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Canada gets animated with the NFB

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October 28 is World Animation Day and the National Film Board of Canada is marking the day with a five-city tour of Get Animated!, a series of unique events in Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, featuring public access to award-winning NFB films, master animators and their cutting-edge techniques, plus animation workshops. 

In each city, the NFB will showcase its new releases, as well as works created by up-and-coming animators from the NFB’s Hothouse program for emerging creators.

The 90-minute program includes the multi-award-winning <em>Madame Tutli-Putli</em>, by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski; Claude Cloutier’s <em>Sleeping Betty</em>; Patrick Bouchard’s <em>Subservience</em>, Jesse Rosensweet’s <em>Paradise</em> (Copperheart Entertainment), Theodore Ushev’s <em>Tower Bahwer</em>, Regina Pessoa’s <em>Tragic Story with Happy Ending</em> (Folimage, Ciclope Filmes, NFB), Tom Tassle’s <em>Krash</em>, Pierre Sylvestre’s <em>Cot Cot</em>, Diane Obomsawin’s <em>Here and There</em>, Patrick Doyon’s <em>Square Roots</em>, Howie Shia’s <em>Flutter</em> (PPF House/NFB), and <em>Pimp ma botte</em> (Connections/NFB) by Alex Bilodeau and Marc Daigle.

Other highlights of Get Animated! across Canada include:

Master classes by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the directors from <em>Madame Tutli-Putli</em> (winner at Cannes, Toronto’s WorldWide Short Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival); a behind-the-scenes look at Patrick Bouchard’s animation in Montreal, with the Jutra Award-winning puppeteer and animator (conducted in French); a selection of the best international shorts will screen in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver; hands-on animation workshops for families in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver; animation cinema at your fingertips, free on demand, at the NFB Mediatheque in Toronto and the NFB CineRobotheque in Montreal.

Now in its 6th year, World Animation Day began in 2002 and was founded by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA). It is celebrated in more than 48 countries including the United States, Spain, Chile, Mexico, Lebanon, Greece, Cuba, Italy, China, Russia and Canada.

The NFB events run from October 22 to 28. All activities are free. For locations, times, programs and more information, visit <a href="http://www.nfb.ca">nfb.ca</a>.

<font size=1>Source: NFB press release</font>

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NFB Online Competition finalists

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MONTREAL, Ten short films from France, Great Britain, Argentina, the United States and Canada have been chosen as finalists in the NFB Online Short Film Competition Cannes Special 2007. The finalists were selected from among 1149 films registered with the Short Film Corner, the meeting place for short films at Cannes.

This year’s competition, organized by the National Film Board of Canada, is in its third year. The contest – presented in collaboration with the Short Film Corner and Youtube, in association with MusiquePlus – gives the public a unique opportunity to join in the fun and frenzy of Cannes by inviting Web surfers to vote.

The NFB Online Short Film Competition Cannes Special 2007 will be online from May 11 to 21, in French and English, at www.nfb.ca/cannes, www.youtube/onfnfb.

The winning short will be chosen by public online voting based on a one-to-five-star appreciation scale. Canadian voters also have the chance to win one of five copies of Norman McLaren: The Master’s Edition, the completely remastered works of the legendary filmmaker. The director of the winning short film will receive a professional DV camera and a portable computer with post-production software.

The finalists are:

* Invertation by Nuru Rimington-Mkali (United Kingdom). In adjoining apartments, one bleached with light and the other shrouded in darkness, two figures are trapped in looping monologue about the only question worth asking. Where does the answer lie?

* Tear in the Eye by Bertrand Lesné and Antoine Levannier (France). Police officer by night and mother by day, a woman discovers that her husband has been cheating on her for several months.

* Eau Boy by Eric Gravel (Canada). A young man who has suffered from excessive sweating since birth is blown away by a strange encounter.

* Mi Terruno (My Piece of Land) by Daniel Gil Suarez (Argentina). A young man disillusioned by society claims a small piece of land for himself and is willing to defend it at all costs.

* Teat Beat of Sex by Signe Baumane (United States). Three light-hearted animated vignettes on sex, from a woman’s point of view.

* Withdrawal by Mark Conn (United Kingdom). Among the grit and grime of central London, a seemingly homeless woman sits near a cash machine and dreams

of a life away from the streets, but how far will she go to see that dream come true?

* Julie Goes Away by Julien Hérisson (France). After spending the night elsewhere, a young man returns to his apartment to find his ex-girl friend waiting for him.

* Tarot by John Condon (United Kingdom). A mysterious Gypsy tarot reader deals the cards for her nervous customer. What secrets will they reveal?

* Day Off by Jérôme Jourlait (France). Ngavii, a young Himba boy from Namibia, walks 20 kilometres to school. But today the teacher is not there, stuck in the nearest city 110 kilometres away

* The Christmas Trophy by Pascal Thiebaux (France). A young man is accused by a family of dangerous maniacs of being the descendant of a hunter who apparently killed and stuffed Santa Claus.

Headline, Industry News

NFB receives 69th Oscar Nom.

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MONTREAL – The National Film Board of Canada received its 69th Academy Award nomination today for Torill Kove’s NFB/Norway co-produced animated short The Danish Poet.

This is the 69th Oscar® nomination for the NFB. In 2005, Hardwood was nominated in the short documentary category, and in the same year Ryan won the Oscar for best animated short. The 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 25, 2007.

Recognized around the world for its excellence in animation and documentary, the NFB has garnered more Oscar nominations than any production company or organization outside of Hollywood. Since its first Academy Award in 1941, for the short documentary Churchill’s Island, Canada’s public film producer has won a total of 11 Oscars: ten for individual titles and a special award for overall achievement on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 1989.

The Danish Poet This is the second nomination for animator Torill Kove, who was nominated in 2000 for her first professional film, My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts, also co-produced by the NFB.

Narrated by Liv Ullmann, The Danish Poet asks the question whether our lives are just coincidence – or do little things really matter? The 15-minute film follows Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet a famous writer. As his quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

The Danish Poet is a co-production of the NFB (Marcy Page) and MikroFilm AS (Lise Fearnley-Norway).

The Danish Poet has already picked up ten awards, including the Audience Choice and Animated Short Award from the New York Short Film Festival, the Animated Eye Award from the Aspen Shortfest, and the C.O.R.E. Digital Picture Award for Best Animated Short from the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. In addition, the film was recently nominated for a 2007 Canadian Genie for Best Animated Short, with the winner to be announced on February 13.