(Images provided by the NFB)
December 15, 2020 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada
The holiday feast is overflowing right now on NFB.ca, and there’s no shortage of goodies! Once again this year, Ho Ho Holidays serves up a fun mix of popular classics and new titles for all ages. Also on the menu: the latest works from The Curve,our topical collection of projects exploring the pandemic, including films from the Beyond the Curve creative lab and The Future of Food; and 2020’s hidden gems, pointing up some of the best recent releases on NFB.ca, selected with care by our curators. Happy holidays and enjoy the films!
The NFB’s Ho Ho Holidays
Featuring beloved Christmas classics as well as new and acclaimed films for all ages, Ho Ho Holidays just keeps getting better. Joining this year’s lineup are Old Dog—Ann Marie Fleming’s tender tribute to an ageing pup—and Heidi Blomkvist’s enchantingly seasonal Lucretia. You’ll also find comedy gems like Jeff Hale’s The Great Toy Robbery; timeless tales for youngsters like theTi-Jean series from the 1950s;Sheldon Cohen’s iconicThe Sweater, adapted from Roch Carrier’s much-loved hockey story; Alanis Obomsawin’s classic Christmas at Moose Factory; the stop-motion adventures of Ludovic the teddy bear in Co Hoedeman’s series for kids; and much more. More than 50 films in all—and all free!
The Curve
The Curve collection offers stories from creators all over the country. Thematically linked, these works in documentary, animation and digital storytelling formats closely follow the ongoing developments of this COVID-19 era.
Theme: And Beyond…
Made in the Beyond the Curve creative lab, organized by the French Program Documentary Studio, these seven short films capture their creators’ perspectives on the pandemic’s multifaceted impacts in Quebec.
Online starting today:
As Night Descends by Nadine Gomez
Road’s End Chronicle by Nicolas Paquet
Sometimes I Wish I Was on a Desert Island by Eli Jean Tahchi
Jules’ Impossible Summer by Marie-Julie Dallaire
The Vigil by Christine Chevarie-Lessard
“Contact” – Requiem for a Word by Olivier D. Asselin
Sòl by Valérie Bah and Tatiana Zinga Botao
Online starting December 16:
The Future of Food by Jérémie Battaglia
What does the future of food look like in a post-COVID world? Take a unique journey in which resilience and local solidarity hold the key.
A film from Pivot, a project created by the McGill Sustainability Systems Initiative and the NFB (French Program’s Interactive Studio) that aims to shed light on the innovation and leadership of small and medium-sized businesses as we move toward a zero-carbon economy.
Follow #TheCurveNFB #LaCourbeONF to
learn more about The Curve’s creators and get news and sneak
peeks of upcoming works.
2020’s hidden gems
Of the 72 films launched in 2020, here—courtesy of the curators of the NFB’s collection—are a few gems that may have escaped your notice, but are definitely worth the watch!
Albert Ohayon’s picks (English blog)
- Gun Killersby Jason Young (short documentary, Nova Scotia)
- Becoming Labrador by Rohan Fernando, Tamara Segura and Justin Simms (feature-length documentary, NFLD and Labrador)
- Highway to Heaven by Sandra Ignagni (short documentary, B.C.)
- Balakrishnaby Colin MacKenzie and Aparna Kapur (animated short, Nova Scotia)
Marc St-Pierre’s picks (French blog)
- The Road Forwardby Marie Clements (feature-length musical documentary, B.C.)
- The Procession (Le cortège) by Pascal Blanchet and Rodolphe Saint-Gelais (animated short, Quebec)
First Stripes (Premières armes) by Jean-François Caissy (feature-length documentary, Quebec)
