These Canadian short films will entertain your kids, make them smarter, and give adults a guilt-free hour to talk after dinner. Simply deputize a helper to hit “play” and “full screen,” and get back to the grownup table! (Don’t miss our original post: 8 Amazing Short Films That Will Delight Your Children.)
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The Sweater Ah, an archetypal tale of Canadian identity. Anyone who loves a hometown team can imagine the distress when, instead of a beloved Montreal Canadians jersey, a boy receives a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater in error. Narrated by Roch Carrier, who based the 1979 story on boyhood experiences in rural Quebec.
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The Zoo in Stanley Park Animal lovers, this is for you. You can no longer visit Vancouver’s Stanley Park Zoo. (It closed its doors permanently in 1996.) But you can go back in time—way back, to 1956—and join one superintendent as he gets up close and personal with the delightful creatures.
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The Big Snit This wonderfully wacky animation is a look at two simultaneous conflicts—and how each gets resolved. Presented with warmth and unexpected humor, the film reminds us in challenges large and small, sanity is a boon.
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The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin This Oscar-nominated animation is a zany version of the famous fairy tale—with a mistreated, romantic penguin in the lead role. Watch as Cinderella Penguin, rushing to meet her midnight deadline, loses her magic flipper. Will she find Prince Charming Penguin and live happily ever after? The clock is ticking….
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Canon We all know Frère Jacques, dormez-vous… But how about the sophisticated mathematics behind the song? This 1964 animation demystifies the “canon,” a form of musical round in which each phrase builds on its predecessor.
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How It’s Made: Steel Forgings Watch as one of earth’s hardest materials becomes a white-hot liquid. Industrial machines empty 56 tonnes (!) of scrap metal into an electric arc furnace, heating it to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (!!). That’s when the fun starts.
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How It’s Made: Copper You see the reddish metal called copper every day. But before it was in your home, it was in a factory somewhere. And before it was there, it was deep in the earth’s crust. Watch the amazing journey of copper, from beginning to end.
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