Inside Hothouse 4 takes an informal look into the personalities and frenzy behind the fourth iteration of the NFB Animation Hothouse. A hand-held-mini-doc, reflective of the youthful iconoclasm of the eight emerging filmmakers (6 Canadians and 2 Brazilians). The Hothouse filmmakers and their NFB collaborators offer candid and oftentimes pithy comments on the nature of auteur animation filmmaking, the place and role of the NFB in that world, and the excitement and fear of making a first professional film. This year's Inside Hothouse mini-doc includes the process of generating podcasts for the Hothouse 4 web site.
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This wartime short examines the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, a ferry system created by the Allies to bridge the gap between the aircraft factory and the fighting front of World War II. As the film shows, former bush pilots and transport pilots risked their lives to keep the planes flowing in an endless stream across the Atlantic.
This animated short from Malcolm Sutherland is an engaging dance of shapes and sounds. The "game" is played by opening the box, unfolding the board and placing shapes on it that you manipulate with your hands. There are no winners or losers in this game; the fun is in the creative way the forms unfold. Features a score by Luigi Alleman and music by Ravi Shankar.
How astronauts learn to be good leaders as well as followers.
Host Jeremie Saunders introduces us to Lesson 2.
How hydrothermal activity in impact craters can lead to the genesis of life.
Inspired by the people and landscape of Colombia's Banana Zone, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez created the Buendia family and the village of Macondo, placing them at the centre of his acclaimed novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Among the events described in Marquez' novel is the 1928 Banana Strike and the subsequent murder of 3 000 banana workers by the Colombian Army. My Macondo sets out in search of Marquez' legendary village and the truth behind that incident. Is the fictional village of Macondo a real place with a real history? Did the slaughter of the strikers actually take place? In trying to answer these questions, My Macondo explores the nature of history and myth, and poses questions about fiction and truth.
In an intensely personal document about healing from childhood sexual abuse and torture, four women and two men speak honestly and eloquently of painful childhood experiences, the "angels" who guided them along the way, and their deeply felt commitment to building a better world for children. The video is unusual for its positive focus on healing, confronting anger and the search for peace.
Follow the Eagle is a short film that reminds us of the importance of our elders, especially in the inner city. It focuses on the Elders-in-Training project, created to help next-generation Elders take on their role. Slo-Pitch introduces us to Brian Arrance, an HIV-positive Cree man. Brian introduces us to the Downtown Eastside Slo-Pitch League, which provides family-oriented recreation in the heart of the city and shares how he's found fun and support in the League. These two short documentaries were produced as part of program aimed at providing Indigenous people with the opportunity, and skills, to tell their stories.
This documentary records the extraordinary determination of Jungle Jim Hunter to be the best ski racer in the world. We witness his gruelling exercise routines, pre-race tensions, trials and deep religious faith of this dedicated athlete.
In a documentary that spans two continents and several generations, acclaimed director John Paskievich delves into the experience of exile and its impact on the human spirit.
Almost fifty years after his family fled Ukraine for freedom in Canada, the filmmaker visits his parents' homeland. It's a place both familiar and foreign. Drawing on his years growing up in Winnipeg, Paskievich explores how children of refugees and immigrants are caught between two worlds. While they struggle to put down roots in a new country, they must also preserve traditions of a distant land they have never known.
Paskievich's journey through Ukraine is interwoven with stories of displacement from other prominent Ukrainian Canadians--authors George Melnyk and Fran Ponomarenko, filmmaker Bohdana Bashuk, director Halya Kuchmij and dancer Lecia Polujan. A rich tapestry of memory and history, My Mother's Village brings to light the humour, anger, joy and complexity of living between borders.
This short animation film takes place in a topsy-turvy land of ice, water and sky. What does the penguin think about on the barren ice floes? How can a cataclysm be triggered by its attempts to fly? We've all heard of the butterfly effect; now see what happens when a penguin takes to the air.