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The National Film Board of Canada Reviews by Lois Siegel |
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The
National Film Board of Canada (NFB) |
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Animation |
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The Hungry Squid directed by John Weldon, 2002, 14 minutes "The Hungry Squid," John Weldon's tale about a little girl who is left alone to fend for herself, is full of great characters, strong colors and wonderful Celtic-sounding music composed by Chris Crilly. It's a very imaginative film using floppy puppets made by Lilian Kruip. The puppets
are filmed flat on their backs. "I'm a drawing animator, so they didn't need
to stand up. We used the lightest fabrics we could get," Weldon
explains. The puppets were filled with aquarium grains, which make them feel
like a light beanbag. Most of the puppets have skeletons in them for
support. The right materials had to be designed to make them flexible. Images were recorded directly into the computer and matted together with other materials, and the backgrounds were mostly photographs. The ocean was Lake St. Louis in Pointe Claire, Quebec. Weldon used Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Premiere for editing; it took him a year to do the animation. "The Hungry Squid" premiered at The Montreal World Film Festival.
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My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts directed by Torill Kove, 1999, 10 minutes “My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts” is based on a story told to Kove by her grandmother and is a co-production with Studio Magica in Norway where Kove was born. “My grandmother was a bragger, and I later found out that not all the stories she told were true,” Kove explains. She once told me that my father was the first guy in Norway to own his own car. I was only four or five and never questioned what she said. Then I found out this wasn’t true. Maybe he was the first man on the block to own a car.” Ironing is the focus of Kove’s film. “My grandmother lived with us, and everything had to be ironed, including our underwear.” Norway was part of Sweden and before that part of Denmark. As the film opens, it’s 1905, and an independent Norway wants to have its own king, but they can’t find the rightful heir. Unemployed royals apply. “Grandmother” is full of humor as a new king, Prince Karl of Denmark, is elected. He can’t ski, like most Danes, his wife can’t speak Norwegian, and neither of them can iron shirts. As well, there are no servants in Norway…so they are doomed. We see an image of them in their un-ironed shirts greeting the public. A solution has to be found.
The local, respectable clothing store solves the problem. Then Kove’s
grandmother, an employee of the store, discovers that she is ironing the
King’s shirts, and she tells everyone. When enemy soldiers invade the country, grandma becomes a hero. She leads the resistance with a nation-wide mobilization of shirt-ironers who, in many creative ways, sabotage the enemy’s shirts. The technique used in the film is cel…and the cel painter, Anne Ashton, came to Norway for two weeks to walk around and do a color study before choosing the colors for the film. Specific details were added to the film. If you look closely, you will see that all the German soldiers look like Hitler. Kove also had help with
scriptwriting from her former Concordia University teacher, Stefan Anastasiu.
Parliament Hill Reception for Oscar Nominee |
Sea and Stars
directed
by Anna Tchernakova and Georgine Strathy, 2002, 11 minutesColor against a black and white background makes this film outstanding. |
 Walking Catfish Blues directed by Paul Morstad, 2004, 4 minutes  Paul Morstad It's the tune that will capture your imagination and pull you into the film.
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“When the Day Breaks” won the
Palme d’Or for Best Short at the 1999 Cannes Film festival. It also took two
prizes at the Annecy International Film Festival. |
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Documentary |
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Baseball Girls
From 7-year-olds playing baseball, learning the rules of the game, to 60-year-olds playing slo-pitch softball, BASEBALL GIRLS explores the private and professional lives of women obsessed with the sport they love. Using animation, archival stills and live-action footage, this zany and affectionate feature documentary details the history of women's participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball. |
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Girls wearing boxing gloves is not a usual sight in Kabul,
Afghanistan. The Taliban are opposed to sports. The situation in Kabul
is calm during the filming, but that can change. If the current
government loses control, there will be trouble.
For now, they are allowed to go out of the country to compete. Their first
match was in Vietnam. One of the girls says, “It was the first time I had
seen a ring, and there I was climbing into it.” They also travel to Kazakhstan and China. It's an exciting time for them - exposure to other worlds. Despite financial problems and threats, their father supports them - and they persevere. |
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If you think you know
Claude Jutra, you will discover after viewing this film that you knew very
little about him, and his life remains a mystery even to those close to him.
Wonderful archival footage and photographs of Jutra's past, excellent interviews
with his friends, especially with
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 Harmonie, directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein, 20 minutes, 1977 Every summer since 1953, CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians/Musiciens Amateurs du Canada) has held a bilingual music camp in Québec's Laurentian Mountains. Here, people of all ages and levels of musical ability come together to learn and make music with a professional staff of Canadian and international musicians. |
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 Moving Pictures, by Colin Low, 47 minutes, 2000
In a 50-year career, Colin Low has
directed or produced 200 films, which have garnered a
remarkable nine
Oscar®
nominations. He directed
the world’s first 3D-IMAX® and high-definition
IMAX® films for the NFB. In 1996, Low was named a
Member of the Order of Canada. He is also a recipient of
Quebec’s highest honour — the Prix du Québec. "Colin Low's autobiographical doc - "Moving Pictures" .... beautifully textured, thoughtful, incisive. Low looks back on a life and a century dominated by war and the role of the media in communicating images of war. Understated, and fascinating - with images that are startling at times. Reminded me of Harold Innes' approach to history. If you are going to write about communications through the written word - well you start at the beginning - the Egyptians or however far back he went. Low starts with the development of the copper engravings - an art that he describes is an outgrowth of war." Comments by Michael Ostroff, filmmaker, September 2, 2001. |
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Bonnie Sherr Klein’s
latest documentary introduces us to five people with disabilities, whose
level in the art of living shames most able-bodied individuals. Their
passion for life, which unfolds as the documentary progresses, did not
spring from their brows full-borne, but came unto them through hard-won
success at daily trials and the application of an unspoken inner resolve,
which “Shameless” explores with honesty and tact. |
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From the Academy Award-winning director of "Just Another Missing Kid," Ski Bums is a lively and fascinating journey into the lives of people who have dropped out of mainstream society to pursue a life centering on extreme skiing.
An excellent guide on
how to survive when you don't have any money. In one scene, a ski bum enters
a cafeteria full of people. These overfed individuals leave their discarded
plates on the table when they leave. Our ski bum states that he has
the pick of the lot as to what he will eat, and he comfortably sits himself
down in front of a plate of someone's leftover spaghetti. |
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Unbreakable Minds
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Background: China is changing faster than most people realize. One of the major disruptions to Chinese life is occurring along the Yangtze River where the Three Gorges Dam resides. The dam is the largest hydroelectric power station in the world. It's not expected to become fully operational until 2011. The potential benefits of the dam are
flood control because millions of people live downstream of the structure,
as well as hydroelectric power. The dam should reduce coal consumption by 31
million tons per year, cutting the emission of greenhouse gas. The downside
is that 2.3 million people have to relocate, including 4 million more by the
year 2020. Residents complain of government corruption and a lack of
proper assistance for relocation and there are hints that people who
protested the move were beaten and had their property destroyed.
"Up the Yangtze" introduces teenagers Cindy (Yu Shui) and Jerry (Chen Bo Yu). Cindy comes from a poor family living on the edge of the river, a family that barely survives by raising a few crops and very few farm animals. The parents can't read or write. Their daughter must postpone her education to earn money to send home. Jerry is an urban only child, spoiled and over-confident. Both Cindy and Jerry find jobs on a luxury cruiser that transports rich tourists along the Yangtze River as they view a last glimpse of the ancient version of China, a life that is rapidly disappearing.
Two lifestyles are contrasted in the film, that of Cindy's family in the country, eking out a minimalist living and that of Jerry, enjoying the city during an evening hanging out with friends. The city has also changed.
Now we see cars instead of bicycles and well-dressed young people toting shopping bags.
Then we see how Cindy and Jerry progress with their new
jobs on the luxury cruiser. Their lives are also in contrast to that
of the tourists. They are workers, and the work is difficult. They
have a lot to learn, whether it be how to greet the tourists: "Welcome
Aboard," as opposed to a mere "Hello;" We see the tourists singing "My Bonnie
Lies Over the Ocean," enjoying silly rhymes by entertainers who try to teach
them a few words in Chinese, and having their photos taken in elaborate
Chinese costumes.
The film is replete with contrasts. |
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Fiction |
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Men talk about women and women talk about men. It's clever and humorous, and you haven't seen another film like this one. What has become of the relationships among the sexes? A quiet interlude in the country reveals all.
The film won 9
Genie Awards in 1987: Best Motion Picture, Best
Achievement in Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best
Achievement in Film Editing, and the Golden Reel Award.
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Filmmakers |
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Life After
Darth
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Milo is a little boy who sees the world differently
from other children. The films has charming characters and terrific special
effects. "Glasses" premiered at
New
York Film Festival 
