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Film and Video Making (43)
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Alain Dubreuil, AlchemistManon Barbeau 2002 26 minA veritable demolition artist, Alain saves what he can from the wrecking ball, salvaging disused and discarded items and magically infusing them with new life. The scrap yard is his treasure trove. Based only on his fertile imagination, eschewing any kind of preconceived plan, he creates wondrous objects and edifices. An old warehouse becomes his home. A mothballed shipyard serves as a gigantic movie set, further feeding his dreams... until his lease is up and the authorities insist the buildings must come down. But Alain is already off searching for another abandoned structure vast enough to accommodate his soaring vision. -
AssemblyJenn Strom 2012 4 minThis experimental short animation is inspired by the NFB's Studio D (1975-1994), a production department aimed at creating filmmaking opportunities for women in Canada. Featuring a rhythmic soundscape and paint-on-glass animation, Assembly shows a woman’s hands cutting and editing a reel of film on a flatbed editing table as fragments of women walking in chains, protesting with placards, and speaking at podiums are inter-cut. We hear bursts of words and the percussive whir and click of the Steenbeck—until a “message” is finally revealed. The film is dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Shannon, a prominent editor and one-time Executive Producer of Studio D.
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The Creative Process: Where Do I Start?Scott Smith 2009 12 minThis short documentary captures the savvy of great Canadian storytellers on film. Sharing their insights on inspiration, authenticity, tenacity and what compels them in their creative endeavors are Double Happiness director Mina Shum, Oscar® winner Denys Arcand, The Hockey Sweater author Roch Carrier, Emporte-moi director Léa Pool and Zacharias Kunuk, the filmmaker behind Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner).
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CountdownVeronika Soul 1981 1 minThis vignette illustrates the variety of professions, people and technical procedures required by the filmmaking process.
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Stunt FamilyLois Siegel 1978 3 minThis short film from the Canada Vignettes series profiles a unique French-Canadian family, the Fourniers, 12 of whom work as stunt men and women for films.
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Camera TestJoyce Wong 2019 5 min
What gets lost when female voices are stymied during the creative process? Pairing intimate interviews with absurdist re-enactments, Joyce Wong crafts a tartly subversive look at patriarchy and racism in the film industry.
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Drawing from LifeKaterina Cizek 2008 30 minThis short documentary follows a group therapy workshop for people who have attempted to end their lives more than once. A hybrid of vérité and animation, the film is a candid portrayal of 12 people who together, for 20 weeks, take on their fears, their behaviours and their ghosts to move towards life and away from suicide.
Drawing from Life is a production of the National Film Board of Canada's Filmmaker-in-Residence project, produced with the creative participation of Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology, Animation Arts Centre. -
Emma Makes MoviesMélanie Léger 2013 16 minA study in passion and creativity, Emma Carroll, a young filmmaker from Shédiac, New Brunswick, makes a short film with her iPod. In French with English subtitles.
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Film ClubCyrus Sundar Singh 2001 44 minThis documentary brings together a group of long lost classmates who used to belong to an after-school film club. Formed at the initiative of a Grade 8 teacher eager to pass along his love of cinema, the club attracted a klatch of immigrant kids eager to embrace their new country. Stimulating and creative, the club was a complete departure from anything they had known and provided a safe haven from the harsh world around them. Together, they made a tiny 8mm award-winner called Ohh Canada. Twenty-five years later, the group looks back to marvel at their childhood dreams and the bond they share with the teacher who brought them together.
This film was produced as part of the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC Newsworld. -
Flash WilliamJohn Laing & Thom Burstyn 1978 19 minThis short documentary presents Flash William Shewchuck, a one-man movie industry operating in the Canadian wilderness. Combining the roles of film producer, director, cameraman, actor, promoter, projectionist and ticket taker, Flash finances his company by working on road gangs in the Yukon, or in the oil fields and pulp mills between projects. In this film, he discusses his latest feature, Dawson City Joe, and reveals some aspects of his style and technique.
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Finding MacphersonSerge Giguère 2014 1 h 17 minThis feature doc tells the story of the improbable friendship between acclaimed Quebec singer Félix Leclerc and the intriguing Frank Randolph Macpherson. A chemical engineer from Jamaica, Macpherson immigrated to Quebec in 1917 and was the inspiration for the popular song that Leclerc named after him. But this is also a story about memory: it was animator Martine Chartrand’s memory of this song that compelled her to create the striking animated short MacPherson, made by filming paintings on glass using 35mm film. A sympathetic look at an artist at work, Finding Macpherson takes audiences on a personal journey, exploring the imperceptible yet powerful connections that bind us to each other.
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Hothouse 9: Behind the Abstract Scenes2013 7 minHothouse 9 successfully transformed our six emerging animators. Within 12 mere weeks they turned into flowering blossoms, producing one-minute animation shorts in full horticultural compliance with this edition's double parameter: abstract storytelling. Abstraction was omnipresent throughout the process: at critical reviews, music and foley recordings, and even when filmmakers attempted to articulate their story, artistic intent and technique. At the end of the experience, these six peculiar blooms revealed themselves as abstract representations of, of all things, daisies.
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Inside the Hothouse 4Jason Lee 2007 13 minInside 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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Inside the Hothouse 3Jason Lee 2006 14 minA look into the creative process and frenzy behind the third edition of the NFB Animation Hothouse. This zippy, mini-documentary reflects the youthful iconoclasm of the six emerging filmmakers and Jason Lee, the documentary director.
This film was produced as part of our Hothouse emerging filmmaker’s program -
Inuuvunga, I am Inuk, I am Alive (Inuktitut version)2004 57 minIn this feature-length documentary, 8 Inuit teens with cameras offer a vibrant and contemporary view of life in Canada’s North. They also use their newly acquired film skills to confront a broad range of issues, from the widening communication gap between youth and their elders to the loss of their peers to suicide.
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Inside Hothouse 12Rose Stiffarm 2019 9 minThe National Film Board of Canada’s Hothouse program for emerging animators has helped kick-start the careers of a new generation of acclaimed Canadian animators. For its 12th edition, the NFB has teamed up with imagineNATIVE and associate producers Amanda Strong and Amanda Roy to help address underrepresentation of Indigenous creators in film animation. Three emerging filmmakers from across Turtle Island — Kassia Ward, Meky Ottawa and Chris Grant — participated in the 22-week paid apprenticeship, an intensive program that combines training with the opportunity to create their own auteur-driven project.
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Inside the Hothouse 2Martin Ciastko 2004 11 minAn informal look into the personalities and frenzy behind the second edition of the NFB Animation Hothouse. The six Hothouse filmmakers and their NFB collaborators comment on the nature of auteur animation, the place and role of the NFB in that world and the excitement and fear of making a first professional film.
This film was produced as part of our Hothouse emerging filmmaker’s program -
Inuuvunga - I Am Inuk, I Am AliveBobby Echalook , Sarah Idlout , … 2004 57 minIn this feature-length documentary, 8 Inuit teens with cameras offer a vibrant and contemporary view of life in Canada's North. They also use their newly acquired film skills to confront a broad range of issues, from the widening communication gap between youth and their elders to the loss of their peers to suicide. In Inuktitut with English subtitles.
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Inside the HothouseBen Addelman & Samir Mallal 2003 13 minInside the Hothouse takes an informal look at this NFB experiment, Animation Hothouse, at its halfway point. In a handheld, gritty style, Inside the Hothouse gives the viewer a glimpse into the project and the participants' perspectives.
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Lost Action: TraceMarlene Millar , Crystal Pite , … 2011 3 minThis short film addresses the revolving cycles of human conflict through contemporary dance. Celebrated choreographer Crystal Pite and dance filmmakers Marlene Millar & Philip Szporer commemorate the fading legacies of WWI, while also creating a moving homage to Pite’s mentors and contemporaries, whose lives and short careers are pitted against the fleeting nature of the dance art form. Featuring Theodore Ushev’s haunting and distinct artwork, the film explores the themes of conflict, loss, and rescue we all experience as we cycle through states of love and war.
Warning: Although this film was shot in 3D, the streaming and downloadable versions are available in 2D only. -
The Memories of AngelsLuc Bourdon 2008 1 h 20 minThis visual love letter crafted by filmmaker Luc Bourdon uses clips from 120 NFB films to pay tribute to the city of Montreal in the '50s and '60s, with hat tips to its famous figures, places and residents.
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Making Music for Animation2011 15 minLuigi Allemano is an animator, musician, composer, teacher and sound designer. In this workshop, he presents several short animation films in various stages of music production, demonstrating the process of creating music for animated film. Using interactive exercises and discussion, Luigi offers musicians some tricks of the trade for composing music for animation. This master class is also aimed at animators, covering effective ways to communicate, collaborate and create with music composers
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My Little UndergroundÉlise Simard 2012 6 minIn this autobiographical animated short, Elise Simard crafts the story of a young girl seeking self-discovery and rebirth. Drifting between real and imagined events, the film uses time-lapse photography with ink and pastels, creating a haunting, compassionate exploration of addiction and existence.
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Muybridge's StringsKoji Yamamura 2011 12 minCan time be made to stand still? Can it be reversed? Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge's Strings is a meditation on this theme, contrasting the worlds of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge—who in 1878 successfully photographed consecutive phases in the movement of a galloping horse—and a mother who, watching her daughter grow up, realizes she is slipping away from her. Moving between California and Tokyo, between the nineteenth century and the twenty-first, the film focuses on some of the highpoints in Muybridge’s troubled life and intercuts them with the mother’s surrealistic daydreams—a poetic clash that explores the irrepressible human desire to seize life’s fleeting moments, to freeze the instants of happiness. Enriched by Koji Yamamura’s refined artistry and Normand Roger’s soundtrack, Muybridge's Strings observes the ties that cease to bind, fixes its gaze on the course of life, and presents a moment in time suspended on the crystalline notes of a canon by J.S. Bach.
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New York Lightboard RecordNorman McLaren 1961 7 minThis short documentary is a film about a film. In 1961, Norman McLaren produced a record of New Yorkers watching his short animation New York Lightboard in action in Times Square. The film within this film was produced as a promotion of travel and tourism in Canada. New York Lightboard Record depicts the reactions—awe, confusion, amusement—of onlookers and passersby.
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Nollywood BabylonBen Addelman & Samir Mallal 2008 1 h 13 minA feature documentary on Nigeria’s successful movie industry. The creative duo of Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal – the same team who made Discordia – profile the Lagos-based dream machine. Operating on low budgets and tight schedules, “Nollywood” specializes in a unique form of African B-movie that draws upon both traditional voodoo stories and contemporary urban themes.
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Our City Our Voices: Follow the Eagle and Slo-PitchLorraine Fox , David Moosetail , … 2005 21 minFollow 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.
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OK ... CameraMichael Rubbo 1972 27 minThis documentary film is an exploration of Québec’s feature film industry. The film takes a look at the people who have succeeded in this unique milieu (Geneviève Bujold is one) or failed; at its movies, which run the gamut from hard-core skinflicks to such highly acclaimed films as Mon Oncle Antoine, and at its audiences, which number in the millions.
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Phone Call from Imaginary Girlfriend: AnkaraDon McKellar 2005 2 minAn intimate declaration of love that can be carried around in your pocket till it is needed.
Shorts in Motion is an initiative from Bravo!FACT(Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent) and the National Film Board of Canada featuring downloadable micro-movies for cell phones by 4 celebrated Canadian artists. -
Rated R for NudityDenis Villeneuve 2011 3 minIn this short film, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve takes a playful stab at mass hypnosis. Celebrating the mesmerizing power of movies, he offers mischievous glimpses into a subconscious world inhabited by Bergman, Spielberg... and Bo Derek.
The audacious creative force behind Polytechnique and the Oscar®-nominated Incendies, Villeneuve has earned a place among the world's most influential young directors. -
Remembering Maria ChapdelaineJean-Claude Labrecque 2015 52 minThis feature documentary by Jean-Claude Labrecque recounts the bold and astounding enterprise of French filmmaker Julien Duvivier, who shot a film adaptation of Louis Hémon’s classic novel Maria Chapdelaine in Péribonka, a village in Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, in 1934. What was the impact of the original film’s production on the life of the community? What memories remain? What town secrets lie hidden in those memories?
Tracking our identity and our relationship with the past, Labrecque and his team delve into the boundaries between the fantasy world of film and reality. Drawing on clips from Duvivier’s film, material from archives in France and Quebec, and original footage shot by Labrecque and his team in Péribonka in 2013, the documentary Remembering Maria Chapdelaine is an inquiry into the boundaries between the fantasy world of film and reality. -
The Reluctant DeckhandJan Padgett 1995 33 minTess is ten years old--old enough to join her mother, Sue, for a summer's fishing in the northern waters off Vancouver Island on their boat the Henry Bay. However Tess is reluctant to go: she fears the stormy waters and would rather stay at home for the summer with her best friend, Candice. Tess does go, and with her goes Maa-mou the cat, a parting gift from Candice, as her lively companion. Together they rise to the challenges of life on a fishing boat, and thrill in the summer's unexpected pleasures.
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Ready When You AreDouglas Kiefer & John N. Smith 1975 12 minThis short documentary takes a frank look at the difficulty of filmmaking before the digital era, when takes were precious and few. It’s pure havoc on a pier in the Halifax dockyards as a National Film Board crew attempts to film 1000 Halifax school children playing I Believe in Music on their ukuleles. The crew's efforts are confounded by two destroyers, one helicopter, several tugboats, bullhorns, walkie-talkies, and a rather critical lack of bathroom facilities.
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Reverie.exeWen Zhang 2012 1 minA sleeping computer dreams of humans forms, transforming their digital data into abstract and playful shapes. Movements, emotions, and musical lines are added layer upon layer until the complexity overloads the system and the dream ends. Reverie.exe combines Microsoft Kinect motion capture and music-driven visuals in an exploration of the connection shared between humans and machines.
Produced as part of the 8th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
The Seven Interventions of Filmmaker-in-ResidenceHeather Frise & Katerina Cizek 2009 36 minThis short film charts the Filmmaker-in-Residence project's five-year history, investigating the creative process from within as media makers join health care workers to reflect on ethics, interventionist filmmaking and shifting cinematic genres. Intricate, difficult and delicate situations come alive in this documentary, featuring seven distinct yet interconnected experiments in collaborative media.
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Six: Inside Hothouse 5Carrie Haber 2008 22 minDirector Carrie Haber delves deep into the anxiety, thrill and uncertainty of six aspiring animation artists as they are plunged into the twelve-week trial-by-fire that is the NFB's Hothouse for animation filmmakers.
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Sculpting MemoryDaniel Cockburn 2015 5 minSculpting Memory places Atom Egoyan in an audiovisual environment woven from the fabric of his own films―a conceptual move that references Egoyan’s adaptation of Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape while evoking Egoyan’s own work as a moving-image installation artist and his concern with the recording and displaying of images. Directed by Toronto-based writer/director Daniel Cockburn and produced by Justine Pimlott.
Produced by the NFB in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2015 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. -
Script to ScreenClaude Delorme 1972 21 minFor those curious to know the behind-the-scenes stages through which a film passes before it reaches the screen, this film explains the basic steps of motion picture film production. Script to Screen takes a mock-serious happening and follows it all the way through direction, photography, editing, sound effects, synchronization of sound and visuals, and various laboratory processes. Filmmaking is seen to be a craft of many hands and minds.
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SaltAmber Goodwyn , Morgan Gage , … 2000 1 h 17 minThese provocative 20-minute movies made by high school students provide an insider's look at youth culture. Made by four 17-year-old directors with help from a professional crew, Salt is a four-part filmzine: four films, four flavours, four windows into youth culture that explore alternative education, Montreal's flourishing independent music scene, the troubling practice of self-mutilation and a quest for the punk subculture.
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Surviving ProgressMathieu Roy & Harold Crooks 2011 1 h 26 minThis feature documentary connects the financial collapse, growing inequity and the Wall Street oligarchy with future technology, sustainability, and the fate of civilization itself. Inspired by Ronald Wright's bestseller A Short History of Progress, Surviving Progress digs deep into human nature and patterns of history to challenge and redefine the very idea of progress.
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TocadeMichel Murray 1987 7 minThrough clever stylistic composition, this experimental film shows that everything is interdependent, even in the arts, and that, inevitably, both the artist and the viewer are being manipulated.
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Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the DaysRegina Pessoa 2019 13 minUncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days is about the special relationship between Regina Pessoa and her uncle. The film is a testament to her love for this eccentric, who was an artistic inspiration and played a key role in her becoming a filmmaker. A moving tribute to a poet of the everyday.
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The World's Largest StudioCharlie Moretti & Matt Clarke 2007 52 minLarger than Universal's and Paramount's combined, Hengdian World Studios features 12 motion picture shooting sites spanning different periods of Chinese history. Since 1996, the company has invested over 240 million U.S. dollars in construction, which includes a replica of the Forbidden City built to scale: 100 acres, the equivalent of Warner Brothers' own Hollywood back-lot! Some 50 films and TV dramas are produced here every year, including international hits such as Hero. Hengdian boasts an amusment park, a vast filmmaking complex and a school for actors. It has become a hugely popular tourist site, making it a complex environment with a host of contrasting personalities each with their own agenda.
