My Brand New Life (2004)

Canadians think Americans are ignorant about Canada. But do Canadian kids know any more about their southern neighbours? Two tweens find out. Antoine, a Canadian boy from Ottawa, and Olivia, an American girl from Washington, DC, visit each other to celebrate their national holidays together. From chitlings to beaver tales and tails, the two youngsters experience life on both sides of the border. Source: www.nfb.ca

Boy meets girl. But can they understand each other? Michael and Meagan take a closer look at gender roles when the two tweens take on each other's friends and sports for the day. Meagan becomes a football player and goes on an overnight camping trip with the boys, while Michael joins the synchronized swim team and parties at a sleepover with the girls. Source: www.nfb.ca

Eric excels at almost every sport, especially soccer and cycling, but the events at the Inuit Traditional Games require different skills and strengths. This super jock meets his match in the Arctic with the knuckle-hop, the armpull, the airplane and the one-leg high-kick. Source: www.nfb.ca

Kendra, a rough-riding western rodeo girl from Claresholm, Alberta—pop. 3,622--and Olivia, a prim and proper dressage competitor from Montreal, switch hats and gears to try each other's sports. Kendra must get used to a different kind of riding precision, while Olivia tries her hand at goat tying in a rodeo. Source: www.nfb.ca

What's it like for Rahim, a 15-year-old Toronto star basketball player, to spend three days navigating in a wheelchair? His new friend, Shane, who has done it all his life, teaches Rahim how to manoeuvre the streets and hallways, and to play wheelchair basketball and sledge hockey. From getting out of bed in the morning to getting down stairs, Rahim faces many new challenges in his brand new life. Source: www.nfb.ca

Anna lives in St. John's, Newfoundland, with her parents and four brothers and sisters. It's pretty noisy. Alannah and her single mother live with their golden retriever in Montreal. It's pretty quiet. How will these girls cope in each other's lives? Anna finds there's lots of alone time—both precious and lonely. And Alannah discovers the joys of a gang around the dining room table. Source: www.nfb.ca

All kinds of musical notes are played when Melanie, a traditional fiddler and step-dancer from Acadian New Brunswick, switches places with Ray, a Bhangra musician and dancer from Scarborough, Ontario. When these two kinds of music meet, it's a jam session like nothing you've ever heard! Source: www.nfb.ca

Indian East meets Indian West when Abdul Rahim, a Muslim from Surrey, BC, and Peter, a Native-Canadian from the Squamish Nation Reserve, learn to cook each other's dishes. They're judged by discerning family juries used to high standards for their particular cuisines. Peter celebrates the holiday Eid at a big Muslim party, while Abdul Rahim catches and smokes his own salmon. Source: www.nfb.ca

Eleven-year-old Ming has been home-schooled all her life in Nova Scotia. She's never sat in a classroom, worn a uniform or taken a test. Her brand new life calls for her to spend a week in a Grade 5 class in Montreal, making new friends, getting used to routine and trying to pass a dreaded math quiz. Source: www.nfb.ca

What would happen if kids ran the school? Three tweens switch places with their school officials. Cory becomes the principal, Jamie works as the custodian, and Laura takes on her own teacher's job for a day. Will they play hooky and fool around or get down to business? Source: www.nfb.ca

Are ballet dancers sissy? Are hockey players macho goons? Pasquale, an aspiring hockey player from Montreal, trades lives with Nikita, a Montreal ballet and ballroom dancer. Both award-winners in their own sports, Nikita has never laced up hockey skates, and Pasquale is a novice at tripping the light fantastic. Source: www.nfb.ca

Andrew, a student at a military-style private school in Nova Scotia, leaves his regimented dorm life to trade places with Sarah, a circus gymnast. He finds it's more than clowning around, while she has to learn to play by some pretty strict rules. Source: www.nfb.ca

Alexis, a Montreal boy, sets off somewhat nervously to a Mayan island in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead, in a cemetery, in the dead of night. Alejandro leaves Mexico to experience Halloween, complete with haunted houses, leering jack-o'-lanterns and collecting candy from total strangers in Canada. Which is scarier? Source: www.nfb.ca