Directing
Evelyn Cherry was a Canadian documentary filmmaker, director, and producer. She is best known for her work as the head of the Agricultural Films Unit at the National Film Board of Canada and as a member of the British Documentary Film Movement.
When Canada entered World War II, the National Film Board suddenly had an urgent new mission—and hundreds of women stepped forward, helping to create Canadian cinema as we now know it.
Evelyn Spice Cherry talks about directing documentaries at the NFB during the Second World War. Cherry was one of the first women directors at NFB.
This short documentary profiles a 1949 meeting of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers in Guelph, Ontario. The IFAP plans to help solve the dire problem of world hunger—a problem sharpened by the birth of 55,000 more human beings, arriving "for breakfast," each day. Delegates emphasize the plight of the many nations who face starvation while others have a surplus of food. The conference challenges the world to succeed at implementing a proposed plan for the fair distribution of food.
This short 1948 documentary focuses on the people of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and their efforts to create a recreation center. People from every section of the community contributed their services to planning and establishing this center, which then offered activities as varied as softball and library services.
This short film takes a look at Saskatchewan’s air ambulance service, organized and operated by experienced flyers who provide speedy hospitalization and treatment to the ill and injured. Within 15 minutes of receiving a desperate phone call for help from a remote area, a plane is on its way, guided to the patient with the help of landmarks such as a coal bin or a thin column of smoke on a northern lakeshore.
This short film serves as a cautionary tale to farmers who recklessly cut down trees on their land. When prairie farmers engaged in this practice to facilitate plowing, they discovered that the trees had served as windbreaks protecting top soil from erosion. The Dominion Department of Agriculture's experimental station at Indian Head, Saskatchewan, cultivated acres of young trees for distribution to farmers.