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Experimentation (27)
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The Arthur Lipsett Project: A Dot on the HistomapEric Gaucher 2007 52 minThis full-length documentary introduces us to Arthur Lipsett, a man who defined experimental filmmaking at the NFB in the 1960s. His second film, Very Nice, Very Nice, was nominated for an Academy Award. George Lucas claimed him as an important influence. A decade later, Lipsett's last attempt at filmmaking ended in failure. He chained his Steenbeck and film racks to prevent theft and vanished into paranoia. -
Bones & BoatsKevin Langdale 2004 1 minThis short animated tale of Victorian-era folly ends in tragedy. Kevin Langdale's graphic style brims with the majesty of human ambition and the indomitable and sometimes destructive power of the natural world.
Produced as part of the second edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
Blind EvolutionZane Kozak 2010 1 minTransformation, technology, higher powers, breath. These ideas and elements roil around inside Toronto artist and filmmaker Zane Kozak's CG-animated short, taking us on a somewhat troubling but eerily mystical journey from the human form to... something entirely different.
Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
Come to your sensesAlicia Eisen & Sophie Jarvis 2020 4 minNine artists across the continent document their sensory experiences of lockdown, and the results broke our editing program. What emerges is an absurdist collage that playfully flips the format of a video conference on its head. Filmmakers Alicia Eisen and Sophie Jarvis pose the question: is the human need to make sense of chaos an inherently chaotic pursuit?
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CMYKMarv Newland 2011 7 minThis short animation is a dizzying celebration of sound, colour and movement. Here, multitudes of CMYK symbols, pulled off flaps of cereal boxes and other common printed materials, have been isolated and assembled. Freed from their workaday origins, these objects become moving artwork. Coloured dots pulsate, crosshairs roll and primary shapes dance. The result: an unrestrained riot of colour and energy.
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Creative Process: Norman McLarenDonald McWilliams 1990 1 h 56 minThis feature length documentary is a journey into Norman McLaren’s process of artistic creation. A cinematic genius who made films without cameras and music without instruments, McLaren produced 60 films in a stunning range of styles and techniques, collecting over 200 international awards and world recognition. Drawing on McLaren's private film vaults, a gold mine of experimental footage and uncompleted films, this film explores McLaren's methods, including his celebrated "pixillation" technique.
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EdgeCode: Sayonara Super 8Pia Yona Massie 2006 5 minPia Yona Massie's Sayonara Super 8 uses personal archival footage to ask questions about the fragile nature of memory, human relationships and the foibles of the medium itself.
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EdgeCode: (Post) Modern TimesBrian Johnson 2006 5 minThis short experimental film riffs on the conventions of silent cinema by examining Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times within the context of postmodern culture. It explores an integrated relationship between music and cinematic structure in response to the perceived shortcomings of postmodernism.
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Experimental FilmArthur Lipsett 1962 27 minThis panel discussion about experimental films features American film historian Herman Weinberg, film critics Clyde Gilmour and Fernand Cadieux, and NFB producer Guy Glover. They comment on films by George Dunning, Robert Breer, Jan Lenica, Wladimir Borowczyk, and Arthur Lipsett. Norman McLaren talks about how he creates his films.
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EdgeCode: Mechanical Animal MemoryAmanda Dawn Christie 2006 5 minThis experimental short explores the dual use of film as both mnemonic device and documentary archive. To achieve this, filmmaker Amanda Dawn Christie uses images from home movies that have been damaged, leaving edge code, sprockets, and optical tracks exposed.
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The Future Is Now!Gary Burns & Jim Brown 2010 1 h 31 min
In this feature film, a journalist (Liane Balaban) meets “The Man of Today” (Paul Ahmarani) who, while a responsible citizen, is disengaged from greater society. He believes once he’s dead nothing more matters! As an experiment to see if she can turn his pessimistic view around, the journalist sends him on a journey of enlightenment to prove that the future does matter. Traveling the globe, he finds himself in surprising encounters with great minds in the arts and sciences. Starting with an unexpected poetry reading and conversation with experimental poet Christian Bök, “The Man of Today” engages with architect Shigeru Ban, activist Francis Dupuis- Déri, philosopher Alain de Botton, artist Marlene Dumas, novelist Rivka Galchen, leading scientists and even a ghost. Will the journalist succeed in turning a cynic into an optimist? Will it matter? What can one person do?
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InteroculusMarie Valade 2010 1 minIn an infinitely vast space, a woman, a man and a fish illustrate a flow of questions about perception. Pixillation and stop-motion animation enhance audience doubts about reality in Marie Valade's whimsical and playful test of how we see and perceive when watching 3-D films.
Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
June NightMike Maryniuk 2020 4 minWorking in sublime self-isolation during the strange pandemic spring of 2020, avant-garde filmmaker Mike Maryniuk composes a surreal ode to rebirth and reinvention. Juxtaposing archival imagery with handcrafted animation, he conjures up a shimmering utopian dreamscape, a post-COVID world shaped by the primordial forces of nature—haunted by the genial spectre of Buster Keaton.
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LiaisonsJean Detheux 2005 9 minThis abstract film, full of rich colours and textures, was created thanks to an inventive use of digital technology. It grew out of an unusual process of interchange between the painter Jean Detheux and the composer Jean Derome. The result is a rare meeting of images and music. What we get is an intense meditation on a world in constant renewal, where every form that emerges is immediately engulfed by the next one. It constitutes a sort of diptych with the film Rupture, which follows. A film without words.
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Lines VerticalNorman McLaren & Evelyn Lambart 1960 5 minAn experiment in pure design by film artists Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Lines, ruled directly on film, move with precision and grace against a background of changing colors, in response to music specially composed for the films. Lines - Vertical is accompanied by composer Maurice Blackburn on the electronic piano.
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No ObjectsMoïa Jobin-Paré 2019 6 minCombining hands-on techniques with digital and analog technologies, No Objects transfigures forms of expression, turning photographs into etchings and sound into motion. An ode to touch in which every gesture is magnified and the image can be heard, the film offers both a bracing and contemplative meditation on the tactile world.
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ORAPhilippe Baylaucq 2011 15 minORA is a stunning meeting between the artistic worlds of choreographer José Navas and filmmaker Philippe Baylaucq. It is the first film to use 3D thermal imaging, producing visuals like none that have ever been seen before: the luminous variations of body heat seen on skin, bodies emitting a multitude of colours, a space filled with movement that transforms itself.
Warning: Although this film was shot in 3D, the streaming and downloadable versions are available in 2D only. -
Printemps Now! (English Version)Jean Jean 2019 15 minInspired by Berlin: Symphony of a great city, Printemps Now! is a cinematographic poem, an audiovisual symphony of the city of Montreal transitioning from winter to spring.
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Pierogi pincéKiarra Albina 2010 1 minAs a young woman finds herself lost in daydreams while clumsily performing the tradition of making pierogies, she invokes the presence of her grandmother, who guides her through the messy ritual. The film is a fusion of hand-drawn animation, folk art and stereoscopic drawings made in space, by Calgary illustrator and filmmaker Kiarra Albina.
Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
Pen Point PercussionNorman McLaren 1951 5 minNorman McLaren explains how he makes synthetic sound on film. With an oscilloscope he first demonstrates what familiar sounds look like on the screen; next, how sound shapes up on a film's sound track; and then what synthetic sounds sound like when drawn directly on film. This technique is also demonstrated in Dots and Loops.
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Remembering ArthurMartin Lavut 2006 1 h 29 minIn this feature length documentary, filmmaker Arthur Lipsett's close friend Martin Lavut documents the influence of the eccentric Oscar-nominated film genius. The world of cinema tragically lost Lipsett in 1986 when the Montreal-born artist committed suicide 2 weeks before his 50th birthday. This feature documentary celebrates the life and legacy of one of Canada's greatest creative minds, who began his filmmaking career at the NFB.
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ReflexionGreg Labute 2010 1 minTwo prisoners are trapped in a void. Trying separately to escape, they discover each other and have to overcome their fear in order to connect and find a way out. Or do they really discover themselves? Filmmaker Greg Labute renders an austere nightmare world using the SANDDE's stereoscopic animation drawing tool and a dark, slightly perverse imagination.
Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
Two Films by LipsettDonald Rennick 1968 28 minIn this short documentary, teenagers discuss experimental Arthur Lipsett films they have just watched. What do these films mean? What feelings or thoughts do they evoke? What do they suggest about the evolution of mankind and the future of life on Earth? The 2 Arthur Lipsett films being discussed, Free Fall and A Trip Down Memory Lane, are also included.
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UnlacedA. Megan Turnbull 2010 1 minA myopic woman walks, then boogies, through a wintry urban landscape, her world view altered suddenly by a beat from within herself, transporting her to a rich and lush place full of green foliage. Animated in stereoscopic stop-motion, Winnipeg filmmaker Megan Turnbull's film creates a magical, miniature world entirely of out paper sculpture and pure invention.
Produced as part of the 6th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
U.F.O.Rhayne Vermette 2016 1 minIn this very short animation, an apparition reveals itself through celluloid and transmits vestiges of a forgotten provenance. Have the onlookers interpreted its signs correctly or was the message misunderstood? Inspired by found sound of two people’s discovery of a mysterious event in the sky.
Produced as part of the 11th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
The Wobble IncidentClaire Blanchet & Sam Vipond 2009 4 minThe Wobble Incident is an erratic journey through layers of cinematic illusion. When the First Sound rings out in a silent cartoon world, two characters experience momentous change as their universe goes bananas. NOTE: While the original version of this film is a 3D animation produced on Sandde, the streaming version is available in 2D only.
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ZeaAndré Leduc & Jean-Jacques Leduc 1981 5 minA superb visual trick that will mystify its audience, this animated film transforms the commonplace into magic.
