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The NFB at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Three short films selected for official competition.

PRESS RELEASE
17/03/2025

March 17, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The National Film Board of Canada will be well represented at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (June 8–14) with a diverse selection of works, including the eagerly awaited return of filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Three NFB shorts are featured in this year’s prestigious official competition:

Quick Facts

Short Films – Official Competition 

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles) by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (16 min)
An NFB production (Julie Roy, Marc Bertrand and Christine Noël)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-girl-who-cried-pearls

  • The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a handmade, stop-motion animated short by the Oscar-nominated duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. It was previously featured at Annecy in a Work in Progress session in 2023.
  • This breathtaking modern fable explores greed, wonder and the power of fiction, and features a stellar creative team: Patrick Watson (original score), Olivier Calvert (sound design), Colm Feore (voice, English version) and James Hyndman (voice, French version).

Bread Will Walk by Alex Boya (11 min 17 s)
An NFB production (Jelena Popović)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/bread-will-walk

  • A devoted sister flees with her brother, a benevolent, bread-turned zombie. A mob pursues, mouths agape. Streets twist into mazes, reason dissolves, hunger reigns. Can love defy appetite? Bread Will Walk features paper and 2D hand-drawn animation with digital collage.
  • In the original English version of this social satire and timely, absurd dark comedy, every single character is brilliantly voiced by actor Jay Baruchel. The sound design is by Olivier Calvert and the score was composed by Martin Floyd Cesar.

Hairy Legs (Poil aux jambes) by Andrea Dorfman (17 min)
An NFB production (Liz Cowie and Rohan Fernando)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs

  • Deciding not to shave her legs at 13 led a young Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations.
  • Blending 2D animation (ink, gouache and watercolour on paper) and stop-motion, Hairy Legs captures with charm, warmth and humour the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom.

– 30 –

French version here | Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • Nadine Viau
    NFB Publicist – Montreal
    C.: 514-458-9745
    n.viau@nfb.ca

  • Lily Robert
    Director, Communications and Public Affairs, NFB
    C.: 514-296-8261
    l.robert@nfb.ca

  • About the NFB

    For more than 80 years, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has produced, distributed and preserved those stories, which now form a vast audiovisual collection—an important part of our cultural heritage that represents all Canadians.

    To tell these stories, the NFB works with filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the country. It harnesses their creativity to produce relevant and groundbreaking content for curious, engaged and diverse audiences. The NFB also collaborates with industry experts to foster innovation in every aspect of storytelling, from formats to distribution models.

    Every year, another 50 or so powerful new animated and documentary films are added to the NFB’s extensive collection of more than 14,000 titles, half of which are available to watch for free on nfb.ca.

    Through its mandate, its stature and its productions, the NFB contributes to Canada’s cultural identity and is helping to build the Canada of tomorrow.