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The NFB at REGARD 2026: five short films selected. Including works by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, Cordell Barker and Will Prosper.

PRESS RELEASE
25/02/2026

February 25, 2026 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The NFB is back at REGARD with five short films, two of which will make their Quebec premieres. Among the featured filmmakers are two-time Academy Award nominees Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli and The Girl Who Cried Pearls, nominated for this year’s Best Animated Short), and two-time nominee Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders).

The lineup also includes emerging voices like Bahij Jaroudi, whose Bisou Sauvage will screen in the Official Competition; Wanda Nolan’s The Muse, a winner at the Atlantic Film Festival; and Will Prosper’s powerful short reXistence. Spanning animation and documentary, the selection showcases a striking and diverse array of techniques and perspectives.

The NFB at REGARD:

Official Competition: Bahij Jaroudi’s Bisou Sauvage (Quebec premiere) and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls.

  • Youth Competition: Cordell Barker’s Good Luck to You All (Quebec premiere); Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls and Wanda Nolan’s The Muse.
  • Thematic program – Mémoires: Will Prosper’s reXistence.

One of North America’s most important short film festivals, REGARD will take place in Saguenay from March 18 to 22, 2026.

Official Competition

Bisou Sauvage by Bahij Jaroudi (NFB, animation, 2 min 50 s) — QUEBEC PREMIERE
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/bisou-sauvage

  • As world tragedies pile up, a bored couple is looking for their next distraction. This explosive dark comedy is a blunt take on the privilege of boredom and the dissonance that is needed to pretend everything is okay. This film by Lebanese-Canadian illustrator and animator Bahij Jaroudi had its world premiere at the 2026 Victoria Film Festival.

Official Competition and Youth Competition

Screening in French in the Official Competition and in English in the Youth Competition.

The Girl Who Cried Pearls by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (NFB, animation, 17 min 28 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-girl-who-cried-pearls 

  • This animated short, which received the 79th Academy Award nomination for an NFB film this year, is a fable about a girl overwhelmed by sorrow, the boy who loves her, and how greed leads good hearts to wicked deeds. Set in Montreal at the dawn of the 20th century, the film is a celebration of the magic of stop-motion animation. The film features a star-studded creative team, including James Hyndman (French voice), Colm Feore (English voice), Patrick Watson(music) and Brigitte Henry as artistic director.
  • Since its debut in June 2025 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it was featured as an opening film and in official competition, The Girl Who Cried Pearlshas screened at more than 40 festivals and received over 11 awards and honours.

Youth Competition

The films in the Youth Competition will screen in their original English versions.

Good Luck to You All by Cordell Barker (NFB, animation, 8 min 15 s) — QUEBEC PREMIERE
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/good-luck-to-you-all

  • A little girl plays with her toys, blissfully unaware that she may hold the future of humanity in her hands.Good Luck to You All blends innocence, hope and panic, exploring AI’s unanswered questions—with whimsy and unease. Selected to screen at festivals across Canada and internationally, the film won an award at the Los Angeles Animation Festival.

The Muse by Wanda Nolan (NFB, documentary, 18 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-muse

  • When 74-year-old Robert Tilley agreed to take photographer Ting Ting Chen on a road trip across Newfoundland, neither could have predicted the deep, cross-generational friendship that would blossom between them, nor how Robert’s role in Ting Ting’s art would challenge traditional ideas of the artist-muse relationship. This touching film had its world premiere at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, where it won the award for Best Atlantic Short Documentary.

Thematic program – Mémoires (out of competition)

reXistence by Will Prosper (NFB, documentary, 9 min 45 s)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/rexistence

  • A sensory odyssey into the buried history of Afro-descendant communities in Canada, reXistenceunearths fragments of a once-erased collective memory. Woven entirely from archival footage, this historical mirror confronts us with a reflection of shocking visual poetry, paying tribute to the unshakable strength of those who resisted. The film erupts as a political cry that shatters institutional silence, challenging our relationship to justice, forcing us to truly see… and to no longer look away. This isn’t history. It’s now. 
  • The Mémoires program will be screening on Thursday, March 19, at 1 p.m. 

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Version française ici.

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 7,000 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.