New NFB feature documentaries and more showcased at the 20th-anniversary edition of RIDM. Includes Quebec premieres of films by Alanis Obomsawin, Charles Officer and Tasha Hubbard.

Fifteen National Film Board of Canada works will be shown at the 20th-anniversary edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) (November 9-19), including three new NFB feature docs making their Quebec premiere after acclaimed film festival tours: Alanis Obomsawin’s Our People Will Be Healed, Charles Officer’s Unarmed Verses, and Tasha Hubbard’s Birth of a Family.

THE NFB PAYS TRIBUTE TO JEAN ROY.

The National Film Board of Canada is honouring the memory and contributions to Quebec cinema of Jean Roy, a cameraman, director of photography, producer, and director who passed away this week at the age of 88. He founded the NFB’s French-language independent filmmaker assistance program, ACIC, in 1973.

Second season of Artists’ Talks on animation kicks off at the Cinémathèque québécoise on October 27.

The National Film Board of Canada and the Sommets du cinéma d’animation are joining forces to present a series of Artists’ Talks at the Cinémathèque québécoise, beginning Friday, October 27, with Éléonore Goldberg and her film Mon yiddish papi (My Yiddish Papi). In the months to come, animation filmmakers Matthew Rankin, Dominic Etienne Simard, Alex Boya and Torill Kove will take turns giving the public behind-the-scenes glimpses into their latest productions. Audiences will have a rare opportunity to explore these artists’ creative processes and talk to them about their approach, inspiration and techniques.

THE NFB AT THE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA INTERNATIONAL EN ABITIBI-TÉMISCAMINGUE NFB lineup features four films, including the world premieres of Keyu Chen’s Un printemps and Michel La Veaux’s Labrecque, une caméra pour la mémoire (ACPAV/NFB).

The National Film Board of Canada returns to the Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FCIAT) this year with four films, including two world premieres: the animated short Un printemps (Winds of Spring) (NFB), by Keyu Chen, and the feature documentary Labrecque, une caméra pour la mémoire (ACPAV/NFB), by Michel La Veaux. The former tells the tale of a young girl who, driven by the irrepressible need for self-fulfillment, dreams of leaving the family nest, while the latter captures the great director and cinematographer Jean-Claude Labrecque’s passionate, humanistic perspective on the films, culture, and history of Quebec. Two other animated shorts round out the NFB slate for the festival: Diane Obomsawin’s J’aime les filles (I Like Girls) (NFB) and La dent (The Tooth) (Canal+/Sacrebleu Productions/NFB), directed by Guy Delisle. The FCIAT takes place in Rouyn-Noranda and runs October 28 to November 2, 2017.

Tickets now available for Nov. 1 live performance that will be at the heart of a sweeping musical documentary Chelsea McMullan collaborates with Tanya Tagaq on new NFB documentary.

The National Film Board of Canada’s Ontario Studio in Toronto is now in production on Throat, a visionary feature documentary on the powerful and uncompromising Inuk artist/activist Tanya Tagaq, co-created by Chelsea McMullan (My Prairie Home) and Tagaq, and produced by Lea Marin and executive produced by Anita Lee for the NFB.

WINNIPEG PREMIERE OF MARIE CLEMENTS’ NFB MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY. THE ROAD FORWARD, STARTING OCTOBER 21 AT THE CINEMATHEQUE. Film connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of Indigenous activism today.

Starting Saturday, October 21, Winnipeg audiences will have the chance to take in Marie Clements’ musical documentary The Road Forward on the big screen, as the Cinematheque presents screenings of the National Film Board of Canada feature until October 29.

Céline Baril’s NFB feature doc 24 Davids to have its world premiere as RIDM 2017 opening film.

24 Davids by Céline Baril, produced at the National Film Board of Canada by Colette Loumède, will have its world premiere as the opening film of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), taking place November 9 to 19, 2017. Written and directed as part of the NFB French Program’s filmmaker-in-residence initiative, the feature documentary takes us across three continents on a quest driven by a simple yet original idea: to shine a spotlight on the inimitable Davids of this world. The 24 Davids in the film are of varying ages and professions, ranging from cosmologist to recycler; together, they construct a playful “ecosystem” of ideas that touches on every sphere of knowledge, in a refreshingly freewheeling cinematic format. The documentary will start its theatrical run at the Cinémathèque québécoise on February 2, 2018.

MICHEL LA VEAUX’S LABRECQUE, UNE CAMÉRA POUR LA MÉMOIRE TO HAVE WORLD PREMIERE AT FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA INTERNATIONAL EN ABITIBI-TÉMISCAMINGUE. Feature doc is produced by ACPAV and co-produced by NFB.

Labrecque, une caméra pour la mémoire, a feature documentary by Michel La Veaux, will have its world premiere at the 36th Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FCIAT) in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, with the director—a friend and regular patron of the festival—in attendance. Chronicling a genuine encounter between renowned Quebec filmmaker/cinematographer Jean-Claude Labrecque and La Veaux, an acclaimed Quebec cinematographer (Le démantèlement) and director (Hôtel La Louisiane), the film captures Labrecque’s passionate, humanistic perspective on the films, culture and history of Quebec. Labrecque, une caméra pour la mémoire is produced by Nicole Hubert with executive producer Bernadette Payeur for the Association coopérative de productions audiovisuelles (ACPAV) and co-produced by the NFB, with Nathalie Cloutier as producer and Colette Loumède as executive producer. The film screens on Sunday, October 29, at 2:20 p.m. at the Théâtre du Cuivre and is in competition for two awards at the festival, which runs from October 28 to November 2, 2017. Labrecque begins a theatrical run at the Cinémathèque québécoise on January 12, 2018.

Kevin D.A. Kurytnik and Carol Beecher’s animated short Skin for Skin wins three top awards at Alberta film festivals. NFB North West Studio production wins honours at Calgary and Edmonton fests.

A dark tale of greed and spiritual reckoning by Kevin D.A. Kurytnik and Carol Beecher, the National Film Board of Canada animated short film Skin for Skin has picked up three awards at film festivals in Alberta, winning Best Overall Short (Live Action or Animated) and Audience Favourite, Alberta Short at the Calgary International Film Festival, followed by the Grand Jury Award for Best Short Film (Animation) at the Edmonton International Film Festival.

A Camera Lucida Productions/France Télévisions/NFB/Dpt./Emissive co-production. AR app of Karim Ben Khelifa’s The Enemy available as of today. App release follows world premiere of The Enemy VR installation in Paris and coincides with installation’s North American premiere at MIT Museum in Boston.

Starting today, The Enemy, the virtual-reality (VR) experience by internationally renowned photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa, is available worldwide in French and English as an augmented-reality (AR) app on the App Store and Google Play, where it can be downloaded for free. Developed by the Montreal-based digital creation studio studio Dpt. and the National Film Board of Canada, it has a running time of approximately 50 minutes and uses ARKit for iPhone and iPad (and soon, ARCore features for Android), offering a totally new level of augmented reality that allows interaction with the real world like never before. The Enemy comprises two components: the AR app and the multiuser VR museum installation, which will have its Canadian premiere in winter 2018. This international documentary co-production uses unprecedented, powerful encounters with real combatants from opposing camps to show that both sides are, in fact, more alike than different. The Enemy is co-produced by Camera Lucida Productions, France Télévisions, the NFB, Dpt. and Emissive.

Four NFB films showcased at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival Great new feature docs and animation from Canadian women filmmakers.

A world leader in film and digital production by women and committed to doing more, the National Film Board of Canada will be represented at the 2017 St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (Oct. 18–22) with two new feature-length documentaries and two acclaimed animated shorts—showcasing the richness and diversity of NFB films by women.

Catch Freelancer on the Front Lines, Santiago Bertolino’s NFB feature doc on journalist Jesse Rosenfeld, October 12 at the Reelworld Film Festival. Witness to the biggest events in the Middle East, Toronto-born reporter Rosenfeld will be on hand to take questions.

Santiago Bertolino’s National Film Board of Canada feature documentary on Canadian freelance journalist Jesse Rosenfeld, Freelancer on the Front Lines, screens Thursday, October 12, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. at the Famous Players Canada Square Cinemas as part of Toronto’s Reelworld Film Festival, with the wide-roving Canadian journalist in attendance for a Q&A.

Ariel Nasr explores the remarkable story of Afghan cinema in the upcoming Loaded Pictures/NFB-co-produced feature The Forbidden Reel. Afghan Film head Ibrahim Arify visits NFB as Canada’s public producer assists in safeguarding Afghanistan’s rich audiovisual heritage.

A world leader in digital archiving as well as pioneering documentary works that address vital issues, the National Film Board of Canada is in co-production with Loaded Pictures on The Forbidden Reel, an upcoming feature doc by Ariel Nasr that will explore the heroic efforts of Afghanis to build and preserve their country’s national cinema—while the NFB works directly with the Afghan Film Archives to help strengthen their efforts in film digitization, preservation, and distribution.

To help mark #Canada150, NFB’s What We Fight For explores the Canadian spirit of protest. Fourth and final installment in the online series 1 Nation. 4 Lenses.

Canadians have a reputation for being a polite people. But that doesn’t mean that we back down from a fight. In What We Fight For—the final chapter in the National Film Board of Canada’s 1 Nation. 4 Lenses special programming for the 150th anniversary of Confederation (#Canada150)—the NFB is showcasing the Canadian spirit of protest from past to present.

A Camera Lucida Productions/France Télévisions/NFB/Dpt./Emissive co-production. AR app of Karim Ben Khelifa’s The Enemy available as of October 5. App release follows world premiere of The Enemy VR installation in Paris and coincides with installation’s North American premiere at MIT Museum in Boston.

Starting October 5, The Enemy, the virtual-reality (VR) experience by internationally renowned photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa, will be available worldwide in French and English as an augmented-reality (AR) app on the Apple Store and Google Play, where it can be downloaded for free. Developed by the Montreal-based digital creation studio Dpt. and the National Film Board of Canada, it has a running time of approximately 50 minutes and is one of the very first apps to use ARKit features for iOS 11 and ARCore features for Android, offering a totally new level of augmented reality that allows interaction with the real world like never before. The creator, Karim Ben Khelifa, will be in Montreal on September 28 and 29 for the app’s official launch and to present the project to the media. The Enemy comprises two components: the AR app and the multiuser VR museum installation. This international documentary co-production uses unprecedented, powerful encounters with real combatants from opposing camps to show that both sides are, in fact, more alike than different. The Enemy is co-produced by Camera Lucida Productions, France Télévisions, the NFB, Dpt. and Emissive.