April 30, 2020 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Throughout the month of May, five new titles will be added to the selection of free content on NFB.ca, including the world premiere of Motto, an interactive website for your phone directed by Vincent Morisset (Way to Go). This crop of recent, original works by award-winning creators from NFB studios across the country also includes the short documentaries The Song and the Sorrow by Millefiore Clarkes (Island Green) and Beauty by Christina Willings (Cure for Love), as well as the feature-length docs Waseskun by Steve Patry (From Prisons to Prisons) and High Wire by Claude Guilmain (The Van Doos, 100 Years with the Royal 22e Régiment). They’re being added to the NFB’s extensive catalogue of more than 4,000 titles online and its collection of some 100 interactive works, almost all of which are available at no charge.
Starting May 4
The Song and the Sorrow by Millefiore Clarkes (2018)
Short documentary (42 min 28 s)
Press kit (synopsis, biographies, images and credits): mediaspace.nfb.ca/the-song-and-the-sorrow
The film is an intimate portrait of PEI musician Catherine MacLellan’s quest to understand her father Gene, who wrote some of the biggest hit songs of the 70s, but died by suicide when she was a child. Two decades after his loss, Catherine is finally ready to confront the hurtful mystery of her absent parent and embrace his musical legacy.
Starting May 11
Waseskun by Steve Patry (2016)
Feature-length documentary (80 min)
Press kit (synopsis, biographies, images and credits): mediaspace.nfb.ca/waseskun
Filmed in cinéma vérité style, this feature-length doc follows a group of incarcerated men with troubled pasts as they undergo treatment based on Indigenous philosophy at the Waseskun Healing Center. Director Steve Patry spent a full year with these men, gaining their trust and confidence. The result is a remarkable and gripping film about learning to overcome suffering and finding balance.
Starting May 18
High Wire by Claude Guilmain (2019)
Feature-length documentary (82 min 21 s)
Press kit (synopsis, biographies, images and credits): mediaspace.nfb.ca/high-wire
In 2003, Canada refused to follow the United States in invading Iraq. The film examines the behind-the-scenes tug of war that took place at the time with our neighbours to the south, using testimony from several key players, including Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Paul Heinbecker, and then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
Starting May 25
Beauty by Christina Willings (2018)
Short documentary (23 min 23 s)
Press kit (synopsis, biographies, images and credits): mediaspace.nfb.ca/beauty
Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their ideas of what it means to be fully human. Claiming your own sense of gender when everything around you insists that you comply and conform can be challenging, and sometimes scary. But luckily, family and friends are there to help.
Starting May 28
Motto by Vincent Morisset, Sean Michaels, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit and Caroline Robert (2020) – WORLD PREMIERE
Interactive website for your phone (6 x 15 min)
Press kit (synopsis, biographies, images and credits): mediaspace.nfb.ca/motto
A playful, one-of-a-kind adventure—an interactive novella that uses thousands of tiny videos to tell the thousand-year tale of a kindhearted spirit named September. Part ghost story, part scavenger hunt, Motto finds a way to be both documentary and fiction, incorporating participants’ lo-fi, unstaged footage into its own emotional narrative. Discover its six chapters at your own pace—inside your home or out in the world, with your phone in your hand.
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French press release here | Communiqué en français ici.