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Musical Expressions (27)
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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. -
Big TreesAnn Marie Fleming 2013 12 minThis short semi-animated film tells the story of a woman's spectacular ocean view from her apartment in Vancouver’s West End. How far will she go when leaves start to obscure her panorama, her light and her happiness? A brilliant blend of stop-motion, projections and models, drawings and altered live-action transports us into a meditation on the tension between urban life and the natural environment. Like Don Giovanni, will our ambitious protagonist stop at nothing to get her way?
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Concerto Grosso ModoFrançois Aubry 1985 6 minThis short animation is a playful introduction to musical notation. Music notes, suddenly infused with life, begin building a score. Working like ants, they assemble one by one the many elements of musical notation. Once the score is completed, the concert can go on, and each note shines as bright as a star.
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Cactus SwingBeth Portman & Susan Crandall 1995 5 minBased on a song by the Great Western Orchestra, this animated short traces the adventures of Pete, the North West Mounted Police officer who is awakened in the badlands by a varmint band and witnesses a cactus line dance.
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Duel-DuoJean-Michel Labrosse 1975 2 minAn animation film about a clarinet and a trumpet that meet, clash, compete, compromise and harmonize.
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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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First Stories - Walking AloneGerald Auger 2007 6 minThis short film is an edgy, searing portrait of an ex-gang member trying to make peace with his past. Rapper Shawn Bernard raps about the various struggles in his life, the choices he's made and their consequences, while poignantly recounting the loss of his sister. First Stories is an emerging filmmaker program for Indigenous youth which produced 3 separate collections of short films from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Produced in association with CBC, APTN, SCN, SaskFilm and MANITOBA FILM & SOUND. e an impressive debut - one wrought with emotion and hope.
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Fiddle-de-deeNorman McLaren 1947 3 minA film fantasy of dancing music and dancing colour. To "Listen to the Mocking Bird" played by an oldtime fiddler, brilliant patterns ripple, flow, flicker and blend. Norman McLaren, painting on film, translates sound into sight.
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Monsieur PointuBernard Longpré & André Leduc 1975 12 minThis animated short about virtuoso stage entertainer Monsieur Pointu (Paul Cormier) is screen magic at its best. Here, the man and his violin are literally taken apart - head, feet, limbs, various items of stage attire, bow, strings, and box all go into their own separate acts, with strange and amusing results.
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Moon ManPaul Morstad 2004 3 minMoon Man is an animated short inspired by the song “Moon Man Newfie,” composed and sung by Canadian music legend Stompin' Tom Connors. It tells the story of folk hero Codfish Dan, who made Newfoundland history after a lucky fishing trip on the Milky Way.
Moon Man is the NFB’s second animated film using the revolutionary IMAX SANDDE digital system, which enables animators to draw and animate 3D images in space with a moving wand. It is presented here in its 2D version. -
Montreal SymphonyBettina Ehrhardt 2010 1 h 38 minTo mark the 75th season of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kent Nagano put together a memorable program comprised of a selection of extraordinary works. This film captures the season’s high points, as well as Nagano’s knack for finding music and poetry in everyday urban life.
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The Musical Ride1954 19 minThis 1954 documentary short presents the famous Musical Ride of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In a display of brilliant horsemanship, scarlet-coated Mounties take their horses through the many intricate patterns of the Ride, performed to the accompaniment of band music.
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My Prairie HomeChelsea McMullan 2013 1 h 16 minIn 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. Interviews, performances and music sequences reveal Spoon’s inspiring process of building a life of their own, as a trans person and as a musician.
Official selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. -
MusicanadaMalca Gillson & Tony Ianzelo 1975 57 minWith no commentary other than the music and words of the performers themselves, this fast-moving film presents the grandest Canadian concert of them all. Here, the performers include both the great and the unknown from across the country, the musical styles span the centuries, and the artists are involved in all stages of musicianship: learning, teaching, conducting, recording, performing. Among the film's many stars are Edith Butler, Beau Dommage, Maureen Forrester, Glenn Gould, Paul Horn, the Huggett Family, and Gilles Vigneault.
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PrecisionGeorges Dufaux 1966 9 minThis short film showcases the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride. The Musical Ride features RCMP officers and their horses engaged in a sophisticated set of exercises and drills choreographed to music. The camera captures the magic of the event, following along at every angle and even offering an awe-inspiring bird’s eye view. Music, colour, movement, and horsemanship combine to produce a breathtaking spectacle.
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The Road ForwardMarie Clements 2017 1 h 41 minThe Road Forward, a musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. The Road Forward’s stunningly shot musical sequences, performed by an ensemble of some of Canada’s finest vocalists and musicians, seamlessly connect past and present with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats. A rousing tribute to the fighters for First Nations rights, a soul-resounding historical experience, and a visceral call to action.
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The Socalled MovieGarry Beitel 2010 1 h 27 minThis feature-length documentary is a dynamic kaleidoscopic portrait of Socalled (aka Josh Dolgin), a multi-disciplinary musician and artist whose unique blend of klezmer, hip hop and funk is blasting through the boundaries that separate music of different cultures, eras and generations.
Socalled is unstoppable: a pianist, singer, arranger, rapper, producer and composer – as well as magician, filmmaker and visual artist. The "Socalled" Movie offers a nuanced picture of an individual who's artistically fearless. -
Spook SportNorman McLaren 1940 7 minAn expressionistic interpretation of 'Danse macabre' by Camille Saint-Saëns. Conventional cel animation and pen drawings were done by Norman McLaren directly on 35 mm film stock.
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SynchromyNorman McLaren 1971 7 minThis animated short by Norman McLaren features synchronization of image and sound in the truest sense of the word. To make this film, McLaren employed novel optical techniques to compose the piano rhythms of the sound track, which he then moved, in multicolor, onto the picture area of the screen so that, in effect, you see what you hear.
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Short and SuiteNorman McLaren 1959 4 minThis short animation is a delightful colour cocktail by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. The various moods in music written for a jazz ensemble by Eldon Rathburn are translated into moving patterns of colour and light. This lively short is composed of images hand-scratched and hand-painted directly onto the film strip.
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SerenalNorman McLaren 1959 3 minA gay fantasia of patterned sound in which Norman McLaren salutes the West Indies, painting the spirit of fiesta on film to the lively beat of an island tune by Trinidad's Grand Curacaya Orchestra.
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Soup of the DayLynn Smith 2013 3 minThis animated short presents a dilemma faced by a couple every time they go out to eat. Will their culinary differences douse the flames of romance, or will love prevail? Set to a rollicking doo-wop song by Canadian songwriter Alexander (Zander) Ary, the film brings Lynn Smith's gouache paintings to life as she animates directly under the camera. This short is a tasty comic narrative that skips along an array of tantalizing dishes. Vocalists Susie Arioli and Zander Ary each bring a unique interpretation to this funny, charming song.
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Two BagatellesGrant Munro & Norman McLaren 1952 2 minTwo short Norman McLaren films in which animation technique is employed with live actors. In the first, entitled On the Lawn, a male dancer waltzes to synthetic music. The second is a fast march, In the Backyard, accompanied by an old-fashioned calliope.
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United States of AfricaYanick Létourneau 2011 47 minAfrican hip hop pioneer Didier Awadi is on a quest to craft an album that pays tribute to the great black revolutionary leaders and their struggle to realize a dream: a united, independent Africa. In this epic musical and political journey, Awadi visits some 40 countries to collaborate with hip hop activist artists, including Smockey (Burkina Faso), M-1 of Dead Prez (United States) and ZuluBoy (South Africa).
Featuring a score by Ghislain Poirier, as well as Awadi’s own songs, United States of Africa draws the viewer into one artist’s profound meditation on the power of music and the impact of political engagement—both individual and collective. A hopeful and compelling portrait of a continent whose politically aware youth is refusing to accept the role of victim, the film is a call for Africans to rise up, take a stand and take control of their continent and their destiny. -
United States of AfricaYanick Létourneau 2011 1 h 15 minAfrican hip hop pioneer Didier Awadi is on a quest to craft an album that pays tribute to the great black revolutionary leaders and their struggle to realize a dream: a united, independent Africa. In this epic musical and political journey, Awadi visits some 40 countries to collaborate with hip hop activist artists, including Smockey (Burkina Faso), M-1 of Dead Prez (United States) and ZuluBoy (South Africa).
Featuring a score by Ghislain Poirier, as well as Awadi’s own songs, United States of Africa draws the viewer into one artist’s profound meditation on the power of music and the impact of political engagement—both individual and collective. A hopeful and compelling portrait of a continent whose politically aware youth is refusing to accept the role of victim, the film is a call for Africans to rise up, take a stand and take control of their continent and their destiny. -
Variations on Ah! vous dirai-je, mamanFrancine Desbiens 1985 13 minIn this short animation a single room is the setting for a lyrical dance through time about family roots. The objects in the room swirl, rearrange and change themselves to reflect the passing seasons, years and generations. As Victorian Christmas fantasies give way to computer-age realities, the procession of objects reaffirms the values that endure the vagaries of fashion and the ravages of time.
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Vive la roseBruce Alcock 2009 6 minBased on the last recording by one of Newfoundland's foremost traditional music performers, Emile Benoit's tender delivery of the 18th century French song is the heart of Vive la rose. The story of unrequited love and tentative obsession throughout the beloved's life, sickness and early death is the narrative focus, accompanied by an emotional interpretation of Benoit's strong Newfoundland French accent and wavering old man's voice. Vive la rose is animation on location, rooting the film in a location that evokes the past, and combines ink drawings with a variety of romantic and associative elements and objects.
