The NFB at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Three shorts in competition, including the world premiere of Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’s The Flying Sailor.

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is participating in this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which runs from June 13 to 18, with three short films in competition: the much-anticipated The Flying Sailor, by acclaimed filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, which will have its world premiere at the festival; Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics, by award-winning Orkney Cree Métis artist Terril Calder; and Magical Caresses: Sweet Jesus by young director Lori Malépart-Traversy. These films, all of which were directed by talented and acclaimed women animators and produced mostly by women, are striking in their original creative approaches, varied techniques and unique subject matter, ranging from reflections on existence to identity and sexuality. The NFB and its animation studios will also be in the spotlight at the festival’s Studio Focus, an in-person event taking place on June 14.

Quick Facts – The NFB at the Annecy Festival

* Three films in competition:
    * Short Films – Official Competition: The Flying Sailor by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis – WORLD PREMIERE
    * Perspectives short films program: Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics by Terril Calder
    * Competition – TV and Commissioned Films: Magical Caresses: Sweet Jesus by Lori Malépart-Traversy
* The “NFB: New Spaces for Storytelling” Studio Focus session will take place on June 14, shining a spotlight on women creators and their projects at Annecy this year. Studio Focus is an integral part of MIFA, the International Animation Film Market held in conjunction with the festival. At the festival’s invitation, NFB Commissioner Claude Joli-Coeur will accompany the filmmakers and their film crews, along with Christine Noël and Rob McLaughlin, who will be attending the festival for the first time since their official appointments as heads of the NFB French Program and English Program animation studios respectively.

Short Films – Official Competition

The Flying Sailor (Le matelot volant) by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (7 min 45 s) Producer: David Christensen (NFB) Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-flying-sailor
* Inspired by true events, the highly anticipated new film by Oscar-nominated duo Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby is a meditation on a sailor’s unexpected voyage.
* Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis met at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, where they studied film, video and animation. Each went on to create their own works with the NFB (Wendy Tilby’s Strings and Jan Padgett’s The Reluctant Deckhand, animated by Amanda Forbis) before co-directing When the Day Breaks, which received an Oscar nomination and more than 30 international awards, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes. In 2012, their animated short film Wild Life received an Academy Award nomination, among other honours.

Perspectives program – Short Films in Competition

Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics (Meneath: l’île secrète de l’éthique) by Terril Calder (19 min 22 s) Producer: Jelena Popović (NFB); Consulting Producer: Jason Ryle Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/meneath
* In this stop-motion film, creator Terril Calder charts a challenging journey for a precocious Métis baby girl as she contemplates her path to Hell.
* The film’s crew includes sound designer Sacha Ratcliffe and music composer Judith Gruber-Stitzer.
* One of the foremost Métis media artists practising in Canada today, Terril Calder is a multi-disciplinary creator born in Fort Frances, Ontario, and currently living in Toronto.

Competition – TV and Commissioned Films

Magical Caresses: Sweet Jesus by Lori Malépart-Traversy (4 min) Producers: Julie Roy and Christine Noël (NFB) Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/magical-caresses
* The film takes a light and humorous approach to examining religion’s moral taboos around the female body and desires.
* A few years after her hugely successful film Le clitoris, animator Lori Malépart-Traversy is back with the animated documentary series Magical Caresses, which comprises five short films, including Sweet Jesus.
* With source material adapted from intimate accounts published in the Caresses magiques book series designed and edited by Sarah Gagnon-Piché and Sara Hébert, the animated doc series, including this film, features an all-female crew, among them animator Keyu Chen (Winds of Spring).

“NFB: New Spaces for Storytelling” Studio Focus

* A not-to-be-missed event on Tuesday, June 14, at 5:30 p.m. at the Impérial Palace – Salon Ravel: For this Studio Focus session—the first to be held in-person—the NFB will showcase its programming vision, more dedicated than ever to new forms of storytelling, through the voices of its women creators whose projects were selected for Annecy this year. Expect exclusive discoveries and captivating encounters with filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Terril Calder, and Lori Malépart-Traversy.
* Guests with festival accreditation can reserve a spot for the event at the box office.
* The Studio Focus sessions are a one-of-a-kind opportunity to explore the creative and technical processes of the world’s leading animation studios and chat with creators about their most recent projects.

Other events at MIFA
* In collaboration with Telefilm Canada, filmmakers taking part in Hothouse 13 and the first edition of Alambic, mostly from underrepresented communities, will be attending MIFA for professional meetings and networking. Hothouse and Alambic are the NFB’s apprenticeship initiatives for emerging animators, run by its English and French programs respectively.