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Art (41)
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Available in English Options
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AnimandoMarcos Magalhães 1987 12 minUn personnage prend vie sur une table d'animation. L'animateur le dessine et le manipule à l'aide de matériaux différents. Il se met alors à marcher, à sautiller, nous permettant d'apprécier au même moment différentes techniques d'animation. Film sans paroles. -
AlouetteNorman McLaren & René Jodoin 1944 2 minThis animated short co-animated by René Jodoin and Norman McLaren was produced for inclusion in the Let's All Sing Together sing-along series. It illustrates the popular song Alouette, gentille alouette. The technique used is single-frame animation of paper cutouts.
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All the RageAlexandra Lemay 2014 1 minA mink walks into a fur store. Fantastic Mr. Fox meets The Shining in this stop-motion cautionary tale of what happens when we don’t think enough about what we buy.
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Animate Everything!Scott Kiborn 2010 15 minSpaceships soar into space. Dots dance on a page. Rocks and twigs transform into expressive faces. Kids can easily create this kind of magic themselves, and all they require are a few simple tools. Divided into four short, easy-to-understand chapters, Animate Everything introduces basic concepts of animation to a young audience. Explaining visually with colourful images, siblings Lindsay and Will demonstrate how to bring everyday objects to life — and even how to animate people! Animate Everything encourages you to “make your own magic in whatever style you want.”
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BuffyJohn Walker 2010 6 minFolk music icon Buffy Sainte-Marie became internationally renowned with her protest song "Universal Soldier." In this short documentary, she candidly discusses her hopes, creative vision and songwriting skills, as well as her role as an Aboriginal activist. Still a vibrant artist fifty years into her career, she keeps her eyes set on the future.
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Begone Dull CareNorman McLaren & Evelyn Lambart 1949 7 minIn this extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly on to their filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and colour, of jazz music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.
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Blinkity BlankNorman McLaren 1955 5 minThis experimental short film by Norman McLaren is a playful exercise in intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. Playing with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after-image on the retina of the eye, McLaren engraves pictures on blank film creating vivid, percussive effects.
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Bob's BirthdayAlison Snowden & David Fine 1993 12 minWhen Margaret plans a celebration for her husband Bob, she underestimates the sudden impact of middle age on his mood. A witty, offbeat animated portrait of a frustrated dentist wrestling with the fundamental issues of life proves that birthdays (and surprise parties) can be very tricky indeed.
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A Composer's DreamBarbara Willis-Sweete 2011 7 minThis short film demonstrates how Howard Shore has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most accomplished - and versatile - composers.
During woodland rambles with his beloved dogs, Shore gives free rein to his ceaseless creativity. Whether composing delicate counterpoint or Oscar®-winning movie music, Shore is keenly tuned to a remarkable range of musical expression.
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ConstellationPatrick Doan 2012 6 minCombining the music of Chopin with digital animation, this short film artfully defines pianist Janina Fialkowska’s imprint in the world of classical music and beyond. Particles of light choreograph themselves to reveal otherworldly beauty, channelling the pianist’s explosive performance.
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. -
City Out of TimeColin Low 1959 15 minThis Colin Low documentary from 1959 depicts Venice in all its splendor. In the tradition of Venetian painter Canaletto, the film captures the great Italian city’s elusive beauty and fabled landscapes, where spired churches and turreted palaces soar into a blue Mediterranean sky. Narration by William Shatner.
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DeyzangerooEhsan Gharib 2017 4 min“Deyzangeroo” is a ritual performed in the Iranian port city of Bushehr. Influenced by the city’s colonial rule by the British and Portuguese, and the African slaves that followed, it is imbued with the terror and magic of the lunar eclipse. The ritual is believed to ward off evil spirits and take back the moon. It works every time. Directed by Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Ehsan Gharib, this animated short features hand-painted animation, time-lapse photography, trick photography using mirrors, and the haunting music of virtuoso percussionist Habib Meftah Boushehri.
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Deepa Mehta, In ProfileNettie Wild 2012 6 minThis short film is a tribute to award-winning director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta. A true cultural hybrid, Mehta has been described as a “transnational” artist, able to tell universally meaningful stories from a uniquely Canadian point of view. In a career spanning over 30 years she has consistently broken new ground, tackling such controversial issues as intolerance, cultural discrimination and domestic violence. As an Indian who grew up speaking English first in a British Colonial School and then learning Hindi, she finds her passion and her stories in India, and the freedom to choose how to tell those stories in Canada.
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation on the occasion of the 2012 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. -
EarthwareRick Raxlen & Donald Winkler 1975 10 minThis short, impressionistic film takes us to Nigeria, Japan, Mexico and India, where craftsmen work clay to produce ritual vessels and everyday objects. Film without words.
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EnigmaticoDavid Mortin & Patricia Fogliato 1995 51 minInterweaving poetry, painting, photography, music and sculpture, this feature documentary is an innovative look at the lives and work of Canadian men and women artists of Italian origin. Broaching issues of identity and culture, the film explores the relationship between the immigrant experience and the creative process.
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Ernie's IdeaClaire Maxwell & Peter Vogler 1996 12 minThis short animation tells the story of Ernie, a simple fellow who loves his job. One day, the blissful routine of Ernie's life is thrown into chaos when a pesky and persistent idea suddenly decides to follow him around, demanding attention in the most disruptive ways. Suddenly Ernie's job is in jeopardy. What do you do with an idea, when you've never had one before? How can you tell if it's worth contemplating or just plain trouble?
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The Formation of CloudsMarie-Hélène Turcotte 2010 10 minChildhood is a private, fragile terrain in which the marks of our explorations are inscribed. A delicate, sensitive evocation of burgeoning desire, The Formation of Clouds follows the steps of a young girl in the midst of transformation, clearly delineating that odd moment when one is no longer a child, exactly, but not yet an adult either. Using the simplicity of pen and ink drawings with graceful superimposition effects on glossy paper, Marie-Hélène Turcotte succeeds in capturing all the nuances of this transitional stage, in which the ingenuous wish to remain a child accompanies the yearning for self-discovery. With grace and sensitivity, this first short film becomes a visual poem that plays out at the frontier between reality and imagination. Film without words.
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Forming GameMalcolm Sutherland 2008 5 minThis animated short from Malcolm Sutherland is an engaging dance of shapes and sounds. The "game" is played by opening the box, unfolding the board and placing shapes on it that you manipulate with your hands. There are no winners or losers in this game; the fun is in the creative way the forms unfold. Features a score by Luigi Alleman and music by Ravi Shankar.
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FyoogCurtis Horsburgh 2016 1 minPlease stand clear of the doors... This very short surreal hybrid of stop-motion and 2D animation is a story about a dream about a train, inspired by found sound of a Toronto subway car.
Produced as part of the 11th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse apprenticeship. -
Inhabiting DanceJulien Cadieux 2009 25 minThis short documentary is a portrait of Sylvie Mazerolle, a young woman for whom dance is as vital and fundamental as breathing. Tracking her process, the film also takes a look at dance in her home province of New Brunswick. In French with English subtitles.
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I Can Make Art ... Like Ron NoganoshJane Churchill 2005 15 minThis short film introduces kids to sculptor Ron Noganosh, who transforms items like rusted hubcaps and computer parts into art. Inspired by Ron's found-object sculptures, a group of primary school students discover how to turn "junk" into art. Part of the I Can Make Art series of 6 films that take a kids'-eye view on a diverse group of Canadian visual artists.
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Like Emily CarrJane Churchill 2005 10 minThis short film is part of a series entitled I Can Make Art and focuses on the work of Emily Carr. In this film, kids examine Carr's unusual world and the inspiration for her haunting landscapes. Drawing on this inspiration, they then attempt to create a giant forest mural on a window in their school. The series is comprised of six short films that take a kid's-eye view of a diverse group of Canadian visual artists.
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I Can Make Art ... Like Marcelle FerronJane Churchill 2005 10 minMarcelle Ferron was a Quebec-born painter and stained glass maker, and a dominant figure in contemporary art in Quebec and Canada. Frequent stays in a dull, dark hospital room due to a childhood illness left her with a passion for light and colour that is evident in her abstract painting and modern stained glass creations.
In I Can Make Art Like Marcelle Ferron, students are exposed to contemporary abstract art and discover Ferron's luminous world. Inspired by her extraordinary art, they create their own works, experimenting with the texture and transparency of cellophane and paint.
Awash in colour and bold design, I Can Make Art Like Marcelle Ferron captures her passion and reinforces the important legacy of this groundbreaking artist.
I Can Make Art is a series of six short films that take a kids'-eye view on a diverse group of Canadian visual artists. -
I Can Make Art ... Like Maud LewisJane Churchill 2005 12 minIn this short film from the I Can Make Art Like... series, a group of Grade 6 students are inspired by Maud Lewis, the celebrated Nova Scotian folk artist who painted scenes of country life. With the help of artist Kyle Jackson, they create a folk art painting of their own downtown neighbourhood. Informative, touching and filled with the magic of creation, this film shows both the power and simple pleasure of folk art.
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Like Andrew QappikJane Churchill 2005 11 minThis short documentary is a portrait of Andrew Qappik, a world-renowned Inuit printmaker from Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Originally inspired by images in the comic books he read as a child, Andrew now finds his subjects in the stories, traditions and day-to-day events of his world.
In I Can Make Art Like Andrew Qappik, he captivates his student audience by creating a soapstone relief print before their very eyes. Then it's the kids' turn. They explore Andrew's symbolic imagery - and their own - as they each create a self-portrait relief point. -
The ImpresarioAnita Doron 2010 5 minWalter Homburger helped bring Glenn Gould and a succession of other great musicians to the attention of the world. Using shadow puppets and silhouettes, this short documentary captures the irrepressible spirit of a great impresario, manager and orchestra administrator who has devoted his life to furthering classical music in Canada.
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KamikElise Swerhone 1989 14 minThis short documentary is a portrait of Ulayok Kaviok, one of the last of a generation of Inuit, born and bred on the land. Ulayok and her family, like many Inuit today, strive to balance 2 very different worlds. Her skills in making the sealskin boots called kamik may soon be lost in the cultural transformation overtaking her community. Kamik offers a glimpse of those universes and the thread one woman weaves between them.
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Molly in SpringtimePierre-Luc Granjon 2009 26 minIt’s carnival in Balthasarville and the scoundrel Bonifacio is scheming to overthrow Léon and become King Quack. But he’s outsmarted by Molly Gingerbread and her friend Hedgehog, who manage to save the townspeople Bonifacio has poisoned. This puppet animation by Pierre-Luc Granjon tells a medieval tale of treachery and love.
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Owl and the Raven: An Eskimo LegendCo Hoedeman 1973 6 minUsing life-like seal fur puppets, this animated short by Co Hoedeman tells the traditional Inuit tale of the owl and the raven. Why did the raven’s feathers turn jet-black? And what did the owl have to do with it?
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Open Sky: Portrait of a Pavilion in VeniceKaterine Giguère 2020 25 minAn intimate portrait of the Canada Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, an architectural gem designed by Milan’s famous Studio BBPR and recently restored, along with its gardens, by the National Gallery of Canada.
