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Intruder

L'importun
Max Ma
2025 | 1 min
3D animation
English

A man tries to direct his own dreams, but nothing goes as planned. While sculpture-like props and dreamlike soundscapes swirl around him, he’s swept into a world where he is a prisoner of his own subconsciousness. In this dreamscape, his deepest feelings and desires have a life of their own. So, who is truly in control?

 

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


Logline

A man tries to direct his own dreams, unsuccessfully.




Director's Statement

I gravitate towards filmmakers like Edward Yang and Mia Hansen-Løve, who write characters in conflicts that are at once mundane and consuming. The tenderness they show these characters is what I kept in mind when writing my character: a man who finds himself not the auteur but the audience of his own dreams. Visually, the surrealist and sculptural designs are influenced by the works of Robert Wilson and Eiko Ishioka.



Excerpt


Contact NFB publicist for broadcast-quality excerpts. 

Images


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Description: Film still – Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada, 2025
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Title: Still 2025-04-02 104929_1.21.1
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URL: https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Still-2025-04-02-104929_1.21.1.jpg
Description: Film still – Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada, 2025
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Title: Still 2025-04-02 104929_1.23.1
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URL: https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Still-2025-04-02-104929_1.23.1.jpg
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Title: Still 2025-04-02 104929_1.22.1_EPK
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URL: https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Still-2025-04-02-104929_1.22.1_EPK-1.jpg
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Title: Still 2025-04-02 104929_4.1.1
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URL: https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Still-2025-04-02-104929_4.1.1.jpg
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Title: Still 2025-04-02 104929_2.4.1
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URL: https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/Still-2025-04-02-104929_2.4.1.jpg
Description: Film still – Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada, 2025
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Team


Max Ma
Apprentice Filmmaker-Animator

Photo
Photo : NFB



Lilian Chan
Mentoring Director

Photo
Photo : NFB



Fred Casia
Associate Producer

Photo
Photo : NFB



Maral Mohammadian
Producer

Photo
Photo : NFB



Christine Noël
Executive Producer (NFB)

Photo
Photo : Valérie Sangin


Credits

Written, Directed and Animated by
Scénario, réalisation et animation
Max Ma

Editor
Montage
Jesse Riviere

Sound and Music
Conception sonore et musique
Vid Cousins

Mentoring Director
Mentorat de réalisation
Lillian Chan

Associate Producer
Production déléguée
Fred Casia

Technical Director
Direction technique
Mathieu Tremblay

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

Technical Coordinator
Coordination technique
Luc Binette

Titles
Titres
Cynthia Ouellet

Online Edit
Montage en ligne
Luca Di Gioacchino

Voice
Voix
Max Ma

Musicians
Musique, interprétation
Kate Bevan-Baker
Dave Gossage
Vid Cousins

Foley
Bruitage
Karla Baumgardner

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

Consultation
Donald McWilliams

Producer
Production
Maral Mohammadian

Executive Producer
Production exécutive
Christine Noël

Thanks
Remerciements
Shaheer Tarar
Kevin Riley
Chanda Chevannes
Cherry Beach Sound Limited
Josiane Bernardin
Nellie Carrier


© 2025 National Film Board of Canada
© Office national du film du Canada, 2025


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

    For more than 80 years, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has produced, distributed and preserved those stories, which now form a vast audiovisual collection—an important part of our cultural heritage that represents all Canadians.

    To tell these stories, the NFB works with filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the country. It harnesses their creativity to produce relevant and groundbreaking content for curious, engaged and diverse audiences. The NFB also collaborates with industry experts to foster innovation in every aspect of storytelling, from formats to distribution models.

    Every year, another 50 or so powerful new animated and documentary films are added to the NFB’s extensive collection of more than 14,000 titles, half of which are available to watch for free on nfb.ca.

    Through its mandate, its stature and its productions, the NFB contributes to Canada’s cultural identity and is helping to build the Canada of tomorrow.