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Four National Film Board of Canada documentaries showcased at DOC NYC. Intimate non-fiction storytelling from the NFB, Canada’s Oscar-winning public film producer.

PRESS RELEASE
10/10/2024

October 10, 2024 – Toronto – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Four award-winning National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produced and co-produced documentaries will be featured at DOC NYC in New York City, from November 13 to December 1, 2024.

America’s largest documentary film festival, DOC NYC will host the NYC premieres of two NFB co-produced feature docs:

  • A Mother Apart (Oya Media Group/NFB) by Laurie Townshend accompaniesBrooklyn-based Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin as she re-imagines the essential art of mothering—having been abandoned by her own mother;
  • 40 years after vanishing from public view, a trailblazing trans soul singer finally gets her second act in Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story (Banger Films/NFB) by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, executive produced by Elliot Page.

The festival will also present the US premieres of two NFB shorts:

Directors will be in attendance at the festival. All four films will be streaming at DOC NYC following their in-person premieres, with online screenings geo-restricted to the United States.

More about the films

Come As You Are section
November 18, 2024, 6:00 p.m., Village East by Angelika
November 19, 2024, 12:30 p.m., Village East by Angelika

A Mother Apart by Laurie Townshend (89 min)
Producers: Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George (Oya Media Group); Justine Pimlott (NFB)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/a-mother-apart

  • How do you raise a child when your own mother abandoned you? In a remarkable story of healing and forgiveness, Staceyann Chin, renowned for performances in Def Poetry Slam and hit solo shows like MotherStruck!, radically re-imagines the essential art of mothering. In seeking her elusive mother—a trail that leads to Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne and, finally, Jamaica—Staceyann and her daughter forge a new sense of home.
  • Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary, Best First Feature Award and Best Canadian Feature Award at the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, Toronto.
  • Laurie Townshend is a Toronto-based filmmaker, writer and educator. Her films centre on the human capacity to transform small acts of courage into quiet revolutions, as seen in the dramatic short The Railpath Hero (2013, TIFF Black Star Series), the unscripted series Human Frequency Streetdocs (2014) and the award-winning short doc Charley (2016).

Sonic Cinema section
November 19, 2024, 6:45 p.m., Village East by Angelika
November 20, 2024, 4:00 p.m., Village East by Angelika

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee (99 min)
Produced by Amanda Burt, Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (Banger Films); Michael Mabbott; Justine Pimlott (NFB)
Executive produced by Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn, Chanda Chevannes (NFB), Anita Lee (NFB), Elliot Page and Matt Jordan Smith (PAGEBOY Productions), Martin Katz, Nia Long and CJ Mac
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/any-other-way-jackie-shane

  • A star is reborn. With an outsize stage presence that eclipsed R&B greats like Etta James and Little Richard, soul singer Jackie Shane was the real deal. Jackie boldly carved a new path as one of music’s trailblazing Black trans performers—but on the edge of stardom, why did she suddenly leave the spotlight?
  • Any Other Way won the Out in the Silence Award at the Frameline International LGBTQ+ Film Festival in San Francisco, the Audience Award for Best Music Documentary at the Nashville Film Festival, and the DGC Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, where it was also a Top 10 Audience Favourite.
  • Toronto filmmaker Michael Mabbott’s features The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (Best Canadian First Feature Award) and Citizen Duane both premiered at TIFF. His first documentary, Music Lessons, premiered at Hot Docs.
  • Lucah Rosenberg-Lee is a Toronto speaker, entrepreneur and filmmaker specializing in documentary and LGBTQ+ content. He has produced and directed a variety of projects including Passing and For Nonna Anna, which have screened at TIFF, Inside Out and Sundance.

Shorts: Our Bodies section
November 16, 2024, 11:15 a.m., Village East by Angelika
November 17, 2024, 9:30 p.m., Village East by Angelika

Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen? by Eisha Marjara (22 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/am-i-the-skinniest-person-youve-ever-seen
Producers: Joe Balass (Compass Productions); Ariel Nasr (NFB)

  • “Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose. But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood. Decades later, Eisha revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism.
  • The film has garnered the Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, a short-films qualifying festivalfor the 97th Academy Awards.
  • Montreal filmmaker Eisha Marjara has made several award-winning films, including Locarno’s Prix de la Semaine de Critique winner Desperately Seeking Helen. Venus (2017), a dramatic comedy, won the EDA Award for Best Feature at the Whistler Film Festival and Best Feature Film at Cinequest, among other accolades. Eisha also authored the acclaimed young adult novel Faerie and is in post-production on her next feature, Calorie.

Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (17 min)
Producers: Liz Cowie and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs

  • At the age of 13, deciding not to shave her legs led Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. With charm, warmth and humour, Dorfman’s film Hairy Legs captures the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom as they evolve from spending exuberant, carefree days on their bicycles to facing and challenging stereotypes.
  • Winner of the Diversity Award (Film) at the Spark Animation Festival in Vancouver and an Honourable Mention – DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
  • Halifax filmmaker Andrea Dorfman has written and directed many award-winning documentaries, features and animated films, including the NFB-produced Flawed (2010), Big Mouth (2012) and feature doc The Girls of Meru (2018). Dorfman’s video collaborations with poet-musician Tanya Davis, How to Be Alone (2010) and How to Be at Home (2020), became YouTube sensations.

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French version here | Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of distinctive, engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 6,500 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.