Cordell Barker

Cordell Barker is a two-time Oscar®-nominated animator whose nearly five-decade-long career began with an apprenticeship at Kenn Perkins’ Winnipeg-based commercial studio, where he worked on Sesame Street spots and various commercials. His long association with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) began in 1982, when he first worked as an animator on Brad Caslor’s Get a Job (1985) before going on to create four animated short films: The Cat Came Back (1988), Strange Invaders (2001), Runaway (2009) and If I Was God (2015). The first two earned him Oscar nominations, while Runaway won the Petit Rail d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was an official selection at both the Sundance and Toronto International film festivals. Collectively, Barker’s films have earned over 50 international awards.

Blending humour and heart, his films draw audiences into the lives of ordinary characters navigating surreal and often absurd situations—whether it’s a relentlessly mischievous cat, a surprising alien infant, class tensions aboard an out-of-control train, or a boy whose longing for god-like powers offers an escape from the discomforts of Biology class frog dissections.