Documentary

Short Films

Films

Shows

Artist Gu Xiong’s painful journey from China to Canada unfolds in every piece he creates.

Season 1 | Gu Xiong

Art is my Country

A series of fictional stories about the mosaic of new Canadians who interact with a Refugee Settlement Agency called Ashbridge.

Social drama | 1 season

Ashbridge

At age seven Jacob Deng embarked on a terrifying three and a half month journey by foot to escape war in his village.

Season 2 | Jacob Deng

At the Table

Wadih Fares left Lebanon to escape civil war thirty years ago.

Season 1 | Wahid Fares

A classical violinist teaches music in a Greek refugee camp, a Calgary artist shares tiny meals, and a daughter honours her mother through a surreal crocheted collaboration.

Season 4 | Connection

CBC Arts: Exhibitionists

Fatma and her son Majed fled Syria for the safety of Toronto, but their troubles are far from over.  Hockey Mom looks at what happens after "year one" ends.

Season 3 | Hockey Mom

CBC Docs POV

A short documentary about Dima Joha, a para-athlete and Syrian refugee who is pursuing her passion for table tennis and has ambitions to represent Canada one day.

Documentary | 24 min

Dima's Game

Human Flow is director and artist Ai Weiwei's detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.

Documentary | 141 min

Human Flow

Why the arrival of refugees is changing small rural communities for the better.

Season 19 | Rural Refugees

Land and Sea Network

How the tiny southern shore outport of Cape Broyle became home to two Sri Lankan mechanics and their families.

Season 11 | The Southern Shore Sri Lankans

19 Days reveals the human side of the refugee resettlement process. A unique look at the global migration crisis and one particular stage of asylum, it lays plain the realities faced on the difficult road towards integration.

Season 1 | 19 Days

Wall is a feature-length animated film written by and starring Oscar®-nominated screenwriter (The Hours, The Reader) and preeminent British playwright David Hare. The 80-minute film follows Hare on a trip to the Middle East, where he explores the impact the wall that separates Israel and Palestine has had on the people of the region.

Season 1 | Wall

Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in prison, Walaa dreams of becoming a policewoman in the Palestinian Security Forces (PSF). Despite discouragement from her family, even her beloved brother Mohammed, Walaa applies and gets in.  But her own rebellious behaviour, and complicated relationship with her mother are challenging, as are the circumstances under which she lives.

Season 1 | What Walaa Wants

In Ethiopia, it is often said that “an artist in exile is like a fish out of water.” Despite this belief, a growing number of Ethiopian artists, musicians, writers, actors and journalists are fleeing the violence and repression that is spreading in Ethiopia. Many have landed in Toronto, thanks to Canada’s refugee policy. Safe from physical persecution, they must begin the emotional and spiritual struggle that comes from being cut off not only from the community and people they love the most, but also from elements of life that gave them purpose. Famous at home, they have become nobodies in exile. In Tizita, three Ethiopian musicians reflect on what they have left behind, how they made it to Canada and how they are trying to rebuild their identities — to become new fish in new water. The film follows the musicians as they gather to play music drawn from the unique Ethiopian traditional pentatonic musical scale. The scale contains different combinations that are tied to specific themes — “tizita” is associated with songs and stories built around memories. The film is directed by Gezahegn M. Demissie, an Ethiopian documentary filmmaker who is also a refugee in Canada, trying to reinvent himself.

Documentary | 19 min

Tizita

Incredible stories of strength and hope, honouring World Refugee Day.

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Filters and sorts

All "World Refugee Day" content

Art is my Country

Ashbridge

At the Table

At the Table

CBC Arts: Exhibitionists

CBC Docs POV

Dima's Game

Human Flow

Land and Sea Network

Land and Sea Network

NFB

NFB

NFB

Tizita