Get a Grip

Accroche-toi

Abbey Collings
2025 | 1 min
Stop motion animation
Without words

Awards and Festivals

Official Selection – Young Audiences 7+ CompetitionOttawa International Animation Festival, Canada (2025)

Gus MacDuffin longs to fly like the other puffins. But when he finally takes the leap, he falls—straight down into a fisherman’s bucket. There, Gus makes a shocking discovery: his wings are actually hands. With the help of his fisherman friend, he embraces his unique abilities and brings home a skill no other puffin has.

Produced as part of the 15^th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse mentorship.

Watch the films with behind-the-scenes extras on NFB.ca

Logline

A tiny tale of self-discovery and the wonder of being special.

Director's Statement

Inspired by the Bird Islands in Nova Scotia, Get a Grip shows how observing others shapes our beliefs, influences our interactions and ultimately helps us define who we are. The film explores the balance between learning from the world around us and staying true to ourselves.

Contact NFB publicist for broadcast-quality excerpts.

Contact NFB publicist for high-resolution images for print.

Credits

Written, Directed and Animated by
Scénario, réalisation et animation
Abbey Collings

Sound and Music
Conception sonore
Vid Cousins

Editor
Montage
Jesse Riviere

Mentoring Director
Mentorat de réalisation
Lillian Chan

Associate Producer
Production déléguée
Fred Casia

Consultation
James Braithwaite
Donald McWilliams

Design and Fabrication
Conception et fabrication
Abbey Collings
Dale Hayward
Nikita Greer
Alizée Millot

Compositing
Alexandre Roy
Herl Lara

Technical Director
Direction technique
Mathieu Tremblay

Technical Support – Animation
Soutien technique à l’animation
Yannick Grandmont
Alexandre Roy

Technical Coordinator
Coordination technique
Luc Binette

Titles
Titres
Cynthia Ouellet

Online Edit
Montage en ligne
Luca Di Gioacchino

Voices
Voix
Katie Finn
Abbey Collings

Foley
Bruitage
Karla Baumgardner

Musicians
Musique, interprétation
Sarah Pagé
Dave Gossage
Kate Bevan-Baker

Recording
Enregistrement
Geoffrey Mitchell

Mix
Mixage
Isabelle Lussier

Administration
Karine Desmeules

Senior Production Coordinator
Coordination de la production
Dominique Forget

Marketing
Mise en marché
Judith Lessard-Bérubé
Marion Duhaime-Morissette
Emilie Ryan

Publicist
Attachée de presse
Nadine Viau

Producer
Production
Maral Mohammadian

Executive Producer
Production exécutive
Christine Noël

For my grandpa
Pour mon grand-papa

T.C.

Media Relations

Nadine Viau
NFB Publicist – Montreal
C.: 514-458-9745
n.viau@nfb.ca

About the Hothouse program

Hothouse is a mentorship program for emerging Canadian animation filmmakers. It was created in 2003 by NFB Animation Studio Producer Michael Fukushima and Executive Producer David Verrall to nurture new talent. Participants work alongside industry leaders, gaining real-world experience.

They have only 12 weeks to craft an original one-minute film. But it’s not just about speed. It’s about helping the next generation of storytellers find inventive ways of using animation while maintaining the creative and technical hallmarks of NFB animation.

Hothouse is not a funding program, nor is it a school. It is a mentorship in real-world animation filmmaking, with the NFB serving as both producer and distributor.

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.