Tag: National Film Board of Canada

From Montreal to France–Gymnasia in VR

GymnasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream–perhaps that’s what creators from Clyde Henry Productions (Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, directors of Madame Tutli-Putli) were thinking of in Gymnasia–a virtual reality experience premiering May 28 at Montreal’s Phi Centre as part of the >HUM(AI)N exhibition, which runs through September 15. For Canadian users who like to experience this on Oculus devices, including the recently released Quest, it’s now available free of charge in the Oculus store.

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TheNFB’s Animal Behaviour Online for a Limited Time!

Image result for animal behaviour thenfb

From February 11 to 24, all Canadians can join in the Oscar celebration as the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) offers two weeks of free streaming of Alison Snowden and David Fine’s new animated short Animal Behaviour on NFB.ca, Facebook and YouTube.

It’s the fourth Academy Award nomination for this Vancouver-based husband-and-wife animation duo. They took home the Oscar 24 years ago for their previous NFB collaboration: the NFB/Snowden Fine Animation/Channel 4 co-production Bob’s Birthday, which would go on to inspire their series Bob and Margaret. They were also nominated for their 1987 NFB short George and Rosemary, with Snowden nominated before that for her 1984 student film Second Class Mail.

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The Victoria Film Festival Celebrates 25 Years! Picks of the 2019 Season

Victoria Film Festival 2016 LogoThe Victoria Film Festival is celebrating 25 years! While I could swear this local event has gone on longer, but oh how time flies. I covered this event in some form (limited or otherwise) ever since I saw Edison and Leo back in 2008 (for a college paper) and Chef of the South Polar tickled my taste buds in 2011. This movie taught me a thing or two about how to make do with limited supplies for good food and in what defines the taste in ramen. I was a starving student back then and now I’m a starving artist. This year offers a film about the said noodle dish as my number one must see. As my eclectic tastes are as diverse as the selection, Mirai of the Future (未来のミライ) flies high. This anime is getting screenings! Curiously, no hardcore sci-fi, horror or fantasy is listed this year. The diversity is more on creative and inspirational films than always be genre-specific.

This year sees the Victoria Conference Center offer a larger space for their Opening Gala film, Sink or Swim (Le Grain Bain) on Feb 1st at 6:30pm. This French comedy technically debuted last year at Cannes and is making waves cross borders. It’s about how a group of men well past their prime in the quest to achieve self-esteem. They become a synchronized swimming team, and the teamwork involved to beat to the drum is tough, but are we here to laugh at them and perhaps reflect upon our own lives. We have all been there at some point–stuck in some quagmire until that one moment helps us realize we’re alright. This film encourages the latter and that’s entertaining enough!

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Hedgehog’s Home finds its way to The NFB Homestead Dec 17th!

Not everyone understands what “home” is. A fox, wolf, bear, and boar berate Hedgehog after finding what his den is made of and try to understand why his home is different to their

GymnasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

All hail the Mighty Hedgehog! No, we are not talking about Sonic from the video games, but rather an innocuous creature of the woods, as imagined by poet Branko Ćopić. Simply titled Hedgehog’s Home, this stop-motion animated short has numerous accolades. It was spotlighted at many a film festival including Annecy and New York back in 2017, and how it’s making permanent residency on the free media servers of the National Film Board of Canada

The music takes some cues from the Wild West and perhaps even the narrative too. As someone from that era might say, “There ain’t no place like home.” Homesteaders back then had to stand their ground against resistance. Whether that’s over land ownership, against others (bullies) or against the aggressive climate (making a new life was not easy), many a theme can be explored. Ćopić‘s tale comes out of his experiences from native Yugoslavia, post-World War II and the folk tradition.

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Vancouver’s SPARK Animation 2018 Picks & Highlights

GymnasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

SPARK Animation is back to highlight the best in what the medium offered in the past year. This event runs from October 25 to 28, and Vancouver will be abuzz with incredible talents showing off the latest works from many talented filmmakers. It is also a great place to meet up-and-coming talents, network and see the best of the best. The highlight this year is from Korea, The Moon in the Hidden Woods and from Japan, Short Films: Modest Heroes of these Times is a themed collection of works from Studio Ponoc (who made Mary and the Witch’s Flower)

Not to be outshone, The National Film Board of Canada has beloved favourites Animal Behavior and Shop Class being showcased. The latter is making its Vancouver premiere. These works are Canadian made. In addition to these works, the following will be making screening on the big screen: Continue reading “Vancouver’s SPARK Animation 2018 Picks & Highlights”

[VIFF 2018] A Look Into the Animated Mirror, Darkly with The NFB

National Film Board of CanadaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

The Vancouver International Film Festival runs from September 27 to October 12th, and this year’s selections from The National Film Board of Canada ranges from horror to introspective to humour. Of the latter, Alison Snowden and David Fine’s Animal Behaviour (see review here) gets a home-side engagement, and Jay Cardinal Villeneuve’s Holy Angels has a big screen debut.

In the animated front, the following shorts are making their BC premiere and are worth noting:
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