February 29, 2024 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

True to its role as a leader in the world of film, the NFB will have a strong presence at this year’s REGARD – Saguenay International Short Film Festival, held March 20 to 24. The lineup of NFB titles includes seven short animated and documentary films on a wide range of themes, made with an array of techniques. In addition, acclaimed Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will be attending the festival, taking part in a Q&A during a retrospective of her work. This hybrid edition of the festival will also offer online screenings, available across Canada, from March 25 to April 7, 2024. A major showcase for short films in North America, the highly popular REGARD boasts varied and innovative programming that features regional, national and international selections.

The NFB at REGARD

• Official Competition: Misérable miracle (Miserable Miracle) by Japanese filmmaker Ryo Orikasa
• Youth Competition: La fille au béret rouge (The Girl with the Red Beret) by Montreal filmmaker Janet Perlman
• Thematic section – Inhabiting: Hebron Relocation (Le déplacement de Hebron) by Nunatsiavut filmmaker Holly Andersen
• Alanis Obomsawin Retrospective: Four of the most striking short films by the grande dame of Indigenous cinema, screened with the director

Official Competition

Misérable miracle (Miserable Miracle) by Ryo Orikasa (8 min) – ANIMATED SHORT
A Miyu Productions/NFB/New Deerco-production
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/miserable-miracle

• Inspired by the poems and drawings of Henri Michaux, Miserable Miracle takes animation to the breathtaking limits of language and perception.
• The film won the Grand Prize for Short Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) and was selected to screen in the Lab Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Youth Competition

La fille au béret rouge (The Girl with the Red Beret) by Janet Perlman (5 min 35 s) – ANIMATED SHORT
An NFB production
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/beret

• This joyful, heartwarming animated film portrays Montreal in all its vitality, creativity and diversity, with plenty of humour and good cheer, to the tune of Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s “Complainte pour Ste-Catherine.”

• The film received an honourable mention – DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation at OIAF and the Best International Short Award at the Los Angeles Animation Festival.

Thematic section – Inhabiting

Hebron Relocation (Le déplacement de Hebron) by Holly Andersen (15 min) – SHORT DOCUMENTARY
An NFB production
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hebronrelocation

• In Hebron Relocation, Holly Andersen explores what makes a place a home as she learns more about her community’s connection to generations of displaced northern Labrador Inuit.
• The film had its world premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and has screened at many Canadian festivals.

Alanis Obomsawin Retrospective

Presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and the NFB, this program will be shown on Saturday, March 23, at 3 p.m., at the Studio Desjardins, located in the Centre d’expérimentation musicale (CEM). Alanis Obomsawin will take part in a Q&A session after the screening. You can learn more about this legendary Abenaki filmmaker here (in French).

Documentary shorts being screened:

• Bill Reid se souvient (Bill Reid Remembers) (2021, 24 min)
• Christmas at Moose Factory (1971, 13 min)
• Je m’appelle Kahentiiosta (My Name Is Kahentiiosta) (1996, 26 min)
• Richard Cardinal: le cri d’un enfant métis (Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Métis Child) (1987, 29 min)

Official Competition Jury

Filmmaker Theodore Ushev will be part of the festival’s official competition jury. Born in Bulgaria, Ushev is a celebrated Canadian animation director whose work has been recognized around the world, winning more than 100 awards. He has created 15 films with the NFB and received an Oscar nomination for his animated short Blind Vaysha.

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French version here | Version française ici.