Tyler Enfield and Galen Scorer’s Invisible World VR project (CFC Media Lab/NFB) and shorts by Theodore Ushev, Franck Dion and Eoin Duffy in official competition

September 27, 2016 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) returns to Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) with the world premiere of the virtual reality experience Invisible World (CFC Media Lab/NFB) by Tyler Enfield and Galen Scorer, in competition in the festival’s VR section. And three brilliant animated shorts will have their Quebec premieres, also in competition: Vaysha l’aveugle (Blind Vaysha) by Theodore Ushev (NFB), Une tête disparaît (The Head Vanishes) by Franck Dion (Papy3D/NFB/ARTE France), and I Am Here (Je suis ici) by Eoin Duffy (NFB). The 45th edition of the FNC takes place October 5 to 16 in Montreal.

World premiere of VR experience – In competition

Invisible World, a unique VR experience, will have its world premiere at the FNC. The project was created by Tyler Enfield and Galen Scorer and co-produced by the CFC Media Lab and the NFB. Available in English, French and Khmer versions, this 22-minute work allows audiences to explore the layered points of view of three people whose lives intersect after a shared trauma: a dramatic event involving a young boy in Cambodia. Enabling us to move within, between and around cinema as a physical object, Invisible World treats VR as a medium of expression, offering a conceptual story space where our bodies create new meaning through new juxtapositions. A detailed news release will be distributed shortly.

Three animated shorts in competition

Theodore Ushev, a regular at the FNC (his Blood Manifesto (NFB) won the Prix Créativité last year), is back with Blind Vaysha. The film is coming off a triumphant European festival run, which began with its world premiere at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival and continued with the film winning the Jury Award and Junior Jury Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, in addition to garnering other honours. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and recently received the awards for Best Narrative Short Animation and Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Franck Dion returns to Quebec to show The Head Vanishes, which won the prestigious Cristal Award for the best short film at Annecy this year. This is the fourth animated short by this French filmmaker, much loved by audiences in Quebec and the rest of Canada, and the second to be co-produced by Papy3D, the NFB and ARTE France, following 2012’s Edmond Was a Donkey. The latter film received 30 international honours, including the 2012 Annecy Special Jury Prize and several awards from Canadian festivals such as the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival and Regard sur le court métrage au Saguenay, as well as a Gémeaux for Best Animated Show or Series.

I Am Here, Eoin Duffy’s first project with the NFB, recently had its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Born in Ireland and currently living in Vancouver, Duffy employs a signature style that blends clean lines and colourful graphics with a humorous approach to dark and complex themes. His films have received international accolades, including a shortlisting for Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards for The Missing Scarf (2014).

Quick Facts

• Vaysha l’aveugle (Blind Vaysha), directed by Theodore Ushev (8 min 15 s)

French version, 3D

Vaysha is not like other young girls: her left eye sees only the past, her right eye only the future—and she is unable to see the reality that exists in the present. In Blind Vaysha, adapted from a philosophical short story by Bulgarian author Georgi Gospodinov and narrated by Caroline Dhavernas, Theodore Ushev uses an expressive style poised halfway between religious paintings and linocuts to spin a metaphorical tale about the difficulty of being in the here and now. The film was produced for the NFB by Marc Bertrand, with the participation of ARTE France. Julie Roy is the executive producer.

• Une tête disparaît (The Head Vanishes), directed by Franck Dion (9 min 30 s)

French version

Franck Dion takes us inside the faltering, fragile mind of a woman living with dementia who is determined to take the train to the seaside, as she does every summer. The film was co-produced by Franck Dion and Richard Van Den Boom for Papy3D, by Julie Roy for the NFB, and by Hélène Vayssières for ARTE France.

• I Am Here (Je suis ici), directed by Eoin Duffy (5 min)

English version with French subtitles

Featuring crisp modernist visuals and a riveting score by composer duo Menalon, this animated short is an exploration of existence itself, as a mysterious traveller journeys across space and time in search of the origin of the universe, life, and God. Featuring the vocal talents of Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci’s Inquest), I Am Here was produced by the NFB’s BC and Yukon Studio in Vancouver (Shirley Vercruysse, producer and executive producer) and its Animation Studio (Maral Mohammadian, producer; Michael Fukushima, executive producer).

VR Section

Invisible World: The VR Experience by Tyler Enfield and Galen Scorer – In competition

Creative and technical team: gskinner

Invisible World is inspired by real events that took place in Cambodia in 1994. We meet a reckless young North American working in Phnom Penh as an English teacher, an intelligent and insightful man practising medicine in a country ravaged by war, and the widowed mother of a young boy who has a dramatic experience that unites all three characters.

The experience was produced by Ana Serrano for the CFC Media Lab and Bonnie Thompson for the NFB. The executive producers are Ana Serrano for CFC Media Lab and David Christensen for the NFB.

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Associated Links

Festival du nouveau cinéma
CFC Media Lab
Papy3D
ARTE France

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