February 23, 2021 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
The NFB, Canada’s public producer, has recently greenlit 15 productions and co-productions—new documentary, animation and interactive works that got underway between October and December 2020.
The NFB is producing these projects under its health guidelines and protocols for the COVID-19 pandemic, introduced last summer in collaboration with the Documentary Organization of Canada.
For more information on these and other projects currently underway across NFB studios, please visit our NFB Production web page.
DOCUMENTARY
Croque-mort – medium-length film
Director: Georges Hannan
Producer: Christine Aubé | Canadian Francophonie Studio | 100% NFB
Far from the corpses and burials they oversee, funeral directors are uttering a heartfelt lament. What has become of bereavement, as traditional collective rituals erode in their communities and people increasingly practise social distancing?
Grande sœur – Koromousso – medium-length film
Director: Habibata Ouarme, Jim Donovan
Producer: Denis McCready | Canadian Francophonie Studio | 100% NFB
Documentary on a group of survivors of female genital mutilation who support each other on their quest for positive transformation.
Passage Beyond Fortune – short film
Director: Weiye Su
Producer: Jon Montes | North West Studio | 100% NFB
This intimate portrait of Chinese-Canadian life on the Prairies documents a major milestone in the lives of Gale and Myrna Chow, elders in the Chinese community in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Seguridad – feature-length film
Director: Tamara Segura
Producer: Annette Clarke | Quebec & Atlantic Studio | 100% NFB
Seguridad looks at toxic masculinity within the filmmaker’s personal and political context, creating a parallel between an intimate family story and one of the most popular political revolutions of the last century.
Star Wars Kid – feature-length film
Director: Mathieu Fournier
Co-producers: Urbania (Annie Bourdeau) and NFB (Pierre-Mathieu Fortin) | French Program Documentary Studio
In 2003, Ghyslain Raza, a.k.a. the Star Wars Kid, was the first international-scale victim of cyberbullying. In breaking the silence, he hopes to reclaim his identity—and more importantly, help us question our own online behaviour.
ANIMATION
Hairy Legs – short film
Director: Andrea Dorfman
Producer: Rohan Fernando | Quebec & Atlantic Studio | 100% NFB
An animated film about a 14-year-old girl who decides not to shave her legs—a decision that she maintains throughout her life.
Harvey – short film
Director: Janice Nadeau
Co-producers: Folimage Studio (Corinne Destombes) and NFB (Marc Bertrand) | French Program Animation Studio
It’s early spring when young Harvey suddenly loses his father. A poetic look at childhood and grieving.
La liste des choses qui existent 2 – web series
Director: Francis Papillon
Co-producers: La Pastèque (Solen Labrie Trépanier) and NFB (Marc Bertrand) | French Program Animation Studio
Cathon and Iris are two curious, quirky young women who share an unbridled passion for everyday objects.
Loca – short film
Director: Véronique Paquette
Producer: Marc Bertrand and Christine Noël | French Program Animation Studio | 100% NFB
A woman dances a liberating tango in this striking visual poem, vividly rendered in ink.
INTERACTIVE/IMMERSIVE
Blind Man Who Saw – virtual reality
Creative team: Adam Wingrod, Sean Evans, Timur Musabay (Occupied VR)
Co-producers: Israel: Adam Wingrod | Canada: Occupied VR | (NFB is distributor only)
Danny Liani lost his sight on the battlefield during the 1982 Lebanon War. At age 20, he had to learn how to live in darkness. Twenty-four years later, he regained his vision through surgery, only to lose it once again.
Cyber Space – game/AI
Creator: Nicole He
Producer: Rob McLaughlin | Vancouver Digital Studio | 100% NFB
An experimental narrative game in which all interactions and outcomes are controlled by human voice. A journey through space that acts as a metaphor for the together-but-alone context of our lives lived through the Internet.
Devenir Noir – virtual reality
Creative team: Irit Dolev, Ali Kays, Colas Wohlfahrt (Kngfu)
Co-producers: Israel: Irit Dolev | Canada: Kngfu | (NFB is distributor only)
Banchi Salamsa, an Israeli of Ethiopian descent, lost control of her life the day she felt herself to be Black.
Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto – website/installation
Creative team: The Artist Collective PFR (Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour, Ryan Ferko)
Producer: Rob McLaughlin | Vancouver Digital Studio | In partnership with MOCA (November Paynter)
The NFB and MOCA have partnered to produce a new digital artwork as part of the multidimensional, museum-wide exhibition Greater Toronto Art 2021.
Liens de sang – virtual reality
Creative team: Eitan Shefer, Analee Weinberger, Nicolas S. Roy
Co-producers: Israel: Moofa | Canada: NFB (Marie-Pier Gauthier) / Genetic Media
The unlikely story of a Protestant-Canadian kid from small-town Manitoba who was raised by the heir to a dynasty of Orthodox rabbis.
Plastisapiens – virtual reality
Creative team: Ori Alboher, Miri Chekhanovich, Édith Jorisch
Co-producers: Israel: Lalibella | Canada: NFB (Marie-Pier Gauthier) / Departement Studio Creatif Inc.
An absurdist VR experience set in a future where the fusion of plastic and organic has yielded a new form of life: Plastisapiens.
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French version here | Version française ici.