Manivald, a fox, is turning 33. Overeducated, unemployed and generally uninspired, he lives with his overbearing, retired mother and spends his days learning piano while she makes his coffee and washes his socks. It is an easy life, but not a good one. Their unhealthy co-dependence is about to collapse when the washing machine breaks down and in comes Toomas, a sexy and adventurous wolf repairman, to fix it, and them.
Tinged with typically absurdist Estonian humour, and featuring animator Chintis Lundgren’s faulty but loveable anthropomorphic characters, Manivald mixes the surreal and the heartfelt in its timely tale of an emotionally unnourished generation that continue to live with their parents well into their adult lives. The film pokes fun at the loving but sometimes unhealthy ties that bind parents and children, while celebrating the liberties of independence, self-discovery and growth.
A co-production between the National Film Board of Canada, Adriatic Animation, and Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio, Manivald is Lundgren’s sly, quirky and refreshing take on the difficult and delicate bonds between a mother and son.
Vaysha is not like other little girls: she was born with a left eye that sees only the past and a right eye that sees only the future, and she cannot live in the present. Should she poke out one of her eyes so that she can live in the other’s temporal reality? Or is she doomed to perceive the world from this perplexing perspective?
Blind Vaysha is an expressionistic work that’s been created in three distinct versions: 2D, stereoscopic 3D and virtual reality (VR). Director Theodore Ushev embraced VR for one simple reason: to allow viewers to have a more visceral connection with his heroine. He uses this immersive technology to serve the purposes of narrative, not visual spectacle, and to make the central metaphor of his story, which is steeped in Buddhist wisdom, that much more compelling.
Each of these versions uses the same animation method: the traditional art of linocutting recreated on a graphics tablet, a popular tool for today’s animators. The result is a fascinating encounter between artistic tradition and cutting-edge technology—an apt way of perpetuating an exquisite, centuries-old form of visual art.
Two enemies stand face to face, observing each other.
In turn, each of them reveals the reasons behind their decision to go to war. How they came to take up arms to defend their values, their family, their tribe, or their faith—following in the footsteps of their parents and forebears who did the same.
What exactly do we know about these combatants? What do we really understand about the motives that push human beings to engage in combat—putting themselves at risk of both being killed and of becoming killers themselves? And why continue to fight over the course of several generations? What does freedom look like for these warriors? What is their future?
Israel and Palestine, Congo, El Salvador, North and South Korea, South Sudan, Kashmir—of all the conflicts in the world today, these seem to be the ones that most dramatically represent the improbability of those on opposite sides ever identifying with one another.
The Mountain of SGaana spins a magical tale of a young man who is stolen away to the spirit world, and the young woman who rescues him. Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter’s dream-like gem brilliantly entwines traditional animation with formal elements of Haida art, which are brought to life by a rich, evocative palette and stylized effects.
As a young fisherman cruises along a rugged shoreline, a tiny mouse in Haida regalia appears and starts to knit a blanket. A story unfolds on the blanket as it grows longer, illustrating the ancient tale of Haida master sea hunter Naa-Naa-Simgat and his beloved, Kuuga Kuns. When a SGaana (the Haida word for “killer whale”) captures the hunter and drags him down into a supernatural world, the courageous Kuuga Kuns sets off to save him.
Will the lovers manage to escape the undersea Mountain of SGaana, or will they, too, become part of the Haida spirit world forever?
New York, 1905. Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla makes one last appeal to J.P. Morgan, his onetime benefactor. THE TESLA WORLD LIGHT is a tragic fantasy about the father of alternating current, inspired by real events such as the inventor’s run of bad luck as a businessman and his affection for a pet bird, which he loves “like a man loves a woman.” Tesla’s words to the banker form the backdrop of this moving film about the man who blended science and art in his attempts to create the utopia of unlimited energy for all.
Filmmaker Matthew Rankin (Mynarski Death Plummet) works as much in the tradition of experimental cinema as in animated documentary. He uses an aesthetic reminiscent of the early 20th-century European avant-garde, to electrifying effect. A luminous and deeply original world unfolds around Tesla, bursting with bright ideas. The film resonates with feverish energy, culminating in a spectacular finale that is both a vision of horror and a creative epiphany—an explosive homage to Tesla’s incandescent genius and his towering position as a symbol of modernity.
WALL is a feature-length animated film that explores both sides of the barrier separating Israel and Palestine. Written by two-time Oscar® nominee, screenwriter and playwright David Hare, this visually striking 80-minute film takes an unflinching look at the Middle East. WALL describes the profound and far-reaching effects this massive barrier has had on two cultures: while no doubt helping to secure Israel, the construction of the wall has also had life-altering consequences for the Palestinians on the other side.
A National Film Board of Canada production, WALL was directed by award-winning animator Cam Christiansen, scripted by Hare, who also stars in it, and produced by David Christensen and Bonnie Thompson.
Using advanced animation tools, 3D motion-capture footage and a distinctive handcrafted approach, WALL examines the “fence” that has united, divided and changed communities, dramatizing the deep longing for peace on all sides.
Three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, meet together for the first time in this deeply moving documentary by director Tasha Hubbard.
Removed from their young Dene mother’s care as part of Canada’s infamous Sixties Scoop, Betty Ann, Esther, Rosalie and Ben were four of the 20,000 Indigenous children taken from their families between 1955 and 1985, to be either adopted into white families or to live in foster care. Now all in middle age, each has grown up in different circumstances, with different family cultures, different values and no shared memories. Birth of a Family follows them through the challenges, trepidations and joys of their first steps towards forming their family.
Meeting all together for the first time, they spend a week in Banff, Alberta, sharing what they know about their mother and stories about their lives and the struggles they went through as foster kids and adoptees. As the four siblings piece together their shared history, their connection deepens, bringing laughter with it, and their family begins to take shape.
A Better Man grew out of my personal and professional experiences with domestic violence. I hope that sharing my personal search for justice and healing will contribute to the struggle to end domestic violence.
I desperately want domestic violence to stop. Art, storytelling, and deep, painful conversations are an integral part of the solution. By getting closer to the truth of what survivors experience, and of why men choose to use violence, we can help stop the violence.
A Better Man documents a personal experiment for me and my abusive ex-partner, Steve—a step towards healing, understanding, and accountability. My hope is that our story will motivate others to find new, creative solutions to a problem that continues to be a global epidemic.
This film was truly a community effort. Its seed funding came from more than 1,000 contributors from 30 countries. Artists, advocates, labour unions, leaders in the women’s community, friends, and family all stepped up, lending emotional, financial, creative, and political support to this extremely challenging project. Our production team combined expertise in documentary film with experience with the complex subject of domestic violence. The compassion of this community provided the support that Steve and I needed throughout the process.
During the nearly five years of making this film, I have had the privilege of meeting dozens of people working on innovative solutions to the problem of domestic violence. In nearly every community, there are advocates, activists, counsellors, and others working on new approaches to justice, new ways of healing, and new paths to non-violence for the people who use violence. Their work is deeply inspiring and deserves our close attention.
In telling my story, I stand on the shoulders of so many survivors who bravely told theirs. A Better Man is also held up and inspired by a powerful and growing movement to end domestic violence that has been working on behalf of survivors for decades. If this film can help contribute to this movement, if it can inspire more courageous conversations in relationships, schools, and workplaces, then we will have begun to achieve our goal.
The Road Forward, a musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today.
Clements paints an electrifying picture of how a tiny movement, the Native Brotherhood and Native Sisterhood, became a powerful voice for social, political and legal advocacy, eventually effecting profound change at the national level. The Road Forward’s stunningly shot musical sequences, performed by an ensemble of some of Canada’s finest vocalists and musicians, seamlessly connect past and present with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats.
The Road Forward is a rousing tribute to the fighters for First Nations rights, a soul-resounding historical experience, and a visceral call to action.