Paddle to the Sea

196627 min 59 secFilm: Fiction, Children's film

G

Direction: Bill Mason

Production: Julian Biggs

Script: Stanley Jackson

For all children and those adults for whom the romance of journeying is still strong. This great NFB children's classic is adapted from a story by Holling C. Holling. During the long winter night, an Indigenous boy sets out to carve a man and a canoe. He calls the man "Paddle to the Sea." The boy sets the carving down on a frozen stream to await the coming of spring. The film charts the adventures that befall the canoe on its long odyssey from Lake Superior to the sea. This delightful story is photographed with great patience and an eye for the beauty of living things, offering vivid impressions of Canada's varied landscape and waterways.

Other versions


Subject categories


  • Literature and Language > Adaptations of Literary WorksChildren's Stories
  • Canada - Images of a Country > Landscapes
  • Geography and Geology > OntarioRivers and StreamsWaters and Flooding
  • Indigenous Studies > Arts
  • English Language Arts > Children's Stories/Fables

Credits


director
Bill Mason
photography
Bill Mason
producer
Julian Biggs
associate producer
Stanley Jackson
editing
Bill Mason
commentary
Stanley Jackson
musical score
Louis Applebaum
sound editing
Don Wellington
sound recording
Ron Alexander
Roger Lamoureux
production assistant
Blake James

Awards


  • Silver Medal - Category: Education - Language ArtsAnnual Awards Competition / International Film & Television Festival
  • Certificate of MeritInternational Film Festival
  • Best Documentary Film - Silver PlaqueInternational Children's Film Festival
  • First Prize - Category: Stories for ChildrenItinerant - American Film and Video Festival
  • Best Film - Category: Creative Arts and Experimental FilmsYorkton Film Festival
  • Golden Plaque - Category: Educational Films for ChildrenInternational Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults
  • First Prize - Category: Information FilmsFestival du film à format réduit
  • Nominated one of the ten best films of the last ten yearsEducational Film Library Aassociation of America - Sightlines Magazine
  • Award for Exceptional MeritInternational Festival of Short Films