December 8, 2022 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Three works by National Film Board of Canada (NFB) filmmakers have been named to this year’s edition of Canada’s Top Ten—an annual list of the country’s finest short and feature-length films, announced by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on December 8.

Nisha Pahuja’s documentary To Kill a Tiger was chosen as part of the feature film selection. The Notice Pictures/NFB co-production has already received TIFF’s Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film for 2022, followed by the Inspiring Voices and Perspectives Feature Film Award at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.

Two NFB films were also named to the competition’s short film program. Embodying NFB excellence in animation and documentary, this year’s selections are Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’s multi-award-winning animated short The Flying Sailor and distinguished documentarian Alanis Obomsawin’s film portrait Bill Reid Remembers.

The feature-length and short films in Canada’s Top Ten will be screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in January—with dates to be announced next month.

More about the films

To Kill a Tiger by Nisha Pahuja (125 min)
Produced by Cornelia Principe and Nisha Pahuja for Notice Pictures, and David Oppenheim for the NFB.
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/to-kill-a-tiger

• On the night of a family wedding in a village in India, Ranjit’s 13-year-old daughter is dragged into the woods and raped by three men. Ranjit takes on the fight of his life when he demands the accused be brought to justice. With tremendous access to all facets of the story, To Kill a Tiger charts the emotional journey of an ordinary man thrown into extraordinary circumstances—a father whose love for his daughter forces a social reckoning that will reverberate for years to come.
• Nisha Pahuja is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker based in Toronto and Bombay, whose credits include Diamond Road (2007 Gemini Award for Best Documentary Series) andThe World Before Her (2012; Best Documentary, Tribeca; Best Canadian Documentary, Hot Docs; Canada’s Top Ten).

The Flying Sailor by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (7 min 45 s)
Produced and executive produced by David Christensen for the NFB’s North West Studio in Edmonton.
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-flying-sailor

• Inspired by the incredible true-life story of a man blown two kilometres through the air by the 1917 Halifax Explosion—the largest accidental non-nuclear explosion in history—The Flying Sailor is an exhilarating meditation on the wonder and fragility of being.
• It’s the latest work by the Oscar-nominated and Palme d’Or-winning duo of Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Calgary-based animators who have shared Best Animated Short Film Academy Award nominations for When the Day Breaks (1999) and Wild Life (2011), with Tilby also nominated individually for Strings (1991).
• The Flying Sailor is streaming free of charge on The New Yorker’s digital channels and ca.
• With more than 20 festival selections to date, The Flying Sailor has already won six awards, including the Canadian Film Institute Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Best Animated Short at the Calgary International Film Festival, and Best Animation at the New York City Short Film Festival.

Bill Reid Remembers by Alanis Obomsawin (24 min)
Produced by Alanis Obomsawin and executive produced by Annette Clarke and John Christou for the NFB’s Quebec and Atlantic Studio.
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/bill-reid-remembers

• Bill Reid Remembers is a beautiful tribute from Alanis Obomsawin to her friend’s remarkable life and rich legacy. Despite spending his early life away from his nation’s culture, renowned Haida artist Bill Reid always kept Haida Gwaii close to his heart. While working for CBC Radio, he started learning how to make jewelry, then later sculpture, using Haida techniques and images, a move that would forever change his life and the Canadian artistic landscape.
• Reid’s powerful narration in the film—recorded in 1987 by Obomsawin and never before published—is interspersed with her own narration as the film explores his complex childhood, his emergence as an accomplished artist, and his profound connection to his homeland. Decades after his passing, Bill Reid remains an enduring force and one of Canada’s greatest artists.
• A member of the Abenaki Nation and one of Canada’s most distinguished filmmakers, Ms. Obomsawin has directed 56 films to date in a career spanning 56 years—chronicling the lives and concerns of First Nations people and exploring issues of importance to all.

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French version here | Version en français ici.