Nova Scotia on the Small and Big Screen
by NovaBrunswick | created - 30 Mar 2016 | updated - 10 months ago | PublicMovies and TV shows filmed in, set in, or which mention the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
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1. Trailer Park Boys (2001–2018)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy, Crime
Three petty felons have a documentary made about their life in a trailer park.
Stars: John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Mike Smith, John Dunsworth
Votes: 37,876
Filmed in Dartmouth and Truro, NS.
2. Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Crime
Ricky, Julian and Bubbles come up with a scheme to steal large amounts of untraceable coins.
Director: Mike Clattenburg | Stars: Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, Mike Smith, Lucy Decoutere
Votes: 12,234
Filmed in Halifax and Dartmouth, NS.
3. Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day (2009)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime
The boys return from jail to find the park has deteriorated, with a brand new park being created beside it. They attempt a series of get rich quick schemes and robberies, while a freshly drunk Lahey threatens to derail their plans.
Director: Mike Clattenburg | Stars: Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, Mike Smith, John Dunsworth
Votes: 7,081
Filmed in Halifax and Dartmouth, NS.
4. Trailer Park Boys: Don't Legalize It (2014)
Not Rated | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After his latest money-making plan fails, Julian concocts his greatest scheme ever -- which involves doing business with his archenemy, Cyrus.
Director: Mike Clattenburg | Stars: John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Mike Smith, John Dunsworth
Votes: 4,467
Filmed in Halifax and Harrietsfield, NS.
5. Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series (2019– )
TV-MA | 25 min | Animation, Comedy
Nova Scotia's favorite miscreants have always been super sketchy. Now, carrying on from the Season 12 finale, the boys have become complete cartoons.
Stars: John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Mike Smith, Patrick Roach
Votes: 2,344
Set in Nova Scotia.
6. Swearnet: The Movie (2014)
NC-17 | 112 min | Comedy
Fed up with being censored in their post-Trailer Park Boys lives, the out of work stars/world-renowned 'swearists', Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay decide to start their own uncensored network on the internet.
Director: Warren P. Sonoda | Stars: Mike Smith, Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay, Patrick Roach
Votes: 2,448
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
7. The Cart Boy (1995)
10 min | Comedy, Short
Two mall security guards confront the mysterious "Cart Boy" who has been stealing shopping carts from the mall's parking lot.
Director: Mike Clattenburg | Stars: Mike Smith, John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells
Votes: 547
Filmed in Halifax, NS. A precursor to Trailer Park Boys.
8. Trailer Park Boys (1999)
Not Rated | 67 min | Comedy
Two petty felons have a documentary made about their life in a trailer park.
Director: Mike Clattenburg | Stars: John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells, Lucy Decoutere, Jeanna Harrison
Votes: 3,483
Filmed in Halifax, NS. The precursor to the Trailer Park Boys series.
9. Titanic (1997)
PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates
Votes: 1,059,353 | Gross: $659.33M
Some scenes were filmed in Halifax, NS. James Cameron himself visited the wreck of the Titanic, from which bodies were transported to a cemetery in Halifax.
10. Theodore Tugboat (1993–2000)
TV-Y | 15 min | Animation, Family
The adventures of a young tugboat and his friends in the Big Harbour, with the Dispatcher and the Harbourmaster keeping ever-watchful eyes.
Star: Denny Doherty
Votes: 191
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
11. This Hour Has 22 Minutes (1992– )
Comedy, News, Talk-Show
This skit-filled Canadian comedy show pokes fun at the Canadian government and other national happenings.
Stars: Cathy Jones, Mark Critch, Shaun Majumder, Gavin Crawford
Votes: 829
Filmed in a studio in Halifax, NS.
12. The Industry (1998–2002)
22 min | Comedy
Back stabbing execs at a Canadian TV network stop at nothing to get ahead.
Stars: Rick Mercer, Peter Keleghan, Leah Pinsent, Dan Lett
Votes: 395
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
13. Margaret's Museum (1995)
R | 114 min | Drama
Margaret MacNiel, a girl living in a Cape Breton coal mining town, finds her life changing when she meets Neil Currie, a cheerful bagpipe-playing dishwasher. Unfortunately, neither of them are able to escape the industry around them.
Director: Mort Ransen | Stars: Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Nelligan, Clive Russell, Craig Olejnik
Votes: 1,287 | Gross: $0.52M
Set and filmed on Cape Breton Island, NS.
14. Dolores Claiborne (1995)
R | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A big-city reporter travels to the small town where her mother has been arrested for the murder of an elderly woman that she works for as a maid.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Plummer, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 39,638 | Gross: $24.36M
Though set in Maine, USA, this film adaptation of the Stephen King novella was shot in various places around NS, including Halifax, Chester, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Riverport, Digby, Kentville and Wolfville.
15. Pit Pony (1997 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
A young boy working in Nova Scotia's treacherous coal mines in the early 20th century finds a friend in ones of the ponies used to haul coal up from the tunnels to be used at the railway station and the steel mill.
Director: Eric Till | Stars: Ben Rose-Davis, Richard Donat, Jennie Raymond, Andrew Keilty
Votes: 228
Set in Glace Bay, NS in 1901.
16. Pit Pony (1999–2000)
TV-G | 22 min | Drama
This Canadian series focuses on the McLean/Hall family in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s and their involvement in the coal industry. Young Willie enters the mines after his father's death ... See full summary »
Stars: Alex Wrathell, Jennie Raymond, Shaun Smyth, Elliot Page
Votes: 85
Like the movie it was based on, it is also set in Glace Bay, NS in 1901.
17. Marion Bridge (2002)
Unrated | 90 min | Drama
Three estranged sisters reunite to care for their dying mother and old conflicts and secrets return to the surface.
Director: Wiebke von Carolsfeld | Stars: Molly Parker, Rebecca Jenkins, Stacy Smith, Marguerite McNeil
Votes: 1,293
Set in Sydney, NS.
18. The Bay Boy (1984)
R | 107 min | Drama
A teenage boy living in a Cape Breton coal mining community during the 1930's finds himself contemplating life and is haunted by a murder he witnessed in town.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Kiefer Sutherland, Peter Donat, Alan Scarfe
Votes: 645 | Gross: $0.16M
Set in a coal-mining community on Cape Breton Island in the 1930s. Filmed in Sydney and Glace Bay, NS.
19. Maudie (2016)
PG-13 | 115 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.
Director: Aisling Walsh | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Zachary Bennett, Gabrielle Rose
Votes: 16,686 | Gross: $6.17M
About the Canadian artist Maud Lewis, who was born in Digby, NS. However, the film was shot in neighbouring Newfoundland.
20. Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
Not Rated | 86 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
A homeless vigilante blows away crooked cops, pedophile Santas, and other scumbags with his trusty pump-action shotgun.
Director: Jason Eisener | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Pasha Ebrahimi, Robb Wells, Brian Downey
Votes: 44,207 | Gross: $0.70M
Filmed in Dartmouth, NS (where the director hails from).
21. Goon (2011)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
Labeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way.
Director: Michael Dowse | Stars: Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, Eugene Levy
Votes: 84,231 | Gross: $4.17M
Halifax, NS is mentioned and seen in some of the scenes.
22. Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Sport
A hockey player plagued by injuries is confronted with the possibility of retirement when a tough new player challenges his status as the league's top enforcer.
Director: Jay Baruchel | Stars: Seann William Scott, Alison Pill, Marc-André Grondin, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 12,469
The sequel to Goon, it focuses on the fictional Halifax Highlanders hockey team.
23. Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003– )
TV-MA | 175 min | Drama, History
A true story about the tragic explosion at Halifax Harbour, Canada, in the early hours of December 6, 1917.
Stars: Clare Stone, Max Morrow, Paul Doucet, Lynne Griffin
Votes: 308
Telling the story of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, which devastated the city of Halifax, NS and its environs.
24. Westray (2001)
80 min | Documentary
Some say it took twenty seconds. Some say the men were doomed from day one. May 9, 1992, the Westray mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, explodes, instantly killing all 26 men working ... See full summary »
Director: Paul Cowan | Stars: Michael Jones, Katie Malloch, Chantelle McGrath
Votes: 31
Telling the story of the Westray mine disaster which occurred in 1992 near New Glasgow/Stellarton, NS.
25. Two If by Sea (1996)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A couple steals a Matisse painting on contract. They manage to escape the police. The sale takes place 4 days later on an island. Things don't go as planned.
Director: Bill Bennett | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Denis Leary, Stephen Dillane, Yaphet Kotto
Votes: 5,426 | Gross: $10.70M
Filmed around various places in NS, including Halifax, Chester and Lunenburg.
26. The Shipping News (2001)
R | 111 min | Drama
An emotionally beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 31,989 | Gross: $11.43M
Set in Newfoundland, but some scenes were filmed in Nova Scotia.
27. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist, must make a daring trek from Washington, D.C. to New York City to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok
Votes: 418,986 | Gross: $186.74M
Nova Scotia is mentioned in one of the news reports of extreme weather.
28. World War Z (2013)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
Former United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatens to destroy humanity itself.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale
Votes: 607,418 | Gross: $202.36M
The safe haven for the survivors is the tiny village of Freeport, Nova Scotia. (However, this scene was actually not filmed in Canada, but in the UK.)
29. Mr. D (2012–2018)
30 min | Comedy
Follows a teacher juggle through being a teacher and deal with his students while trying to maintain his not so cool lifestyle.
Stars: Gerry Dee, Jonathan Torrens, Lauren Hammersley, Bette MacDonald
Votes: 1,951
Filmed and set in a high school in Halifax, NS.
30. Haven (2010–2015)
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Many in the coastal town of Haven, Maine have a dormant curse or "trouble" that could trigger at any time for any reason. FBI agent Audrey Parker, the sheriff and the town's black sheep must deal with the troubles' deadly effects.
Stars: Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, Eric Balfour, Richard Donat
Votes: 35,605
Set in Maine, USA, but filmed in Lunenburg, NS, Canada.
31. Bag of Bones (2011)
Not Rated | 163 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
After his wife's sudden death, a best selling author returns to his cabin retreat where he receives paranormal visitations and becomes involved in a custody battle.
Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Melissa George, Annabeth Gish, Anika Noni Rose
Votes: 8,539
Although this mini-series is set in Maine, USA, it was filmed around Halifax, NS, Canada.
32. Dogwood Tree (2010)
128 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Sae (Yui Aragaki) is a high school student who is studying hard for her college entrance exams. She lost her father when she was very young and so lives her mother Ryoko (Hiroko Yakushimaru... See full summary »
Director: Nobuhiro Doi | Stars: Yui Aragaki, Tôma Ikuta, Nichola Grant, Manatsu Hayashi
Votes: 1,129
While the film is in Japanese, it was partly filmed and set in Lunenburg, NS, Canada.
33. The Disappeared (2012)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Mystery
The story of six men lost at sea in the North Atlantic.
Director: Shandi Mitchell | Stars: Billy Campbell, Shawn Doyle, Brian Downey, Ryan Doucette
Votes: 311
Filmed in Lunenburg, NS.
34. DEFCON-4 (1985)
R | 88 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Two men and a woman circle the globe in a satellite armed with a nuclear device. The third world war breaks out, and a few months later the satellite crashes. They survive the crash but one... See full summary »
Directors: Paul Donovan, Digby Cook, Tony Randel | Stars: Lenore Zann, Maury Chaykin, Kate Lynch, Kevin King
Votes: 1,817 | Gross: $1.06M
This nuclear apocalypse B-movie was filmed in Halifax and Timberlea, NS.
35. Ghostbusters (1984)
PG | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis
Votes: 359,272 | Gross: $238.63M
Louis mentions smoked salmon from off the coast of Nova Scotia.
36. Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 86 min | Crime, Drama
Jesse investigates the grim works of a serial killer in Boston and becomes concerned with a wayward teen in Paradise.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Tom Selleck, Kohl Sudduth, Gloria Reuben, Leslie Hope
Votes: 2,391
Filmed in Halifax and Lunenburg, NS.
37. Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama
Police Chief Jesse Stone's shrink recommends looking into old, unsolved cases to reduce drinking by staying busy. Of 3 cases before his time, he starts on the killing of a bank teller. He's also investigating an alleged rape.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Tom Selleck, Kathy Baker, Kohl Sudduth, Rebecca Pidgeon
Votes: 3,484
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
38. Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Jesse Stone and Captain Healy are shot during an unauthorized stake-out in Boston. Meanwhile, a cryptic letter sent from Paradise leads the mother of a kidnapped child to Stone. Though her son was declared dead, she hopes he will reopen the case.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Tom Selleck, Kathy Baker, Kohl Sudduth, Leslie Hope
Votes: 3,231
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
39. Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (2005 TV Movie)
R | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Jesse Stone (Selleck) is a New England police chief investigating a series of murders, in an adaptation of Robert B. Parker's novel.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Tom Selleck, Jane Adams, Reg Rogers, Viola Davis
Votes: 5,961
Filmed in Halifax, Lunenburg and Blue Rocks, NS.
40. She's Too Young (2004 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 84 min | Drama
Halifax is hit with an outbreak of STD's among high-school students. Among them is Hannah Vogul, and her horrified mother tries to find out the story of why this is happening.
Director: Tom McLoughlin | Stars: Alexis Dziena, Mike Erwin, Miriam McDonald, Megan Park
Votes: 2,331
Filmed and set in Halifax, NS.
41. Mom at Sixteen (2005 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 90 min | Drama
Pregnant sixteen year old Jacey's well-meaning mother forces her to keep the birth a secret and decides to raise the baby as her own.
Director: Peter Werner | Stars: Danielle Panabaker, Jane Krakowski, Clare Stone, Tyler Hynes
Votes: 2,725
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
42. Too Young to Be a Dad (2002 TV Movie)
Unrated | 120 min | Drama
When 15-year-old Matt Freeman gets 15-year-old Francesca pregnant, their parents decide to put the unborn baby up for adoption. Matt agrees to the decision, but later begins to rethink it. This movie shows the father's point of view.
Director: Éva Gárdos | Stars: Kathy Baker, Paul Dano, Katie Stuart, Bruce Davison
Votes: 789
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
43. Gracie's Choice (2004 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 90 min | Drama
A teenage girl tries to raise her three half-brothers and one half-sister on her own after their drug-addicted mother is sent to jail.
Director: Peter Werner | Stars: Kristen Bell, Diane Ladd, Shedrack Anderson III, Anne Heche
Votes: 3,327
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
44. The Elizabeth Smart Story (2003 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 89 min | Crime, Drama
Based on the true story of the June 2002 kidnapping of teenager Elizabeth Smart by two people in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Director: Bobby Roth | Stars: Dylan Baker, Lindsay Frost, Amber Marshall, Tom Everett
Votes: 741
Filmed in Halifax, NS.
45. The Christmas Shoes (2002 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 100 min | Drama, Family