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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "Canada Vignettes" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2011)

Canada Vignettes are a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), some of which aired on CBC Television and other Canadian broadcasters as interstitial programs. The vignettes became popular because of their cultural depiction of Canada, and because they represented its changing state, such as the vignette Faces which was made to represent the increasing cultural and ethnic diversity of Canada. A similar series was later produced in the 1990s, however the name was changed to Heritage Minutes.

Conception

The idea for Canada Vignettes began in early 1977, when CBC's children's programming department at the CBC approached the NFB about producing short films, five minutes in length or less, to use as interstitial programming. When the Secretary of State for Canada announced in the fall of 1977 that $13 million would be given to federal cultural agencies to help promote national unity, the NFB was allocated $2 million to produce films for broadcast on the CBC, similar to CBS's Bicentennial Minutes in the United States, the previous year. The French-language service of the CBC also agreed to broadcast the series.

Production

80 filmmakers from across the country worked on the project over a three-year period. Many of the films were animation vignettes offering amusing portrayals of Canadian history, while others were produced from excerpts from NFB documentaries. The NFB decided that no film credits would be included, only a title.

Broadcast

The CBC’s children’s department subsequently informed the NFB that it could not show films longer than two minutes as their needs had changed in the time that it took to produce the series. A quarter of the vignettes were more than two minutes long. As a solution, the CBC main network agreed to make the longer and shorter films available to their network affiliates. Canada Vignettes were shown on both in prime time and during children’s programming slots. The most popular film in the series to air on Canadian television was Canada Vignettes: Faces, an animated short that depicted the faces of Canada, including that of then Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Other Canadian television networks to broadcast the films included CTV, Global, TVOntario, and TVA. The series was also sold to international foreign broadcasters in such countries as Turkey, Italy, Algeria, Norway and the United Kingdom.

List of Vignettes

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• Acadian Quadrille (1978)
• Agnes Campbell MacPhail (1980)
• Alouette (1979)
• Angel of Death (1980)
• Arctic Mission (1980)
• Arctic Seascape (1980)
• Bells and Brass (1978)
• Bill Miner (1978)
• Bill Reid (1979)
• Birth (1980)
• Bluenose 1921-1946 (1979)
• Bluenose II July 24 1963 (1979)
• Breadmakers (1980)
• Bridge for the Dempster (1980)
• Bridging the Gap (1981)
• Calliope (1980)
• Canada's Snowbirds (1980)
• Captain Cook (1978)
• Catapult Canada (1985)
• Celebration (1981)
• Countdown (1981)
• Cree Conical Lodge (1980)
• Cree Hunters (1979)
• Crossing Guards (1978)
• Dance (1979)
• Dancing Dolls (1980)
• December Lights (1979)
• Delta Plane (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972 Pt. 1 (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972 Pt. 2 (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Charlie Chamberlain 1911-1972, Marg Osburne 1927-1977 (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Don Messer 1910-1973 (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Marg Osburne 1927-1977 Pt. 1 (1979)
• Don Messer - His Land and His Music - Marg Osburne 1927-1977 Pt. 2 (1979)
• Easter Eggs (1978)
• Emergency Numbers (1984)
• Erik Davidson - Mechanic (1979)
• Faces (1978)
• Fashion Designer (1977)
• Flin Flon (1978)
• Fort Prince of Wales (1978)
• From Cobalt to Casa Loma (1978)
• From Flax to Linen (1978)
• Full Circle (1979)
• Headdress (1979)
• Helen Law (1979)
• History for Tomorrow (1980)
• Holidays (1978)
• Home of the Beaver (1978)
• Homestead (1980)
• Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Neary (1978)
• Ice (1982)
• Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Canadian Bounce (1986)
• Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Souvenir Programme (1986)
• Ice Carnival Montreal 1885 - Storming the Ice Palace (1986)
• Indian Pipe (1979)
• Instant French (1979)
• Inuit Pipe (1979)
• June in Povungnituk - Quebec Arctic (1980)
• Klondike Gold (1980)
• Lady Frances Simpson (1978)
• La mer enligne nos terres (1979)
• Land Bridge (1978)
• Land of the Maple Leaf (1978)
• Les nigogeux (1978)
• Log Driver's Waltz (1979)
• Logger (1978)
• Love on Wheels (1979)
• Ma chère Albertine (1979)
• Marine Biologist (1979)
• Maritimes Dig (1980)
• McIntosh (1979)
• Melvin Arbuckle, Famous Canadian (1980)
• Men of the Deeps, Cape Breton (1978)
• Moccasins (1979)
• Mussel Mud (1985)
• Métis Coat (1979)
• Newfoundland (1978)
• News Canada (1978)
• Northern Seasons (1980)
• Onions and Garlic (1978)
• Our Daily Bread (1979)
• Physiotherapist (1977)
• Port Royal (1978)
• Prairie Promise (1980)
• Prehistoric Artifacts, New Brunswick (1980)
• Riverdale Lion (1979)
• Roulamour (1979)
• Skier (1978)
• Sodbusters (1978)
• Spence's Republic (1978)
• St. Laurent Pilgrimage (1985)
• Stunt Family (1978)
• The Ballet Master (1978)
• The Blacksmith Shop (1979)
• The Dentist (1978)
• The Egg (1979)
• The Ham (1978)
• The Horse (1978)
• The Maple Leaf (1978)
• The Move (1985)
• The Music Makers (1979)
• The Novelist (1978)
• The Performer (1978)
• The Photographers (1978)
• The Seigneury (1978)
• The Thirties (1978)
• The Veteran (1978)
• The Violin Maker (1978)
• The Visitor (1979)
• The Vote (1980)
• The Wool Spinner (1979)
• Toronto (1978)
• Trading Post (1978)
• Trees (1978)
• Two Friends (1979)
• Under the Pole (1980)
• Unity Pole (1979)
• Veterinarian (1977)
• Vignettes from Labrador North (1979)
• Voyageurs (1978)
• Wild Rice Harvest Kenora (1979)
• Winter - Dressing Up (1979)
• Winter - Starting the Car (1979)
• Woolly Mammoth (1979)
• Wop May (1979)

See also

• O Canada (Cartoon Network series that featured some of the animated Canada Vignettes shorts)

References

1. ^ Ohayon, Albert. "Canada Vignettes: Essential Canadiana, eh!". NFB blog. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
2. http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Canada+Vignettes

External links

• Canada Vignettes, The Big Cartoon Database
• Episode Guide

• National Film Board of Canada series
• Short film series
• Canadian short films
• Interstitial programming
• CBC Television shows
• Ici Radio-Canada Télé network shows