(December 11, 2017 – Toronto, ON) The holidays began early thanks to a special gift from The National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Starting last week, on December 7, The NFB Presents launched with 20 acclaimed documentary and animated films—stories designed to move, inspire, surprise and engage all available free of charge online at NFB.ca.
Among the titles being showcased are Sarah Polley’s hit feature Stories We Tell, Kathy Shultz’s acclaimed animated short A Sea Turtle Story, and Paul Cowan’s Paris 1919 (13 Production/NFB), inspired by Margaret MacMillan’s landmark book—all produced in Toronto by the NFB’s Ontario Studio. There’s also Jennifer Baichwal’s Payback, based on Margaret Atwood’s bestseller, and Mina Shum’s feature Ninth Floor, as well as portraits of remarkable Canadians like Phil Comeau’s Secretariat’s Jockey, Ron Turcotte and Toronto director Lawrence Jackman’s short documentary How Does It Feel, about Kazumi, a performer with cerebral palsy.
No holiday would be complete without a selection of animated films from the NFB’s two Oscar-winning animation studios—now available for free for the first time. Acclaimed titles like: Claude Cloutier’s satirical musical short Carface; Mi’gmaq artist Phyllis Grant’s beautiful Waseteg, narrated by legendary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin; and Andrea Dorfman’s wonderfully hand-crafted Big Mouth, a film for anyone, young or old, who has ever gotten in trouble for saying too much!
In addition to the those productions already mentioned, other films from The NFB Presents include:
Documentaries:
The Socalled Movie (reFrame Films/NFB), dir. Garry Beitel
Things Arab Men Say, dir. Nisreen Baker
Home Cooked Music, dir. Mike Marrying
Tying Your Own Shoes, dir. Shira Avni
Fight, dir. Ervin Chartrand
Hope Builders, dir. Fernand Dansereau
From Sherbrooke to Brooks: Inside a Migration Corridor, dir. Roger Parent
The Last Key, dir. Julien Capraro
Animated shorts:
Kaspar (Inspired by the Life of Kaspar Hauser), dir. Diane Obomsawin
Paula, dir. Dominic Etienne Simard
My Heart Attack, dir. Sheldon Cohen
The NFB Presents is available free online and through the NFB’s apps for tablets and mobile devices.
