August 26, 2015 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
An acclaimed Halifax filmmaker pays tribute to a Maritimes music legend as part of a rich selection of National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentaries and animation at the 2015 Atlantic Film Festival, taking place September 17–24, 2015.
Award-winning Halifax filmmaker Rachel Bower brings the home-grown talent and gregarious personality of Maritimes vocalist Charlie Chamberlain back to life in the NFB short The Singing Lumberjack, making its world premiere at the festival. A beloved member of Don Messer’s Jubilee, a hugely popular musical variety show produced at CBC Halifax from 1957 until 1969, Chamberlain had a captivating baritone and Irish-by-way-of-New Brunswick lilt that packed community halls from Gander to Nanaimo and kept folks of all ages glued to their radios and televisions. Bower blends animation, archival footage and present-day family interviews in this experimental five-minute short.
Acclaimed Vancouver filmmaker Mina Shum makes her first feature-length foray into non-fiction in Ninth Floor, revisiting the infamous 1969 Sir George Williams Riot at Montreal’s Concordia University, a watershed moment in Canadian race relations. An Atlantic premiere, the NFB documentary feature locates the protagonists in Trinidad and Montreal and listens as they set the record straight — and lay their burden down.
The festival is hosting the Canadian premiere of the Claymation short Sexy Laundry (Clay Traces GBR / Fundacja Las Sztuki / NFB) by Izabela Plucinska. Inspired by Vancouver playwright Michele Riml’s play of the same name, this international co-production is an erotic comedy that delves into the private lives of a couple in their fifties who are numbed by routine.
Two more shorts from acclaimed NFB animators are also enjoying Atlantic debuts at the festival.
In My Heart Attack, life is certainly stranger than fiction for award-winning Montreal filmmaker Sheldon Cohen. Known for family classics like The Sweater (1980) and I Want a Dog (2002), Cohen couldn’t have made up the events that led to his being rushed to an emergency room one sunny summer afternoon, in his most personal film yet.
If I Was God is the latest from two-time Academy Award nominee Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back, Strange Invaders), a semi-autobiographical 3D animated short about a 12-year-old boy who speculates about what he would do if he were God—while dissecting a frog in Biology class.
The Singing Lumberjack (5 min)
• The Singing Lumberjack is written and directed by Rachel Bower, produced by Paul McNeill and executive produced by Annette Clarke, for the NFB’s Atlantic Centre in Halifax, and Ravida Din.
• Halifax-based Rachel Bower is an award-winning filmmaker whose 2008 feature documentary, Time Apart: A History of Hope, follows Holocaust survivor Alice Zuckerman as she journeys back through Eastern Europe to reunite with her lost family. Her short film credits include In the Same Boat (2011), named best documentary at the Silver Wave Film Festival, as well as six 30-minute documentaries for CBC’s Land and Sea (2014–2015).
Ninth Floor (81 min)
• Ninth Floor is written and directed by Mina Shum, produced by Selwyn Jacob and executive produced by Shirley Vercruysse for the NFB’s Pacific and Yukon Centre in Vancouver.
• Mina Shum’s first feature, the NFB-co-produced Double Happiness (1994), received a Special Jury Citation for Best Canadian Feature Film and the Toronto Metro Media Prize at TIFF, as well as the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Her 2002 feature Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity shared a Special Citation for Best Screenplay at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Her short films include Me, Mom and Mona, which won a Special Jury Citation at TIFF.
Sexy Laundry (12 min)
• Sexy Laundry is a Germany (Clay Traces GBR) / Poland (Fundacja Las Sztuki) / Canada (NFB) co-production, directed by Izabela Plucinska and produced by Marc Bertrand, Robert Kern, Izabela Plucinska and Paulina Ratajczak. The NFB executive producer is Julie Roy. Inspired by Michele Riml’s play, it’s voiced in English by Kathleen Fee and Harry Standjofski.
• Born in Poland and currently living in Germany, Izabela Plucinska has some 30 films to her credit. In 2005, her short Jam Session won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her politically and philosophically oriented medium-length film Esterhazy was screened around the world in 2009, including in England, France, Finland, Hungary and Mexico, garnering a number of awards.
My Heart Attack (13 min)
• My Heart Attack is written and directed by Sheldon Cohen, and produced by Jelena Popovic and executive produced by Michael Fukushima for the NFB’s Animation Studio in Montreal.
• Sheldon Cohen is a Montreal-based animator and children’s book illustrator who has created eight animated shorts with the NFB, including The Sweater (1980), an adaptation of Roch Carrier’s classic short story “The Hockey Sweater,” and one of the most beloved NFB films of all time, as well as I Want a Dog (2002), based on the children’s book by Dayal Kaur Khalsa, and winner of 10 international awards. Cohen followed his success with The Sweater by illustrating a picture-book version of the film as well a sequel, Un champion, which garnered him the Governor General’s Award for illustration in a French-language children’s book.
If I Was God (8 min 30 s)
• Written and directed by Cordell Barker, If I Was God is produced and executive produced for the NFB by Michael Fukushima (Animation Studio) and David Christensen (Northwest Centre).
• Acclaimed Winnipeg animator Cordell Barker previously created three animated short films with the NFB: The Cat Came Back (1988), Strange Invaders (2001) and Runaway (2009). The first two received Oscar nominations; the third won the Petit Rail d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France and was an official selection at the Sundance and Toronto international film festivals. Collectively, the three films have won some 45 international awards.
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Pat Dillon
NFB Publicist
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E-mail: p.a.dillon@nfb.ca
Twitter: @PatDoftheNFB
Lily Robert
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Cell: 514-296-8261
E-mail: l.robert@nfb.ca
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creates groundbreaking interactive works, social-issue documentaries and auteur animation. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 14 Canadian Screen Awards, 11 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
