The Better Cities Film Festival St. Catharines Edition returns this November as part of the Mighty Niagara Film Fest, bringing people together through films, local places, and ideas about how we shape the cities we call home.

Awake gently to the soothing SMASH! CRASH! BOOM! POW! of Saturday morning cartoons in NAC’s Microcinema. Another whack of whackiness has been carefully curated by NAC member Kevin ‘Attic Daddy’ Richardson with some classics thrown in from the 16mm collections of NAC member JC Culp and a pick or two from NAC’s own legendary film archive!

Before the internet and reality television, Ralph Zavadil was entertaining Southern Ontario audiences with The Cap’n Video Show, a cable access series built around outrageous and occasionally dangerous stunts. Running from 1990 to 1995, the show developed a small but devoted following. All it took to finally get noticed was a broken neck.

This kaleidoscopic culture jam from visionary filmmaker Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century, Universal Language) details the rise of Canada’s 18th prime minister through a satirical collage of archival footage, television nostalgia, and national mythmaking.

Based on the true story of Montrealer Ken Carter, the “Mad Canadian” stunt driver who tried to jump the Saint Lawrence River in a rocket car in the mid-’70s. Carter’s dream was to end his 30-year career with a big jump, a big paycheck, and mega stardom. In the process of accomplishing it, he hired a big sports manager and enlisted the best in rocket car design, with the National Film Board of Canada filming a documentary leading up to the event.