A collection of Canadian archival films, this is a website for anyone with an interest in history. For educators, these are innovative, accessible sources of history and tools for teaching. These century-old films cover a wide range of subjects and were highly popular in the era they were made. Both documentaries and narrative films are featured on this site. The former provides details about work and workplaces or important societal changes. Narrative films feature moral lessons that tell us much about attitudes and social values.
Sample titles:
Old Logging Mills 1930 (8:34)
Miners in the Making 1922 (9:49)
Life in a Mining Camp 1921 (3:35)
Read more: Canada’s Early Industrial Films are Useful to Labor and Social Historians
Category Archives: Themes
THE MOVING PAST
UNION
2024; 100 minutes; US
Follows former and current workers of Amazon, as they form the Amazon Labor Union, and take on the company to form a union.
Directed by Brett Story & Stephen Maing
THE MATRIX
1999; R; 2h 16m
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth–the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski; Lilly Wachowski
Writers: Lilly Wachowski; Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves; Laurence Fishburne; Carrie-Anne Moss
THE DAY ICELAND STOOD STILL
2024; 1h 10m
Oct. 24, 1975, Iceland: 90% of women just took the day off, and men scrambled to fulfill their duties, sometimes comically so. A gleeful, amazing tale of the feminist collective, “The Red Stockings”, and their search for equality.
Director: Pamela Hogan
Writer: Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir
Stars: Guðrún Erlendsdóttir; Vigdís Finnbogadóttir; Ágústa Þorkelsdottir
THE BRUTALIST
2024; R; 3h 36m
When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client.
Director: Brady Corbet
Writers: Brady Corbet; Mona Fastvold
Stars: Adrien Brody; Felicity Jones; Guy Pearce
SEEDS
2025; 2h 3m
A look into the lives of Black generational farmers, unveiling the challenges of maintaining legacy and the value of land ownership.
Director: Brittany Shyne
ON THE BOWERY
1956; Not Rated; 1h 5m
By focusing on the lives of three down-and-out alcoholic transients, the film creates a wrenching portrait of the tragic hopelessness of life on the Bowery in New York City.
Director: Lionel Rogosin
Writers: Richard Bagley; Lionel Rogosin; Mark Sufrin
Stars: Ray Salyer; Gorman Hendricks; Frank Matthews
MADE IN EU
2025; 1h 42m
A factory worker in rural Bulgaria becomes her town’s first Covid case, unleashing a wave of blame and social ostracism. As the virus spreads, she faces mounting persecution from employers, coworkers, family, and neighbors.
Director: Stephan Komandarev
Writers: Stephan Komandarev; Simeon Ventsislavov
Stars: Ivan Barnev; Francesco Frattini; Gerasim Georgiev
LOGAN LUCKY
2017; PG-13; 1h 58m
Two brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Jules Asner
Stars: Channing Tatum; Adam Driver; Daniel Craig
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 