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VIFF 2020 features hometown debut of Ann Marie Fleming’s new animated short, Old Dog. Also just added: Randall Okita’s VR work The Book of Distance and Christopher Gilbert Grant’s short XO Rad Magical, as NFB selection climbs to eight titles.

PRESS RELEASE
11/09/2020

September 11, 2020 – Vancouver – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Three more National Film Board of Canada works, including the hometown premiere of Vancouver filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming’s new animated short, Old Dog, have been added to an already impressive NFB lineup at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), taking place September 24 to October 7.

Old Dog will be screening with Anu Kuivalainen’s feature Still Into You.

Also added to the VIFF lineup is XO Rad Magical by emerging Mi’kmaq artist Christopher Gilbert Grant, presented in Intersecting Voices, a program focused on Indigenous creators.

Lastly, VIFF Immersed is featuring The Book of Distance, the first VR work by Calgary-born, Toronto-based filmmaker Randall Okita.

These three additions bring the NFB selection at VIFF to eight works, including the world premiere of Vancouver filmmaker Jennifer Abbott’s new feature doc The Magnitude of All Things (Cedar Island Films/Flying Eye Productions/NFB).

Added NFB titles at VIFF:

Old Dog by Ann Marie Fleming

  • After losing his best friend, Henry the elderly pug must depend on his owner for help. Love isn’t always the stuff of hearts and flowers: sometimes it’s brushing matted fur, non-slip socks to keep out the cold, and a purple diaper.
  • The film was inspired by the experience of caregivers everywhere as well as the director’s namesake, BC’s own Ann-Marie Fleming—with whom she often gets mixed up in web searches—who works out of 100 Mile House to make technologies for aging dogs and their humans.

Synopsis, biographies, images: mediaspace.nfb.ca/old-dog

XO Rad Magical by Christopher Gilbert Grant

  • XO Rad Magical is a personal lyrical poem about the daily struggle of living with schizophrenia, directed by Christopher Gilbert Grant, a young Mi’kmaq artist from the Pabineau First Nation who is living with schizoaffective disorder. This psychedelic and hypnotic film shows that there is beauty in the brains of those who are at war with themselves.
  • For its 12th edition, the NFB’s Hothouse program for emerging animators teamed up with imagineNATIVE, Amanda Strong (also a VIFF programmer) and Amanda Roy to help address underrepresentation of Indigenous creators in film animation.

Synopsis, biographies, images: mediaspace.nfb.ca/xo

The Book of Distance by Randall Okita

  • In 1935, Yonezo Okita left Hiroshima to begin a new life in Canada—then war and state-sanctioned racism changed everything. Three generations later, his grandson leads us on an interactive virtual pilgrimage to recover what was lost.
  • This work was an official selection at the prestigious Venice, Sundance and Tribeca film festivals.
  • The Book of Distance will be available for HTC Vive Pro Headset (or Vive 1.0) and Oculus headset users through the Museum of Other Realities, a BC-created app, on the VIFF Immersed Exhibition platform.

Synopsis, biographies, images: mediaspace.nfb.ca/the-book-of-distance

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Related Products

Electronic Press Kits | Images, trailers, synopses: Old Dog | The Book of Distance | The Magnitude of All Things | XO Rad Magical

Associated Links

Vancouver International Film Festival
Cedar Island Films
Flying Eye Productions
Hothouse
imagineNATIVE

French version here | Version en français ici.

Media Relations

  • About the NFB

    The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a leader in exploring animation as an artform, a storytelling medium and innovative content for emerging platforms. It produces trailblazing animated works both in its Montreal studios and across  the country, and it works with many of the world’s leading creators on international co-productions. NFB productions have won more than 7,000 awards, including seven Oscars for NFB animation and seven grand prizes at the Annecy festival. To access this unique content, visit NFB.ca.