NFB FILM CLUB – Spring 2014

SPECIAL 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

THE OSCAR® WINNERS Flamenco at 5:15 PHOTO : CLASSICS FROM THE NFB OSCAR® COLLECTION PROGRAM A

The Danish Poet Bob’s Birthday Neighbours Can we really trace the chain of events Surprise birthday parties can be risky. Two neighbours live side by side in that lead to our own birth? Is our existence Especially when the guest of honour harmony until a flower grows on the just a matter of coincidence? Directed by is turning 40! When Margaret plans a dividing line between their properties. Torill Kove and narrated by Liv Ullmann, celebration for her husband, Bob, she Who does it belong to? this whimsical animated short about a underestimates the sudden impact of young poet’s search for inspiration and middle age on his mood. Oscar ® 1952 love will amuse and delight both young Animation and old! Oscar ® 1994 8 min Animation Oscar ® 2006 12 min Animation 15 min

Flamenco at 5:15 The Sand Castle This visual and emotional thriller is an This charming and humorous fable tells impressionistic record of a flamenco the story of the Sandman and the dance class given to senior students of creatures he sculpts out of sand. the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana Oscar ® 1977 and Antonio Robledo. Animation 13 min Oscar ® 1983 Documentary 29 min THE GREATEST OF THE LATEST PROGRAM B PROGRAM C PROGRAM D

I Am But a Little Woman Impromptu Little Thunder Inspired by an Inuit poem first put to A look at the redemptive power of food, This animated short, inspired by the paper in 1927, I Am But a Little Woman wine, music and love through the eyes of Mi’kmaq legend “The Stone Canoe,” wordlessly evokes the beauty and power a modern man. explores Aboriginal humour. We follow of nature, as well as the bond between Little Thunder as he reluctantly leaves his mother and daughter. As her daughter Animation family and sets out on a cross-country looks on, an Inuit woman creates a 10 min 8 s canoe trip to become a man. wall-hanging filled with images of the spectacular Arctic landscape and Marking National Aboriginal Day-June 21st traditional Inuit objects and iconography. Animation Soon the boundaries between art and 3 min reality begin to dissolve.

Animation 4 min 39 s

The Wings of Johnny May My Prairie Home Hi-Ho Mistahey! This airborne documentary sweeps us A poetic journey through landscapes both In 2008, 14-year-old Shannen Koostachin into the northern skies to discover a real and emotional, this intimate portrait of launched a campaign to build a suitable unique culture through the eyes of an transgender singer Rae Spoon screened school for children in the Cree community exceptional man. Johnny May is the first at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival of Attawapiskat. Her campaign became Inuit bush pilot in Nunavik—and a legend Neither a concert film nor a conventional a national movement, uniting people among his people. During the 34,000 biographical doc, this documentary-musical from all walks of life to make her dream a hours of flight time he’s logged, May has occupies a beautiful space in between. reality. In this larger-than-life documentary lived through adventures worthy of the Award-winning filmmaker Chelsea adventure, acclaimed filmmaker Alanis novels of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and McMullan tells Spoon’s story through Obomsawin brings together the voices of has had an extraordinary view of the interviews, spoken performance and music, those who have taken Shannen’s Dream transformation in the Arctic from his and brings Spoon’s songs to life via shows across Canada, and all the way to the perch in the sky. at truck-stop diners and imaginative staged United Nations in Geneva. visual interpretations. World Cinema Documentary Documentary Competition, 2014 Marking National Aboriginal Day-June 21st 83 min 50 s Sundance Film Festival Documentary 99 min Documentary 76 min CHILDREN’S PROGRAM

The Fox and the Chickadee* Philip and the Butterfly How Dinosaurs Learned to Fly This charming stop-motion animated Based on a true story, Philip and the The dinosaurs were headed for trouble. fable tells the story of a starving fox who Butterfly takes you to a magical world They ate nothing but junk food. They stumbles upon a lone chickadee caught where friendship can change the course never brushed their teeth. They stayed up in a farmer’s trap. Despite his hapless of a life. all night long. And although they loved to predicament, the chickadee turns the jump off cliffs, they didn’t like landing. The tables by proposing a plan that would 5 min 17 s early mammals tried to warn them, “You’ll provide the fox with food for the whole all be extinct if you keep this up!” But the winter, rather than just a snack. He promises dinosaurs just laughed. And over time the fox a feast, but there’s a catch: he’ll they evolved into birds. need the chickadee’s help to get it. 5 min 58 s 7 min 36 s

*New release

Every Dog’s Guide to La poulette grise Complete Home Safety An illustration of the well-known nursery This hilarious animated film communi- rhyme, sung here by the Acadian alto cates over 40 safety tips for homes with Anna Malenfant. The best known of infants and young children. The film’s hero is Norman McLaren’s films made using a very earnest, somewhat pompous, but pastel techniques. endearing dog named Wally. A “profes- sional” in home safety, Wally is assigned 5 min 33 s For more information about the NFB to a house with an infant whose parents Film Club, please contact: have little safety consciousness. Accidents and near-accidents succeed each other Marianne Di Domenico with lightning speed, constantly putting 514-283-8953 Wally to the test. [email protected]

10 min 16 s