Standing Up, Standing Out: NFB Brings 23 Films to Hot Docs

First-Ever Experimental Lab NFB/ONFxp Concludes with Inspiring Lightning Talks

The Little-Known History of the NFB logo

Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with 5 Films for $0.99!

We’re celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by offering our tireless, inspiration teachers 5 films they can download for just $0.99!

The sale ends May 5, 2019!

Enjoy!

Ninth Floor

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2XujZJi

Director Mina Shum makes her foray into feature documentary by reopening the file on a watershed moment in Canadian race relations – the infamous Sir George Williams Riot.

Download now for $0.99

Cafeteria

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2IyeQfQ

This short documentary looks at how an entire community mobilized to improve the cafeteria menu at a primary school in Cocagne, New Brunswick. Rallying behind this noble cause, residents put their shoulder to the wheel, promoting products from local farmers over those of multinational corporations.

Download now for $0.99

Nightmare at School

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2XujZZO

Who hasn’t felt apprehensive at the thought of starting high school? Playing on imagination and humour, this short film offers viewers a thought-provoking piece dealing with the transition that young people between the ages of 10 and 13 experience.

Download now for $0.99

My Prairie Home

oehttps://http://bit.ly/1aL94fq

In this feature documentary-musical by Chelsea McMullan, indie singer Rae Spoon takes us on a playful, meditative and at times melancholic journey. Set against majestic images of the infinite expanses of the Canadian Prairies, the film features Spoon crooning about their queer and musical coming of age.

Download now for $0.99

Birth of a Family

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2BIewFH

In this deeply moving feature-length documentary, three sisters and a brother meet for the first time. Removed from their young Dene mother during the infamous Sixties Scoop, they were separated as infants and adopted into families across North America.

Download now for $0.99

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Hot Docs Honours Trailblazing Work of Studio D

Instagram Storytellers Wanted

Here at the NFB, we’re always looking for new ways to tell stories. Innovation is in our DNA. So whenever a new medium comes along, we’re often among the first to take it for a test drive. This time, we’re looking at Instagram and wondering, What does a documentary look like on Instagram Stories?

That’s where you come in. We’re looking for proposals from creative, women, non-binary, and/or genderqueer storytellers, between the ages of 18 – 29. We want to hear exciting, boundary-pushing stories about belonging.

Instagram Stories – Documentary Edition

If you’re not an influencer on Instagram, don’t worry – we want to hear from all kinds of storytellers. Traditional filmmakers, audio storytellers, video and interactive creators, it doesn’t matter. We want to hear from you.

In particular, we’re looking for proposals from under-represented voices. We want to hear your stories about love, inclusion, humour, despair, surprise, celebration, and critical reflection. If you’ve got different ideas, great. Surprise us.

We know there’s no “right” way to tell a story on Instagram, so we’re eager to see what you come up with. Break some rules and create some new ones. Challenge what you know, or forget about it all together, and come up with ways to subvert the platform. How will Instagram Stories be an essential component of your project?

We’ll be choosing a total of 8 projects – 4 from Canada, 4 from the United States. The winners will work with the Interactive team from POV Spark (the interactive media arm of the PBS series POV) and representatives from the Toronto and Vancouver studios of the National Film Board of Canada. Your work will be presented by Teen Vogue.

Here’s what you bring to the table:

• A talent for storytelling and engaging with an audience on social media
• Access to the characters in your story (if it’s not a personal story)
• A team with the skills to produce the project from start to finish (shoot, edit, post – we can offer some support here)
• A willingness to break new ground and/or play with traditional form
• The ability to work for a US or Canadian employer

Here’s what we can offer:

• Access to a creative producer from POV Spark or the National Film Board
• 100% of the financing required to produce your project, plus support along the way
• A 3-day pre-production lab in June where you’ll work with a cross-section of experts to discuss creative approaches and perspectives. Attendance at this lab is a key component of the process and attendance is mandatory.

How to Apply

Please send us the following:

• A two-page proposal for an original creative documentary project on the theme of belonging, to be told on Instagram Stories. In terms of length and budget, think indie short, not feature-length blockbuster. The proposal should include:
  • A short synopsis of the story, and the audience you’re addressing
  • A description of the main character, and the access you have to them
  • An explanation of how you’ll use the format and features of Instagram Stories to your advantage
  • An answer to the question: What about your previous work demonstrates your creative ability to craft and emotional and memorable Instagram Story? This can either be previous Instagram Stories or something else that demonstrates your creative ability.
• Current CVs for you and all members of your team (if you’ve got one). The resume should address all the required skills for the position (shooting, editing, sound, etc.)
• Work Samples. We will require a maximum of 3 work samples in the form of URLs to a set of projects, whether they’re linear videos, photography projects, social storytelling projects, etc. Please ensure your role, and those of your team, are clearly stated.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with. Deadline to apply is May 17, 2019.

APPLY NOW

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Celebrate National Canadian Film Day with 9 Hidden Gems on NFB.ca

April 17 is National Canadian Film Day, an “annual event held in communities all across the country to celebrate Canada through Canadian film.” 

 To help you celebrate in style, the NFB.ca programming team has put together a short list of bona fide hidden gems of Canadian cinema. We simply asked each member of the editorial team to choose a film they consider to be an unknown treasure, and explain why they feel strongly about it. So here they are: a few staff favourites that we think richly deserve your time and appreciation. 

 Happy National Canadian Film Day!

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Mobilize (Emilie Nguyen, French Strategist, Social Media)

This short film, directed by the talented Caroline Monnet, is a breathtaking journey into the heart of Indigenous communities in Canada, from the Arctic to the urban south.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2UDQcRA

Crossroads (Marc St-Pierre, Curator, French Collection)

His name is Roy. Her name is Judy. He’s Black, she’s white, and they’re about to get married. It’s the year 1957. Ten years before Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, this short fiction film challenged the existing racial barriers.

 oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Gi7xW0

Steam, Schemes and National Dreams (Felix Antoine Viens, Project Manager, Web Content)

The spectacular landscapes of Banff National Park are among the most recognized Canadian vistas in the world. This film tells the story of just how close they came to being controlled by private interests. 

 oehttps://http://bit.ly/2RQ8s84

Land of the Heads (Alyssia Duval-Nguon, French Community Manager)

Reminiscent of Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s dark yet enchanting animated works, Land of the Heads tells the tale of a reluctant little vampire who’s forced to go out and behead innocent children every night to serve his mistress’s freakish whims. Gruesome, but adorable! 

 oehttps://http://bit.ly/2GdcAXY

The Pedlar (Albert Ohayon, Curator, English Collection)

A sad, wistful tale of unrequited love. This lovely fiction film, based on a short story by W.D. Valgardson, was shot in the breathtaking Interlake region of Manitoba and features sincere performances by the entire cast.  

 oehttps://www.nfb.ca/film/pedlar/

Whistling Smith (Jean-François Rousseau, Head, Social Media)

Another era, other moral standards? This short film chronicles the life of a tough Vancouver policeman as he walks the beat on Vancouver’s Eastside. 

 oehttps://http://bit.ly/2UBcWSg

Night Mayor (Hannah Martin, English Strategist, Social Media)

Set in 1939 Winnipeg, Night Mayor follows the story of a Bosnian-immigrant inventor who harnesses the northern lights in order to broadcast images across his adopted homeland. Strange and fantastical, Guy Maddin’s short is part tragic sci-fi, part alternate history of Canada. As Maddin says, “I thought Night Mayor could unspool luminously and infinitely in its own enchanted, and frequently visited, corner of cyberspace.” 

 oehttps://http://bit.ly/2GisCQp

Runaway (Melissa Sauvé, English Community Manager )

Hop aboard this wild ride! Tucked away in our collection is a collab made in heaven. Cordell Barker weaves an on-brand zany story of a passenger train’s fatally awesome journey, set to an entrancing soundtrack by Benoît Charest.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2UDlyHN

A Composer’s Dream (Julie Charbonneau, Coordinator, Digital Business )

This short takes a look inside Howard Shore’s studio—a serene and inspiring place. We get to see the great composer write, and hear him explain why his greatest source of inspiration is nature. 

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2GdcCiy

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5 Short Films to Use in the ESL Classroom

I like to start all my classes with a short film, a documentary, or even a news clip to give students the opportunity to work on their listening skills. This routine helps them switch their brains to English and gets them ready for the lessons of the day. I also use films as discussion starters, as support for vocabulary building or as a springboard to study broader subjects. I think it’s great that my students get to listen to different accents and expressions. It makes them bolder learners.

There are so many ways to include short films in the language classroom. If you’re ready to take the plunge, here are five short films that are great tools for learning in a second-language context.

Beginners of all ages / very young learners

At Home with Mrs. Hen

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2VQZy9f

This animated short film features beautiful images with soft pastel colours. Mrs. Hen has two young children, one of whom has temper tantrums. She does her best to raise the children by herself. Because there’s no dialogue in the film, it’s suitable for ESL students of all ages. I’ve created an activity in which students demonstrate their understanding of the plot while building their vocabulary. After the first viewing, we create a list of words that are needed to talk about the film. The next step is to describe what happens in the film. Another activity focuses on feelings by matching words to the corresponding character. The final component is to imagine what happens next to this family (in story, diary, comic strip, vlog or song format).

Elementary school

How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2S6A3BP

This fun depiction of how dinosaurs may have evolved and not become extinct is hilarious. The film is perfect for a fill-in-the-blanks activity, since the pace is not too fast and it’s easy to follow the plot. I give students the script of the film to follow along. They practice pronunciation and record their own version of the voice-over. Students then discuss the validity of the hypothesis presented and come up with other creative or extravagant answers to explain what happened to the dinosaurs. The end product is a seminar where “experts” present their theories to fellow scientists.

I Want a Dog

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2VQZyWN

This film introduces a character who knows what she wants and perseveres to reach her goal. She’s willing to pretend she has a dog to prove her point that she’s ready to own a pet. This is a good starting point to talk about personality traits and to teach adjectives (adjective word order, compound adjectives, comparatives and superlatives). Students create posters presenting a desire they have and examples of what they’re willing to do to demonstrate how serious they are about it. They add pictures of themselves and a personal description with adjectives.

Middle school

Harry Jerome: The Fastest Man on Earth

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Di5eBH

This short film introduces the audience to a Canadian hero who overcame racism in the 1960s. It includes original footage of Harry Jerome himself combined with recently filmed commentary from teenagers. Students draw a timeline of the major events of Jerome’s life or write a short biography outlining why he’s a Canadian hero. They research other Canadian heroes and create a wall of heroes with pictures of the different people selected and their biographies. This becomes part of a unit on heroes, famous and unsung, or even on the everyday heroes around us. Students do a survey among themselves to identify people they consider to be heroes in their community. They write texts to praise and celebrate them (poem, thank-you letter, rap, speech, eulogy).

High school / adult learners

Flawed

oehttps://www.nfb.ca/film/flawed/

Flawed is a beautiful time-lapse short film about accepting one’s uniqueness. The narrator falls in love with a surgeon and starts a long-distance relationship based on postcards. When he tells her he operated on a young boy’s ears, she’s brought back to her own childhood and her struggle to accept her difference and learn to value it. I use the film to initiate debates about plastic surgery in our society or about standards of beauty and their impact on young people. The bonus short on the making of Flawed offers an interesting way of teaching students how to do time-lapse animation. They can create short films to present their arguments for or against the issues before holding debates.

I hope teachers will be inspired to use short films in their classrooms. I believe they have many benefits.  They provide authentic material and are often less overwhelming than texts to some learners. I believe they’re useful even when teaching little ones who can’t yet read. No matter what level you teach, it’s worth a try.

 

Marilyne Bedard teaches ESL in high school in Quebec City. In the 16 years she’s been a teacher, she has taught English and French at all levels, from preschool to university. She enjoys creating learning units that combine different kinds of subject matter. Her interests range from history to YA novels, short films, documentaries, and playing board games with her family.

 

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Good Dog: Find The Dog Of Your Dreams

Good Dog helps you find pets from shelters and responsible breeders.

Find The Right Dog

One way or another, for centuries, dogs have made their way into human homes. Technology has made finding the right dog—the dog that fits your preferences, needs, home, family life, behavior, etc.—much easier in recent years. Still, until Good Dog came along, there wasn’t a well-designed site or seemingly trustworthy/modern company to facilitate pet findings. Craigslist postings, while sometimes helpful, do little to prevent irresponsible breeders from making a profit off their pets. Petfinder, the longstanding company essentially monopolizing the space, feels outdated and confusing to navigate for the contemporary user. In that sense, Good Dog has arrived at the perfect time: when people who grew up with the internet are reaching an age in which they want to find their own dog.

Responsible Breeders Only

The variety and specificity of the filters on Good Dog, too, are what should attract users to the site. People can search for available pets by breed, where they can then be connected directly with responsible breeders. Good Dog lets users browse by categories like “Good for families,” “Great for allergy sufferers,” and other important considerations for serious pet ownership. Good Dog does have its limitations compared to other pet finding sites on the web, but in a sense, those limitations make the company seem more legitimate. They don’t just allow anyone to post dogs for sale. Although every dog deserves a good home, and other sites should certainly remain in consideration for future pet owners, Good Dog is a great new option.

Good Dog: Find The Dog Of Your Dreams posted first on http://film-streamingsweb.blogspot.com

Regina Pessoa and Autobiographical Animation

Mini-Lesson for Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

Themes:

• Geography/Science/Global Citizenship — Climate Change and Sustainability
• English/Art — Poetry, Prose and Sculpture
• Psychology — Climate Change Deniers/Indifference

Ages: 15-18

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Gg9rYw

Keywords/Topics: Weather vs. Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Sustainability

Guiding Question: Can we, as Canadian and global citizens, maintain our current lifestyle and yet work towards a sustainable community?

Summary: A poem for the planet, Nova Ami and Velcrow Ripper’s film Metamorphosis takes the pulse of our Earth and bears witness to a moment of profound change: the loss of one world, and the birth of another. The film captures the true scale of the global environmental crisis. Forest fires consume communities, species vanish, and entire ecosystems collapse. Economic growth, tied to increased speed of resource extraction, has created a machine with the capacity to destroy all life.

1) Activity #1

 

What evidence of climate change have you observed in your community/country? What impact has it had on your community/country?

Go Deeper

Students conduct a brief investigation into evidence of climate change in their community/country. Students should collect facts as well as data that supports an argument linking their observations to climate change. Encourage students to also find/give a personal account if possible. Lastly, students must assess the impact of climate change from the following perspectives: social, economic, political, and environmental.

2) Activity #2

Recent research on climate change and the “psychic numbing” phenomenon has revealed that many of us can only absorb “bite-sized chunks” of information. To overcome this effect, in this activity students are encouraged to ask themselves “What if…?” in relation to something precious to them that could be greatly affected by climate change.

E.g.: “What if my children never get to swim in the lake that I grew up playing in?”

Focusing on one question will keep students from becoming too overwhelmed and help them connect with the issue on a personal level. In addition, the question they come up with should be a realistic future consequence of climate change and therefore may require a little bit of research.

Next, students are to take their “What if…” question and creatively express their fear of losing something precious to them. These art pieces can be used to create an art gallery in the school/community and to raise awareness about the issue of climate change.

Options for artistic expression: drawing, poem, painting, story, sculpture, dance, spoken word, song.

3) Activity #3

Students watch a clip that explores how monarch butterflies have been affected by climate change. The clip emphasizes “how everything is connected.” Students should then reflect on their connection to climate change. Students will be encouraged to look at how their lifestyle is a significant part of the problem. Use the following questions to guide the discussion:

• How are you connected to climate change?
• How does your lifestyle impact climate change?
• What would you be willing to give up to help fight climate change?
• Making change usually results in extra costs for somebody. Which industries would have the most to lose (e.g., fossil fuel industry)? Are there more environmentally friendly industries that could replace the ones being lost (e.g., green energy)?
• Encourage students to think of examples within their community/country where they see the effects of some of these changes.
• Examine the social, economic, political and environmental perspectives, and list the pros and cons of transitioning to more environmentally friendly industries.

4) Activity #4

The solution to the issue of climate change is two-fold: we must look at how we can both mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. As a class, brainstorm implementable solutions to known climate change issues.

Then have students consider some of the solutions suggested in the film:

• reduce consumption
• drought-tolerant crops
• earthship
• sustainable apartments
• solar panels

Students then assess the merits and shortcomings of each idea using the criterion they created. If the shortcomings seem to be overwhelmingly great, discuss with students whether there are any ways to reduce the negative impacts of that solution.

Go Deeper

Students can research laws passed or bills being proposed by their provincial/federal government in relation to fulfilling the Paris Agreement. Encourage students to call their local MP/MPP to gather information. Students present their research and, as a class, assess the merits and shortcomings of the law/bill using the criterion they created.

 

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The Rwanda Series: Humanity Is Not Immune to Barbarism