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The NFB at the 2025 Quebec City Film Festival. Four animated films selected, including two in official competition.

PRESS RELEASE
21/08/2025

August 21, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The National Film Board of Canada returns to the Quebec City Film Festival this year with four short films that capture all the vitality and diversity of animation at the NFB. Two of them will be screened in competition: The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles), from the Oscar-nominated duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, and Martine Frossard’s Hypersensible (Hypersensitive), which was the only Canadian film in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. Two other shorts, Hayat Najm’s Le bruit des choses qui brûlent (The Sounds of Things Ablaze) and Andrea Dorfman’s Hairy Legs (Poil aux jambes), will be shown out of competition. The festival will run from September 10 to 14, 2025.

Quick Facts

Official Competition 

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles) by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (NFB, 16 min)

  • A haunting fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds. The film, which received its world premiere as an opening night film at the 2025 Annecy festival, will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
  • With the voice of James Hyndman (French version). Original Music: Patrick Watson. Sound Designer: Olivier Calvert. Artistic Director: Brigitte Henry.

Hypersensible (Hypersensitive) by Martine Frossard (NFB, 6 min 44 s)

  • Hypersensitive recounts the turbulent, surrealistic journey of a young woman struggling to rebuild her self, in defiance of social norms that tell us to repress our emotions. The film is a heartfelt plea for us all to take greater heed of our emotions, even the most painful ones.
  • The film was edited by filmmaker and editor Oana Suteu Khintirian (Beyond Paper), and author and actor Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard consulted on the screenplay.

Out of competition

Le bruit des choses qui brûlent (The Sounds of Things Ablaze) by Hayat Najm (NFB, 6 min 35 s)

  • Told through animated charcoal drawings, this is a story of resilience about a woman still haunted by the horrors of war.
  • Award-winning pianist Jean-Michel Blais composed and performed the original score, and Sylvain Bellemare (an Oscar winner for Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival) was the sound designer. 

Hairy Legs (Poil aux jambes) by Andrea Dorfman (NFB, 17 min)

  • Deciding not to shave her legs at 13 led a young Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations.
  • The film has won several awards, including the Guy-L. Côté Grand Prize for Best Canadian Animated Film at the 2025 Sommets du cinéma d’animation in Montreal.

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Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • 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.