September 4, 2024 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
The talents of National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animators will be on vivid display in the nation’s capital as the 2024 Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) presents 17 NFB productions or co-productions, including six films in official competition.
This year’s lineup of NFB projects at OIAF features works by animators from across Canada. The largest festival in North America dedicated exclusively to animation, offering screenings, workshops and entertainment since 1976, the OIAF will welcome festival-goers from September 25 to 29.
Quick facts – NFB at OIAF
- Six animated shorts are in competition, including the world premiere of Ehsan Gharib’s Samaa.
- NFB productions and co-productions explore a diverse range of personal experiences, touching on powerful themes such as identity, self-discovery and gender.
- Many works have been inspired and informed by a variety of artistic forms, including prose fiction, poetry, children’s literature, music and dance, and the plastic arts.
- This year’s selection also includes the NFB feature documentary Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert, capturing the imprint of an extraordinary artist whose career spans six decades, including 35 years with NFB.
NARRATIVE SHORT ANIMATION COMPETITION
Maybe Elephants by Torill Kove (Mikrofilm/NFB, 16 min 43 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/maybe-elephants
- A playful, loving homage to family, adolescence and the therapeutic power of memories, however unreliable, by Oscar-winning animator Torill Kove.
Kove is also the main guest of a Fireside Chat with Annie Awards Nominated Director Torill Kove. Join her and ASIFA-Hollywood executive director Aubry Mintz as they take a deep dive into the art form of storytelling within the medium of animation, as well as Kove’s journey as a creator at the NFB.
Les gens dans l’armoire (Society of Clothes) by Dahee Jeong (Miyu Productions/Between the Pictures/NFB, 15 min 7 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/society-of-clothes
- When morning arrives, a shirt and a pair of pants step outside the closet, transforming into a human figure. Dahee Jeong has earned international recognition, notably at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and the Annecy festival, where she won a Cristal for short films.
Jeong is also a jury member this year, in the Feature Competition category.
NON-NARRATIVE SHORT ANIMATION COMPETITION
In the Shallows by Arash Akhgari (NFB, 4 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/intheshallows
- Through a carefully choreographed collision of hand-made sculptural collages and ink and paint animation, In the Shallows takes us on a deep dive into the shallow and fragmented world of news, entertainment and ads.
Samaa by Ehsan Gharib (NFB, 2 min 27 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/samaa
- A caged bird, yearning to fly, finds release through the transcendent power of music and movement. Revelling in the magic and mechanics of cinema, Ehsan Gharib crafts a striking, hand-painted animated short on the themes of freedom and ecstasy.
ANIMATION MADE FOR TEEN AUDIENCES (13+) COMPETITION
Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (NFB, 16 min 56 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs
- Andrea Dorfman’s animated short documents a 13-year-old girl’s small yet life-changing act of rebellion on the road to womanhood and feminism. Deciding not to shave her legs led filmmaker Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations.
Unblending by Michelle Ku (NFB, 1 min 38 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/unblending
- For people living with structural dissociation, falling asleep can be a challenge—a time when multiple contradictory thoughts conspire to keep you awake. Produced as part of the 14th edition of the Hothouse mentorship program.
CANADIAN PANORAMA
Inkwo for When the Starving Return by Amanda Strong (Spotted Fawn Productions/NFB, 18 min 27 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/inkwo-for-when-the-starving-return
- In this stop-motion animated short, Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from a swarm of terrifying creatures.
Le tableau (The Painting) by Michèle Lemieux (NFB, 11 min 56 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-painting
- Animated on the Alexeïeff-Parker pinscreen, this film revisits the tragic fate of Queen Mariana of Austria and her 1652 portrait by painter Velázquez.
LOCA by Véronique Paquette (NFB, 5 min 19 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/loca
- A woman finds a path to freedom through the energy of tango.
Not Enough Womb for the Two of Us by Cameron Kletke (NFB, 1 min 46 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/not-enough-womb-for-the-two-of-us
- An in utero skirmish between twins, created with spacious hand-drawn animation, watercolours and pastel that plunge us into a comic battle of wills, produced through Hothouse 14.
Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying by Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies (NFB, 7 min 6 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/dont-let-the-sun-catch-you-crying
- In Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, mother, elder and narrator Edith Almadi’s imagination transcends grief, revealing a vibrant world of art where love endures.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
Graver l’homme: arrêt sur Pierre Hébert (Scratches of Life: The Art of Pierre Hébert) by Loïc Darses (NFB, 75 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/scratchesoflife
- This feature-length documentary by Quebec writer-director Loïc Darses guides us through the inspiring, poetic labyrinth that is the life and work of this celebrated animation filmmaker.
FROM THE NFB COLLECTION
Presented in Restless Stillness: The Puppet Animations of Ivana and Thomas Vold
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? EXPERIENCES OF WAR IN ANIMATION
Four NFB animated shorts will be presented in this special screening.
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French version here | Version française ici.