Walker

Canadian territory Nunavut is created.

The Fairy Faith

John Walker

John Walker

Walker takes us on a personal journey into a world of myth and imagination that he learned from his grandmother. He travels from the Moors of Devon and the Highlands of Scotland to the brooding Celtic landscapes of Ireland and the intimate hills of Cape Breton, in his search of this potent “otherworld” of the imagination.

A Drummer's Dream

John Walker

John Walker

A rare and unique assembly of some of the greatest drummers in the world. Explosive talent, passion, humour and irresistible personality come together in a magical setting when seven diverse drummers create a profound and unforgettable experience. You've never seen drummers like this before! Featuring Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr, Dennis Chambers, Kenwood Dennard, Horacio "El-Negro" Hernadez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mike Mangini and Raul Rekow, the film engages us with the rich music styles and influences that are as dynamic as the performers themselves. We are lifted to another dimension as we connect to the powerful forces of nature embodied in the music of these master musicians. The creative and spiritual freedom of expression these artists display is overwhelming - from Latin rhythms to the wildly original compositions of Kenwood Dennard. Rock, jazz, Latin fusion, soul - these master drummers have backed up the likes of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Carlos Santana and now - each other.

Strand, Under the Dark Cloth

John Walker

Blanche Brown, Milton Brown

Although his influence on the history of photography has been nothing short of profound, Paul Strand (1890-1976) remains a curiously shrouded and paradoxical figure. While passionately devoted to humanity, he was happiest in the isolation of the dark room. A pioneer filmmaker (Manhatta, Native Land, Heart of Spain, The Wave), he found the process of collaboration painful. Strand established himself in New York in the 1920's as a master of light and structure, with his now famous photo of Wall Street inspired by the forms and movement of European modernist painters such as Matisse and Picasso. His closeup portraits and landscapes were equally profound. John Walker's Strand.

Passage

John Walker

Rick Roberts, Geraldine Alexander

With a unique blend of dramatic action and behind-the-scenes documentary footage, filmmaker John Walker shares the multi-layered story of British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men, who perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage, and John Rae, the Scottish doctor who in 1851, discovered their dismal fate. Rae's dark report, which described the crew’s madness and cannibalism, did not sit well with Sir John's widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society, including Charles Dickens. They waged a bitter public campaign to discredit Rae's version of events and mark an entire nation of northern Inuit with the label of murderous cannibals. A stunning face-to-face meeting between the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens and Tagak Curley, an honoured Inuit statesman who challenges the fraudulent history, vaults the story from the past into the present and we are witness to history in the making.

Assholes: A Theory

John Walker

John Cleese, Vladimir Luxuria

Some people grapple with the moral challenges of treating human beings decently. Others are just… assholes. Inspired by Aaron James’ New York Times bestseller of the same name, this documentary investigates the breeding grounds of contemporary ‘asshole culture’ — and locates signs of civility in an otherwise rude and nasty universe. Venturing into predominantly male domain, this film moves from Ivy League frat clubs to the bratty princedoms of Silicon Valley and the bear pits of international finance. Why do assholes thrive in certain environments? What explains their perverse appeal? And how do they keep getting elected?

The National Parks Project

Stéphane Lafleur, Sturla Gunnarsson

In an increasingly urban nation, Canada’s national parks are a treasured escape into extraordinary beauty and rugged wilderness. If the Group of Seven were an introduction to the landscape’s majesty, National Parks Project is the next logical chapter. Fifty-two contemporary artists from across the country, whose talents are as diverse as the parks they set out to explore, used their surroundings as a source of inspiration to blend musical and cinematic skills into collaboratively crafted vignettes. Epic in its ambition to celebrate these locales during Parks Canada’s centennial year, this omnibus film resonates with the knowledge that our unprotected land is more vulnerable than ever. Including films by Zacharius Kunuk, Peter Lynch, Sturla Gunnarsson and John Walker, and music by Sarah Harmer, Sam Roberts, Cadence Weapon and The Besnard Lakes, among many others, National Parks Project is a one-of-a-kind documentary experience.

A Winter Tan

Louise Clark, Aerlyn Weissman

Jackie Burroughs, Hernando Gonzáles

Jackie Burroughs stars as Maryse Holder, the ill-fated feminist author who met an untimely death in Acapulco. Her attitude of cultural and racial condescension toward Mexican men was to regard them as nothing more than beasts of burden for her own sexual pleasure, and her hedonistic pursuits of sex and drugs led to her death at the hands of one of her many boytoys.

Quebec My Country Mon Pays

John Walker

John Walker grew up an Anglophone in Montreal in the years surrounding Quebec's Quiet Revolution. He witnessed first-hand the upheaval that transformed the political and cultural landscape. In those years, more than 500,000 English-speaking Quebecers left the province, many of them—including Walker—finding their way to Toronto. After decades as a cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, Walker decides to turn his lens on his own story and dig into the heart of the social revolution that shaped his identity. His immediate and extended family express their conflicted feelings about their place in modern Quebec. Others, from a police officer who diffused FLQ bombs to director Denys Arcand, contemplate the issues that drive Quebec's desire for sovereignty. A province's past is informed by personal reflection and Walker's perspective that "my grandmothers taught me that history is a path to understanding and myths and half-truths must be challenged." (Summary by Alexander Rogalski)