Thursday, March 18 at 6:30 pm
Waterlife (2009 minutes/109 minutes)

Water, water is everywhere in this NFB ode to the Great Lakes. Co-produced with Primitive Entertainment Inc., Waterlife tells the epic story of our continent's Great Lakes not only as an essential resource area, but also through the voices of both human and animal inhabitants. Water has been called "blue gold" and many thoughtful people consider the ways we treat, mistreat and commoditize this life-giving fluid to be of the utmost importance for ongoing debate. The National Film Board website calls Waterlife a "cinematic poem about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted." Soundtrack lovers will be treated to music from Sigur Ros, Sufjan Sttevens, Robbie Robertson, Sam Roberts and Brian Eno.

Thursday, April 15 at 6:30 pm
Finding Farley (2009/63 minutes)

Welcome to the big country reality behind the Canadian imagination. Two recent NFB documentaries literally cover a lot of ground - and water - in conveying the breadth of our nation and the geography inspiring some of our literature. For the family of Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison, the voyage is a tribute to one of Canada's most famous authors, Farley Mowat. In Finding Farley, the filmmaking couple travel from the prairies to the Maritimes covering the same paths that Farley took more than 60 years earlier in Never Cry Wolf and People of the Deer. By film's end after a 5000-kilometre trip, Mowat's Nova Scotian summer home is reached and the author makes his much anticipated appearance.

This Land (2009/35 minutes)

The challenge in This Land is to complete a northern trek through blizzards, glaciers, and an expanse of crushed sea ice. Author and documentary filmmaker Dianne Whelan sets out with seven Canadian and Inuit rangers across 2000 kilometres of harsh terrain to raise a flag on the northernmost tip of Canadian soil - a symbolic gesture in a time of sovereignty claims. In conveying the epic nature of this adventure, spectacular footage of the Arctic landscape is matched with what the NFB calls a "mesmerizing soundtrack" from Nunavut-born singer and narrator Tanya Tagaq.

Thursday, May 20 at 6:30 pm
Lightning in a Bottle (2004/108 minutes)

If you don't have the blues, you don't have a large part of what counts as popular music. During almost 100 years of recorded performance, the blues has been both musical form and emotional release. Try to imagine Led Zeppelin, U2 or The White Stripes without the blues. In paying homage to the African-American musicians who developed this powerful genre, Lightning in a Bottle began as a star-studded 2003 New York blues concert at Radio City and later emerged as documentary. Taking turns in celebration on stage are musicians like B.B. King, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Ruth Brown, Bonnie Raitt, The Neville Brothers and John Fogerty. Throughout the film, archived footage and interviews with the performing musicians provide a history to the many branches of the music. Rated PG for some coarse language.

Thursday, June 10 at 6:30 pm
It Might Get Loud (2009/97 minutes)

It's almost impossible to imagine rock music without the emotional tag of a blues guitar. Building from their way of hearing older generations of players and with varying layers of technology at hand, Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White riff on personal approaches to music making. It Might Get Loud is a film about three rock icons and their lifelong attachment to an instrument. Will egos clash or will musical conversation dominate? Will the guitar survive as an instrument of passion? Can six strings be mightier than the sword in helping to shape a culture? Archived clips, photos and live performance add up to an intriguing and fun documentary. Rated PG.