At the northern tip of Newfoundland, where land dissolves into the North Atlantic, lies L’Anse aux Meadows, the only authenticated Norse archaeological site in North America and evidence of a European presence on this continent more than a thousand years ago.

But Windows to Canada is not simply an attempt to document this remarkable place, but a way to experience Canada’s extraordinary landscapes not only as destinations, but as states of mind.

Created by NOMADslow.tv in collaboration with Parks Canada, Windows to Canada is a series of long-form cinematic portraits exploring some of the extraordinary natural, cultural and historic landscapes protected by Parks Canada. Rather than explain these places through conventional narration, the films invite us to enter them slowly, through landscape, weather, light, movement and music.

The first journey takes us to L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, on the northernmost reaches of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula.
 

We arrived looking for the remains of a thousand-year-old journey and found ourselves surrounded by fog.

Over several days, filmmaker Jason Rodi and cinematographer Sharif Mirshak explored the site and the landscape surrounding it, working with Parks Canada and its interpreters while allowing the changing conditions of the place to determine where the camera would go.

The films collected here are not conventional documentaries. They are extended encounters with L’Anse aux Meadows, different journeys through the same landscape, each shaped by a particular moment, path, weather system and piece of music.

Music as language.  Music as landscape.
These films are accompanied by an original live performance by ANTENNAE, NOMAD’s open musical ensemble exploring what we call Fourth World music - improvised music beyond time and place.

Windows to Canada

L’Anse aux Meadows is one of three landscapes at the heart of the first chapter of Windows to Canada, alongside Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve in Québec.

Together, the films explore three dimensions of the places protected by Parks Canada: a National Historic Site, a National Park and a National Park Reserve.

The project grew from the idea of creating a new cinematic language for the Canadian landscape, one with its own pace and depth, inviting us to experience these places not only as destinations, but as states of mind.

The cameras move slowly. There is no host telling us where to look. No voice explaining what we should feel. Time, weather, landscape and music are allowed to do that work instead.

These individual NOMADslow.tv films form an expanding archive from each location. From them will emerge three definitive Windows to Canada films bringing together the most extraordinary images and musical moments encountered throughout each journey, made available through Parks Canada’s English and French YouTube channels.

A stream of consciousness
NOMADslow.tv is a cinematic stream of consciousness created by filmmaker Jason Rodi: long-form journeys through landscapes around the world, accompanied by original music and designed to transform the screen from something demanding our attention into a window onto Heaven on Earth.