How to Film a War in 2019

NFB Pause: In the animation studios with Eloi and Randall

This week on NFB PAUSE we spoke to two members of the animation department, Eloi Champagne and Randall Finnerty. Through their candid discussion and one-on-one interviews, we learn quite a bit about the inner workings of the NFB’s animation studio.

Animation at the NFB

The animation department is one of the cornerstones of the NFB. Almost since the Board’s inception, animation has played a huge role in its activities. From reels made for the war in the 40s to today’s experimental shorts, it has been a hotbed of creative activity for almost 80 years. Seven of the Board’s 12 Oscar wins belong to the department, not to mention dozens of nominees.

Yet none of this would be possible without the incredible staff members who work there. Dedicated, bold, experienced – they will do whatever needs to be done to get the project completed. The NFB boasts its auteur approach to animation, but it still takes a team to bring the vision to the screen.

Enter Eloi Champagne and Randall Finnerty, two men who bring years of experience, passion, and craft to their positions. The former serves as technical director at the Board while the latter is the technical specialist for animation.

Eloi Champagne, Technical Director

With a background in photography and typography, Eloi possesses many skills that transfer beautifully over to his position at the NFB. He is 100% on board with the Board’s mission to produce projects that cannot be undertaken in the private sector. He thrives on the innovative work he gets to do – in film, interactive, and VR.

Some of Eloi’s other credits include Mystery of the Secret Room, Little Big Bang, The Death of Kao-Kuk, and I Am Here, a short film about one man’s search for answers to life’s big questions.

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

Randall Finnerty, Technical Specialist

Randall is a 21-year veteran of the NFB. At this point, he’s got a toolkit like you’ve never seen, and is capable of working miracles. He’s also easygoing and generous with his time. You want him on your team. He’s got credits on over 100 films and has worked closely on 50% of those.

Some of Randall’s other credits include Me and My Moulton, Soup of the Day, Meltdown, and last year’s runaway hit, Hedgehog’s Home.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2ndWi7z

About those Oscars…

Some of the animation films graced with an Oscar include The Danish Poet, Neighbours, and Bob’s Birthday, whose creators – Alison Snowden and David Fine – are up for another Academy Award this year with their latest film, Animal Behaviour. Lucky for you, it’s available online for free for a very limited time.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2tsYo72

 

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Food for thought: Watch Four Free Films About Food!

Food is one of our favourite things, as it is both delicious and necessary for survival. In this list, we’re serving up a four-course meal of culinary cinema. Every film on our menu offers a different perspective on food, but a passion for all things edible is evident in each one.

So, whether you’re a dedicated foodie or just looking for a light snack, why not pull up a chair, have a seat, and enjoy this foursome of films about food.

Bon appétit!

The Art of Eating

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Nbu8qv

We begin our list with this short documentary that spotlights a wonderful night at the Club Prosper Montagne, one of the world’s leading gastronomic societies. This foodie fiesta is filled with delectable dishes and topped off with the viewer being introduced to Marcel Kretz, one of the most accomplished chefs in the country.

How Do They Make Potato Chips

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2T8fG7Q

Answering what is perhaps one of the most befuddling questions to ever plague humankind, this short documentary tells us how, exactly, potato chips are made. Watch the process unfold before your very eyes, beginning with the humble potato, and learn how everyone’s favourite salty snack is prepared.

Pierogi Pinch 

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2NfIhD8

Food is more than just delicious fuel—it can also be an important part of our cultural identity. Indeed, the dishes we make are often a reflection of our shared history. And, in this brilliantly animated short, we follow a young woman who, during the difficult process of making pierogis, is helped out by the memory of her grandmother in recreating a recipe that has been passed down through the generations.

Infusion

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2T0cNpM

Our last food-based flick is this documentary that takes viewers to the shores of Eastern Canada. Traditionally blended in New Brunswick for well over a century, King Cole tea is the quintessential Maritime beverage. Combining folk memory and contemporary perspectives, this documentary is a playful reminder of the cultural power of food.

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NFB Science: Weather, Climate and Atmosphere

Whether you’re staying inside during a rainy day, bundled up from a winter storm, or trying to beat the heat, let us blow you away with 4 entertaining and educational films all about the weather!

The Origins of Weather

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Let’s start with a crash course in all things atmospheric. Joseph Koenig’s classic short documentary is the perfect primer for this list. Clocking in at 12 minutes, this entertaining mini-doc will fill you in on all the basics. Combining live action and animation to great effect, the film explores the different forces that contribute to the stability of both climate and weather on our planet. Recommended viewing for anyone interested in the subject.

Cold Fronts

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

A beautifully shot collage, Cold Fronts is a tribute to the West Coast climate. In this documentary, director Murray Siple explores the love-hate relationship Vancouver denizens have with the cold, wet winter. Overall, this film offers a very personal perspective on how humans in urban environments adapt to the forces of nature that surround us.

Northern Lights

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2T5Xj3q

Perhaps one of the most breathtaking and mysterious of all atmospheric phenomena, the aurora borealis (or northern lights) is a stunning reminder of the beauty of nature. In this documentary, we explore both the scientific and cultural significance of the lights. Combining Indigenous folklore, animation, live action, and scientific examination, the doc explores the physical reality and the wondrous nature of the lights.

A Cloud’s Dream

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

Made through the NFB Hothouse apprenticeship program, this animated short provides an excellent example of the ways in which science can influence art. Wonderfully rendered using partial audio waveform data, A Cloud’s Dream imaginatively simulates how various visually striking cloud formations are created.

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This Week on NFB.ca – Love is in the Air

Love and relationships were all the rage this week as we celebrated Valentine’s Day. One day a year dedicated to romance, heartfelt proclamations of adoration, and bumping up the profit margins at your local florist. Here, we celebrate with film.

This week on NFB.ca we looked at films about love and relationships in all their various forms. From first love to the quest for love, these films capture all the feels the day calls for.

I Like Girls

Meet four women – Charlotte, Mathilde, Marie, and Diane – who tell us about their first loves with great candor and tenderness. From early crushes to mutual attraction, through the entire process of falling in love, these women reveal some of their most intimate moments with humour and grace.

The film is divided into four short vignettes and is animated in Obom’s signature style. What emerges from each piece is the joyfulness and sense of self that each narrator extracts from their personal experiences. It’s a film that celebrates not only same-sex love but love itself.

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

Canada Vignettes: Log Driver’s Waltz

Arguably one of our most popular films, this short has made every Top 10 list we’ve ever put together. And why not? In this masterpiece, animator John Weldon presents the Canadian log driver in a whole new light – that of romantic hero.

When it comes time to choose a mate and settle down, who would you rather have? The businessman or banker who brings home the dough, or the hot, sweaty labourer with all the smooth dance moves? Our heroine falls in love with the latter, and we get to watch as the McGarrigle sisters sing them downstream.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2EUvUe5

Missed Connection

Who hasn’t indulged in some passing fantasy about a complete stranger? Someone you see through the window of a train headed in the opposite direction, or across the street right before the bus goes by and obstructs your view. In a moment, they’re gone. But what might have been?

That’s the question Tabitha Fisher tries to answer in 60 seconds in this animated short from the Hothouse series. I love her animation style and her sense of humour shines through as we watch one man create an entire future out of thin air.

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

The Pedlar

This is a perfect example of one of the NFB’s hidden gems. The Pedlar is a beautifully shot and well-acted fiction film based on a short story called A Place of One’s Own. It tells the tale a man who lives his life on the road but has reached the point where he wants to settle down and find love.

The film is an exploration of loneliness, the search for meaning, and unrequited love. It shows what happens when an outsider comes into a situation that has been mired in unhappiness, and how people affect each other’s lives. And did I mention the acting? The film is a winner, and if you haven’t seen it yet, this is the perfect occasion.

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

 

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Celebrate the International Year of Indigenous Languages

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IY2019) —“in order to raise awareness of them, not only to benefit the people that speak these languages, but also for others to appreciate the important contribution they make to our world’s rich cultural diversity” (UNESCO IYIL2019 website).

In Canada alone, approximately 230,000 Indigenous people currently speak one or more of the 60 dialects within the 12 linguistic families; most of these languages have been listed by UNESCO as either vulnerable or endangered, some critically—including several dialects of Inuktitut, which became the official language of the Northwest Territories, Labrador, and the territories now known as Nunavut in 1984. Not only does language play an important role in identity, knowledge, and culture, in Indigenous cultures the mother tongue also preserves and passes on these traditions.

In 2015, the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission explained to Canadians and the world that Indigenous languages had been threatened by the genocidal actions of the residential school system. The TRC also created “94 Calls to Action” to address the loss of languages.

The National Film Board of Canada has heard and responded to the “calls to action.” We are committed to playing our part in the preservation and revitalization of Indigenous languages through the creation and re-release of Indigenous-language versions of films in our Indigenous collection, which speak eloquently of the essential relationship between Indigenous peoples and their languages. The films in our playlist are offered in several Indigenous languages: Inuktitut, Nakota (Assiniboine), Mohawk, Cree, and Atikamekw. Watch with us, listen and learn with us, and you will hear some of the most beautiful languages in the world.

Join us in celebrating Indigenous languages with this rich playlist of NFB films!

Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance (Mohawk Version)

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Sx2Ssj

Atisokan nte Manawanik nistam kenokok

An account of how settler civilization has invaded Indigenous peoples’ lives, governed their hunting, trapping, and fishing, confined them to reserves, and made it difficult to pursue traditional ways of life. César Néwashish recounts how his grandfather Louis Néwashish founded Manawan.

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

Atisokan nte Manawanik minowach kenokok

A continuation of History of Manowan: Part 1. Discusses the death of Indian customs, independence and dignity, with the advent of the white society.

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

Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths (Inuktitut Version)

This feature documentary offers an overview of the changes experienced by the Inuit from 1950-1970 with their loss of sled dogs and semi-nomadic lifestyle. A controversial issue at the time, many Inuit still believe that their dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of government policy to force them off the land and into “civilization.”

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2DB3FhD

Katawapiskak Sipiwi Ininiwak

The people of the Attawapiskat First Nation, a Cree community in northern Ontario, were thrust into the national spotlight in 2012 when the impoverished living conditions on their reserve became an issue of national debate.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Sx2VEv

Nowhere Land (Inuktitut Version)

This short documentary is a quiet elegy for the ancestral Inuit way of life, which exists now only in the memories of those who experienced it. Bonnie Ammaaq and her family remember it vividly.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2DB7NhJ

Breaths (Inuktitut Version)

In this evocative short, Inuit singer-songwriter and humanitarian Susan Aglukark weaves together stories of artistry, family, and belonging as she explores the complex cultural shifts of the last 50 years of Inuit life.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2Sx81jX

Three Thousand (Inuktitut Version)

In this short film, Inuk artist Asinnajaq plunges us into a sublime imaginary universe—14 minutes of luminescent, archive-inspired cinema that recast the present, past and future of her people in a radiant new light.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2DB3Ucx

To Wake Up the Nakota Language (Nakota Version)

“When you don’t know your language or your culture, you don’t know who you are,” says 69-year-old Armand McArthur, one of the last fluent Nakota speakers in Pheasant Rump First Nation, Treaty 4 territory, in southern Saskatchewan. Through the wisdom of his words, Armand is committed to revitalizing his language and culture for his community and future generations.

oehttps://http://bit.ly/2SAiN9p

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PAKO Forever: Car Chase Game

PAKO Forever is a fun new app from Tree Men Games.

Flee The Cops!

Tree Men Games, an indie mobile game development company based in Helsinki, Finland, makes what they straightforwardly describe as “addictive” apps. They also claim that their apps are “easy to learn, but hard to master.” That’s the perfect description for PAKO Forever, the company’s new car chase game that’s just as addicting, easy to learn, and hard to master as the original. PAKO Forever is an update on their classic endless car chase game, in which your objective is to do the literally impossible: escape from the pursuit of the police vehicles constantly threatening to plow into you. It’s more fun than it sounds.

Use Items! Avoid Objects!

Like any good addicting game, PAKO Forever is frustrating. It can seem as if you’re about to break free from an incoming car or an upcoming obstacle, only to have something else slam into you and end your game prematurely that way. In order to advance throughout the levels and unlock new vehicles, you have to survive for longer and longer. There are fun power-ups that appear randomly and help in your mission, and the exciting visual nature of the drones, wrecking balls, and other items keeps the game exciting. All you have to do is click left and right on the screen to control your car, and hope for the best. It never works out in your favor on PAKO Forever, because you always end up getting caught. If the game’s as fun as the company intends it to be, of course (and it is), then you’ll just hit start again.

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