# Canada Vignettes

Canada Vignettes are a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), some of which aired on CBC Television and other Canadian broadcasters as interstitial programs. The vignettes became popular because of their cultural depiction of Canada, and because they represented its changing state, such as the vignette Faces which was made to represent the increasing cultural and ethnic diversity of Canada. The Log Driver's Waltz directed by John Weldon set to the recording of the song by Kate & Anna McGarrigle with, and as part of, The Mountain City Four is one of the most-requested items contained in the collection by the National Film Board of Canada. A similar series was later produced in the 1990s, however the name was changed to Heritage Minutes.

## Conception

The idea for Canada Vignettes began in early 1977, when CBC's children's programming department at the CBC approached the NFB about producing short films, five minutes in length or less, to use as interstitial programming. When Secretary of State for Canada John Roberts announced in the fall of 1977 that $13 million would be given to federal cultural agencies to help promote national unity, the NFB was allocated $2 million to produce films for broadcast on the CBC, similar to CBS's Bicentennial Minutes in the United States, the previous year. The French-language service of the CBC also agreed to broadcast the series.

## Production

Eighty filmmakers from across the country worked on the project over a three-year period. Many of the films were animation vignettes offering amusing portrayals of Canadian history, while others were produced from excerpts of NFB documentaries. The NFB decided that no film credits would be included, only a title.

## Broadcast

The CBC's children's department subsequently informed the NFB that it could not show films longer than two minutes as their needs had changed in the time that it took to produce the series. A quarter of the vignettes were more than two minutes long. As a solution, the CBC main network agreed to make the longer and shorter films available to their network affiliates. Canada Vignettes were shown on both in prime time and during children's programming slots. The most popular film in the series to air on Canadian television was Canada Vignettes: Faces, an animated short that depicted the faces of Canada, including that of then Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Other Canadian television networks to broadcast the films included CTV, Global, TVOntario, and TVA. The series was also sold to international foreign broadcasters in such countries as Turkey, Italy, Algeria, Norway and the United Kingdom.

## List of Vignettes

| Title | Year | Duration | Notes |
| Acadian Quadrille | 1978 | 4:00 | director: Colette Blanchard; subject: the traditional Acadian dance, the quadrille |
| Agnes Campbell MacPhail | 1980 | 2:05 | director: Margaret Wescott; subject: Agnes Macphail, Canada’s first female MP |
| Alouette | 1979 | 0:30 | director: Michèle Pauzé; subject: animation set to the French-Canadian song “Alouette” |
| Angel of Death | 1980 | 2:00 | director: Ron Webber; subject: Toronto Daily Star’s 1912 fly-swatting contest |
| Arctic Mission | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Joan Henson |
| Arctic Seascape | 1980 | 1:30 | director: Joan Henson |
| Arctic Seascape | 1980 | 1:30 | director: Joan Henson |
| Bellevue House | 1980 | 2:10 | |
| Bells and Brass | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Rick Butler |
| Bethune Memorial House | 1980 | 2:52 | |
| Bill Miner | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Peter Jones |
| Bill Reid | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Jack Long; subject: Haida artist Bill Reid |
| Birth | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Margaret Pettigrew |
| The Blacksmith Shop | 1979 | 1:00 | directors: Rita Roy, Joe MacDonald |
| Bluenose 1921-1946 | 1979 | 2:05 | director: Richard Todd; subject: the schooner Bluenose |
| Bluenose II July 24, 1963 | 1979 | 3:07 | director: Richard Todd; subject: the schooner Bluenose II |
| Breadmakers | 1980 | 1:30 | director: Tony Ianzelo |
| Bridge for the Dempster | 1980 | 2:00 | director: Kenneth McCready, Joan Henson; subject: construction of Dempster Highway by the Canadian Armed Forces |
| Bridging the Gap | 1981 | 1:00 | director: M. Marilyn Cherenko; subject: allegory about the necessity of societal integration of people with disabilities |
| Calliope | 1980 | 2:00 | director: Tony Ianzelo |
| Canada's Snowbirds | 1980 | 1:30 | director: Joan Henson |
| Captain Cook | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Barry Helmer |
| Catapult Canada | 1985 | 1:09 | director: Bill Maylone |
| Celebration | 1981 | 1:00 | director: Tony Ianzelo |
| Countdown | 1981 | 1:00 | director: Veronika Soul; subject: filmmaking techniques and processes |
| Cree Conical Lodge | 1980 | 2:00 | director: Joe MacDonald |
| Cree Hunters | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Tony Ianzelo |
| Crossing Guards | 1978 | 4:10 | director: Kris Paterson |
| Dance | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Lise-Hélène Larin |
| Dancing Dolls | 1980 | 1:30 | director: Dorothy Courtois |
| December Lights | 1979 | 3:00 | director: Raymond Gauthier; subject: a version of a traditional Franco-Manitoban Christmas tale |
| Delta Plane | 1979 | 1:30 | directors: Hubert Neault, Nicole Robert |
| The Dentist | 1978 | 5:00 | director: Wolf Koenig |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972 Pt. 1 | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972 Pt. 2 | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972, Marg Osburne 1927–1977 | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Don Messer 1910-1973 | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Marg Osburne 1927-1977 Pt. 1 | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Marg Osburne 1927-1977 Pt. 2 | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Martin Defalco |
| Easter Eggs | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Yurij Luhovy; subject: pysanky, traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs |
| The Egg | 1979 | 1:00 | directors: Robert Bélisle, Jean-François Pouliot |
| Emergency Numbers | 1984 | 2:00 | director: John Weldon |
| Erik Davidson - Mechanic | 1979 | 3:03 | director: Richard Todd |
| Faces | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Paul Bochner |
| Fashion Designer | 1977 | 2:00 | directors: Rosemarie Shapley, Judith Potterton |
| Flin Flon | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Tina Horne |
| Fort Prince of Wales | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Brad Caslor |
| From Cobalt to Casa Loma | 1978 | 2:00 | director: Kenneth McCready |
| From Flax to Linen | 1978 | 2:00 | director: Joe MacDonald |
| Full Circle | 1979 | 4:00 | director: Rudi Wrench |
| The Ham | 1978 | 4:00 | director: Ronald Blumer |
| Headdress | 1979 | 1:30 | |
| Helen Law | 1979 | 3:00 | director: Jennifer Hodge |
| History for Tomorrow | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Joan Henson |
| Holidays | 1978 | 1:03 | director: Blake James |
| Home of the Beaver | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Ron Webber |
| Homestead | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Margaret Pettigrew |
| The Horse | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Michael Mills |
| Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Neary: An Irish Folktale | 1978 | 5:00 | director: Eva Szasz |
| Ice | 1982 | 1:00 | director: Robert Doucet |
| Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Canadian Bounce | 1986 | 2:00 | director: Meilan Lam |
| Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Souvenir Programme | 1986 | 2:02 | director: Meilan Lam |
| Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Storming the Ice Palace | 1986 | 1:58 | director: Meilan Lam |
| Indian Pipe | 1979 | 1:00 | |
| Instant French | 1979 | 1:00 | director: André Leduc |
| Inuit Pipe | 1979 | 1:30 | |
| Inverarden House | 1980 | 2:13 | |
| June in Povungnituk - Quebec Arctic | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Alanis Obomsawin |
| Klondike Gold | 1980 | 1:00 | director: George Geertsen |
| Lady Frances Simpson | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Christopher Hinton |
| Land Bridge | 1978 | 1:00 | director: George Geertsen |
| La mer enligne nos terres | 1979 | 0:03 | director: Phil Comeau |
| Land of the Maple Leaf | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Ron Webber |
| Log Driver's Waltz | 1979 | 3:17 | director: John Weldon |
| Logger | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Al Sens |
| Love on Wheels | 1979 | 4:00 | directors: Ben Low, Ian Rankin |
| Ma chère Albertine | 1979 | 5:00 | director: Suzanne Oliver |
| The Maple Leaf | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Paul Bochner |
| Marine Biologist | 1979 | 3:00 | director: William Pettigrew |
| Maritimes Dig | 1980 | 3:00 | director: Dennis Sawyer |
| McIntosh | 1979 | 1:30 | director: Tina Horne |
| Melvin Arbuckle, Famous Canadian | 1980 | 5:00 | director: Eva Szasz |
| Men of the Deeps, Cape Breton | 1978 | 2:00 | director: Sandra Dudley |
| Mer enligne nos terres, La | 1979 | 3:00 | director: Phil Comeau; subject: Acadian Nova Scotians |
| Métis Coat | 1979 | 1:00 | |
| Moccasins | 1979 | 1:00 | |
| The Move | 1985 | 5:00 | director: Larry Bauman |
| The Music Makers | 1979 | 2:02 | director: Malca Gillson |
| Mussel Mud | 1985 | 1:38 | director: Aileen Brophy |
| Newfoundland | 1978 | 1:00 | director: George Geertsen |
| News Canada | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Yossi Abulafia credited as Yossi Abolafia |
| Nigogeux, Les | 1978 | 5:00 | director: Robert Haché |
| Northern Seasons | 1980 | 1:00 | directors: Kenneth McCready, Joan Henson |
| The Novelist | 1978 | 5:00 | director: Andy Thomson |
| Onions and Garlic: A Hebrew Fable | 1978 | 4:02 | director: Eva Szasz |
| Our Daily Bread | 1979 | 3:00 | director: Joe MacDonald, Rita Roy |
| The Performer | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Norma Bailey. First Jury Prize for Short film at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival |
| The Photographers | 1978 | 4:00 | directors: Rosemarie Shapley, Judith Potterton |
| Physiotherapist | 1977 | 3:00 | directors: Rosemarie Shapley, Judith Potterton |
| Port Royal | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Robert Doucet |
| Prairie Promise | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Margaret Pettigrew |
| Prehistoric Artifacts, New Brunswick | 1980 | 2:00 | director: Dennis Sawyer |
| Riverdale Lion | 1979 | 1:00 | director: David Verrall |
| Roulamour | 1979 | 4:00 | directors: Ben Low, Ian Rankin |
| The Seigneury | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Janice Brown |
| Skier | 1978 | 2:00 | |
| Sodbusters | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Wolf Koenig |
| Spence's Republic | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Brad Caslor |
| St. Laurent Pilgrimage | 1985 | 2:00 | director: Dan J. McCrimmon |
| Stunt Family | 1978 | 3:00 | director: Lois Siegel |
| The Thirties | 1978 | 1:03 | director: Blake James |
| Toronto | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Carlos Marchiori |
| Trading Post | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Wolf Koenig |
| Trees | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Robert Doucet |
| Two Friends | 1979 | 3:00 | director: Richard Todd |
| Under the Pole | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Joan Henson |
| Unity Pole | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Jack Long |
| The Veteran | 1978 | 4:00 | director: Ronald Blumer |
| Veterinarian | 1977 | 3:00 | directors: Rosemarie Shapley, Judith Potterton |
| Vignettes from Labrador North | 1979 | 4:00 | director: Roger Hart |
| The Violin Maker | 1978 | 5:00 | directors: Rosemarie Shapley, Judith Potterton |
| The Visitor | 1979 | 1:00 | |
| The Vote | 1980 | 1:00 | director: Margaret Pettigrew |
| Voyageurs | 1978 | 1:00 | director: Wolf Koenig |
| Wild Rice Harvest Kenora | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Alanis Obomsawin |
| Winter - Dressing Up | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Gerald Potterton |
| Winter - Starting the Car | 1979 | 2:00 | director: Gerald Potterton |
| Woodside House | 1980 | 2:07 | |
| The Wool Spinner | 1979 | 2:00 | directors: Rita Roy, Joe MacDonald |
| Woolly Mammoth | 1979 | 1:00 | director: Bill Maylone; stop-motion animation |
| Wop May | 1979 | 5:00 | director: Blake James; subject: aviator Wop May |