New and classic films, groundbreaking VR works featured at public screenings and NFB.ca, as Vancouver goes to the movies
April 10, 2017 – Vancouver – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
The National Film Board of Canada’s BC & Yukon and Digital studios are joining with REEL CANADA and local partners to make sure Vancouverites have plenty of chances to go to the movies and enjoy great BC and Canadian films when National Canadian Film Day (NCFD 150, #CanFilmDay) hits the country’s screens on April 19.
This annual nationwide event to celebrate Canada and Canadian films will offer 1,700 screenings from coast to coast to coast, in what’s being called the world’s largest film festival, and which this year also helps mark Canada’s 150th birthday.
Here in Vancouver, the NFB is working with REEL CANADA to showcase a combination of new and classic NFB works for National Canadian Film Day―great films as well as pioneering virtual reality (VR) interactive productions.
A selection of NFB shorts will be screened all day in the atrium of Vancouver’s iconic Woodward’s Building (351 Abbott Street). Open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., this screening series will include such BC shorts as Jenn Strom’s Assembly, Nettie Wild’s Uninterrupted, Marv Newland’s CMYK, Eoin Duffy’s I Am Here, Zoe L. Hopkins’ Button Blanket, and NFB shorts like Caroline Monnet’s Mobilize, Sheldon Cohen’s adaptation of Roch Carrier’s timeless story, The Sweater, as well as Cordell Barker’s The Cat Came Back and Patrick Doyon’s Sunday, both Oscar nominees.
Meanwhile, the Digital Studio will be offering the public a cutting-edge, immersive VR experience, showcasing four of the NFB’s Webby Award-winning VR works in the atrium: Bear 71, created with Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Allison and built by Jam3; Cardboard Crash, created by Vincent McCurley; Way to Go, a Montreal Interactive Studio production created by Vincent Morisset; as well as Cut-Off, a VR documentary experience that places the viewer in the middle of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s historic visit to Shoal Lake 40, created by VICE, Occupied VR, the NFB and the Canadian Film Centre.
There will also be four screenings in the NFB’s own screening room at the Woodward’s Building, at 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. This 50-minute selection includes NFB shorts such as Teresa MacInnes’s Mabel, Torill Kove’s Oscar-winning The Danish Poet (NFB/Mikrofilm AS) and Debris, Vancouver filmmaker John Bolton’s portrait of Tofino intertidal artist Pete Clarkson.
Elsewhere in Vancouver, the NFB is partnering with REEL CANADA and TELUS STORYHIVE to present short films on iPads at two pop-up locations downtown, at Jack Poole Plaza as well as the atrium of the Vancouver Public Library’s Main Branch. Titles include such classics as Richard Condie’s The Big Snit, Norman McLaren’s Neighbours and Martine Chartrand’s Black Soul.
What’s more, REEL CANADA partners will be screening NFB films at their venues, with The Cinematheque (1131 Howe Street) showing Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell at 6 p.m. and Visions Ouest Productions presenting a selection of NFB French-language shorts, including La dernière clé, by emerging Vancouver filmmaker Julien Capraro, at the Jules Verne Auditorium (5445 Baillie St.) at 7:30 p.m.
The NFB has also compiled a free online playlist for National Canadian Film Day, featuring a selection of acclaimed NFB animated and documentary films.
All NCFD 150 screenings in Vancouver are free to the public unless otherwise marked. Schedules for all REEL CANADA events are listed at https://canadianfilmday.ca/see-a-film/events-listing/.
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Associated Links
REEL CANADA
National Canadian Film Day
Online playlist for National Canadian Film Day
Schedules for REEL CANADA events
About REEL CANADA
Founded in 2005, REEL CANADA is a non-profit organization that promotes the power and diversity of Canadian film to Canadians of all ages and backgrounds, including high school students and new Canadians, through three core programmes:
- Our Films in Our Schools
- Welcome to Canada
- National Canadian Film Day
About the NFB
The NFB is Canada’s public producer of award-winning creative documentaries, auteur animation, and groundbreaking interactive stories, installations and participatory experiences. NFB producers are deeply embedded in communities across the country, working with talented artists and creators in production studios from St. John’s to Vancouver, on projects that stand out for their excellence in storytelling, their innovation, and their social resonance. NFB productions have won over 5,000 awards, including 18 Canadian Screen Awards, 17 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access many of these works, visit NFB.ca or download the NFB’s apps for mobile devices and connected TV.