Documentary

Films

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Short format

Short-form Series

PUSH takes audiences into the inner world of the “Wheelie Peeps,” an unlikely group of friends and wheelchair users, bonded by their shared experience of navigating life on wheels.

Documentary | 1 season

Push

The National is CBC's flagship nightly news program, featuring the day's top stories with in-depth and original journalism.

News | 2 episodes

The National

A sudden stroke is like a brush fire in the brain, burning over a million neurons per minute. Without intervention stroke causes debilitating neurological damage, or even death.  Medical researchers have long known that a drug that could lessen or prevent the damage done by stroke could save countless lives and be worth a fortune. It might even win a Nobel Prize. Over the years, drug companies have created what they think are effective stroke drugs. But when it came down to human testing, it proved impossible. But Dr. Mike Tymianski thinks he’s not only created a stroke drug that works, he also believes he has finally figured out a way to test it. Now he just has to prove it. The Stroke Doc is a high-stakes medical drama that follows the final stages of testing this drug on stroke victims. It takes place in the back of screaming ambulances, in hospital corridors and emergency wards around the world, taking us from Muskoka to Manila, where success is measured by tiny changes on an MRI, scrutinized in the middle of the night. And where failure could mean the loss of decades of research and tens of millions of dollars. Is Dr. Tymianski’s drug just another in a long line of failed stroke drugs? Or is he actually on the cusp of the biggest Canadian medical innovation since the discovery of insulin?

Education | 0 episode

The Stroke Doc

A moving, intimate, funny, and true-to-life look at the colourful stories of midwifery and families in East London in the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth.

Drama | 11 seasons

Call the Midwife

Two midwives, one Buddhist and one Muslim, defy strict ethnic divisions to work side by side in a makeshift clinic in western Myanmar, providing medical services to the Rohingya of Rakhine State.

Documentary | 92 min

Midwives

HEARTLAND is a sprawling multi-generational saga about a family getting through the highs and lows of life on a horse ranch, set against the stunning vistas of the foothills of Alberta.

Romance | 16 seasons

Heartland

At age 17, Hugh Herr’s legs were amputated. Frustrated by the crude prosthetic limbs he was given, Herr set out to remedy their design, leading him to a career as an inventor of prosthetic devices.

Documentary | 54 min

Augmented

STRAYS follows Shannon Ross (Nicole Power from Kim’s Convenience) as the new executive director of the Hamilton East Animal Shelter, where she is boss to an eclectic staff.

Comedy | 2 seasons

Strays

White Lie depicts the life of a popular undergrad faking cancer who struggles to maintain her secret.

Drama | 96 min

White Lie

A portrait of Canadian multidisciplinary artist Max Dean and his recent projects using art to confront his battle with prostate cancer.

Documentary | 75 min

Still Max

Tan France, stylist and presenter on Netflix's hit show 'Queer Eye,' sets out to unearth the truth about colourism, where you are judged not only on the colour of your skin, but by the shade of it.

Documentary | 57 min

Tan France: Beauty and the Bleach

Mysteries of Mental Illness explores the story of mental illness in science and society, tracing the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times.

Mysteries of Mental Illness

Master falconer Rodney Stotts is on a mission to build a bird sanctuary, and provide access to nature for his stressed community.

Documentary | 60 min

The Falconer

With exclusive access to a ground-breaking trial, this film asks if psychedelic drugs can help tackle one of the biggest medical challenges we face - depression.

Documentary | 50 min

The Psychedelic Drug Trial: A Cure for Depression

Comedian Rhod Gilbert's got a secret: he’s painfully shy, and it’s no joke. After a lifetime of social anxiety, can he finally come to terms with his shyness; and help others to do the same?

Documentary | 59 min

Rhod Gilbert: Stand Up to Shyness

Burnout re-examines the culture of work, and asks if it is worth the price we pay.

Documentary | 52 min

Burnout: The Truth About Work

Guy's tragic death is a shock for the Leblanc family. For many years, the real cause of his death is kept hidden from some members of the family, including his son David.

Drama | 102 min

L'etre Chers (Our Loved Ones)

Life, death, and drama at 20-thousand feet. A new medical adventure about a group of young first responders in the remote North, where help — and survival — are thousands of miles away.

Drama | 1 season

SkyMed

When Christine Matheson unexpectedly passes away on the night of her 40th wedding anniversary, her family find themselves at an emotional crossroads.

Love Me

Cut off from his loved ones due to the pandemic lockdown, a quadriplegic rabbi in a long-term-care facility is filmed remotely by his daughter. Offering powerful meditations on love and hope, Perfecting the Art of Longing shows us what it means to be alive in a state of profound isolation.

Documentary | 1 episode

Perfecting the Art of Longing

Edgar Lewis is in trouble. He’s a Catholic school boy, trying to understand his own budding sexuality, but he is caught masturbating in class and is promptly expelled. After a month of intense reflection, Edgar creates a multimedia presentation to prove to the school board that he’s mentally and physically fit to return to school.

Drama | 13 min

Premium Pornography

Odehimin is reconnecting with yourself and learning to love yourself.

Documentary | 3 min

ODEHIMIN (Heart Berry)

Gabi just wants to be Gabi. A simple wish one could think, but it’s not. Over the course of five years we follow Gabi’s struggle to find her true self in a society dictated by gender categorization.

Documentary | 76 min

Gabi: Between Ages 8 and 13

A Two-Spirited daughter discovers she is a perfect kidney donor for her ailing father. By gifting a piece of herself, she hopes to save his life and gain his acceptance.

Documentary | 11 min

Gift to Give

As the inaugural women’s flyweight champion and the sport’s first Native American champion, Nicco Montaño was a rising star in the UFC. In her quest to defend her title, Montano realizes she’ll face her biggest challenge before she ever steps foot in the ring. In this look behind the veil of combat sports, Warrior Spirit questions the controversial practice of intense weight loss and its damaging effect on even the fittest of athletes.

Warrior Spirit

The incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America's most famous sex therapist.

Ask Dr. Ruth

The Hughes family work and love and fight like every other family. Then, their youngest son is diagnosed with autism and they don't feel like every other family anymore.

Drama | 3 seasons

The A Word

When a foley artist goes home to settle her late mother’s estate, she discovers a dark family secret and becomes obsessed with finding the truth.

Drama | 2 seasons

Something Undone

The inspiring journey of Alain Philoctète, a Haitan artist and activist who dreams of developing a permaculture project in his native country even as he fights an ongoing battle with cancer.

Documentary | 84 min

Kenbe La: Until We Win

The story of Jordan River Anderson, and how as a result of his short life, thousands of Indigenous children today have health care equal to that enjoyed by the rest of Canadians.

Documentary | 66 min

Jordan River Anderson: The Messenger

You Can’t Ask asks the misunderstood, judged, or stigmatised people in society, the questions you've always wanted to know the answers to. It's about breaking down stereotypes and offering genuine insight into the lives of people who live with labels.

Documentary | 2 seasons

You Can't Ask That

A pioneer of integrative medicine, veterinarian Dr. Marty Goldstein attracts four-legged patients from around the world, providing holistic treatments for animals after other vets have given up hope.

Documentary | 101 min

The Dog Doc

A couple finds strength in Capoeira as they raise their son with a life-threatening condition. A portrait of family and fun, and the day to day challenges of keeping a family together.

Documentary | 26 min

Why We Fight

Professor Tim Flannery investigates how seaweed in helping to save the world - from growing the foods of the future, helping save the reef, and even combating climate change.

Can Seaweed Save the World?

Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky follows the lives of Thalidomide survivors and unveils a sinister and long-hidden complicity by the drug manufacturer.

Documentary | 78 min

No Limits

Two young adults from opposite ends of Canada relive the harrowing experience of surviving COVID-19, being hospitalized,  and begin coping with the long unknown recovery ahead. They become fast friends through the process and it becomes a form of therapy that only they can understand.

Documentary | 18 min

Recovery

A Newfoundland family lives through lockdown, coping with their sister’s mental disability, the death of their mother, and the fallout from a local COVID-19 cluster.

Documentary | 34 min

Me, Mom & Covid

A POV examination of how cognitive enhancement drugs have become increasingly popular globally - drugs that make you faster, smarter.

Smart Drugs

A film which explores a radical new idea – is there an imbalance between our brain hemispheres that is affecting how we live in our modern society?

The Divided Brain

Filmed entirely around the viral breakout and presented by Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim alongside Dr. Lisa Cross. Features consumer science and expert advice, giving us the definitive guide.

Biography | 46 min

Coronavirus: Is Your House Clean Enough?

A whistleblower, her lawyer, world-class scientists, cancer survivors and those who have lost their lives, strip a dominant pharmaceutical company of all credibility in this powerful documentary film while exposing the hard truths about dangerous, unregulated chemicals and toxins in cosmetics and care products.

Toxic Beauty

Save Me sheds humorous light on the fact that life is short, anything can happen, and the trauma that doesn't kill you might just open you to the strange beauty of existence.

Save Me

Ten years after tackling the dire state of Britain’s school dinners, Jamie Oliver is back on the campaign trail investigating the huge contribution sugar is making to rising global health problems and asking what can be done about it.

Documentary | 47 min

Jamie's Sugar Rush

Will smiling make you happy? Will changing your posture make you more confident? Can the science of embodied cognition make you feel better?

You Are What You Act

Alexander began growing his hair soon after his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Four years later, he decides that it’s time to cut and donate his hair. Reflecting on the past and present, Alex reveals that he’s nervous about letting go of something he’s become so comfortable with. His long hair started as a contest between friends, a bet about who could grow it the longest. Alexander’s hair is now long enough to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society. But before Alex cuts off all his hair, he wants to have a little fun. He decides to have his hair braided at Bea’s Braiding, a local salon. After a few hours in the chair, he finds that the braids actually suit him. He shows off his new look in a photo shoot organized by his girlfriend and family; it’s a chance for Alex to express his old self and document his long hair one last time. There’s only one person who can cut Alex’s hair: Jerome Pinsonneault. Jerome occupies a special place in the family; he had cut Alex’s father’s hair for over 30 years. Jerome generously offers to cut Alex’s hair and shape what’s left into a new doo. For Alexander, his hair represents grief, death, love and family. Confronting his own inner struggles to let it all go symbolizes the end of a long grieving process and opens up a new chapter in his life.

Biography | 7 min

For Dad, With Love

This contemporary dance films transports the audience into the mind of Karenza, a dance instructor who suffers from bipolar disorder. While mental illness is usually an internal struggle, views are led through Karenza's battle with mental illness when her manic, depressive and mixed cycle swings manifest themselves.

Documentary | 8 min

Exposed Nerves

Watch popular shows like Schitt's Creek, Luther, Kim's Convenience, plus Films and Live TV on any device

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