The NFB At The 2013 Montreal World Film Festival Two world premieres and one North American premiere at WFF

Montreal – A trio of National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films will be shown at Montreal’s 37th World Film Festival (WFF), taking place from August 22 to September 2. Absences, by Carole Laganière, is screening in the Documentaries of the World category, while Emmanuelle Loslier’s short film Inspector Street is screening in the World Competition category; both will be having their world premieres. The animated short Soup of the Day, by Lynn Smith, will be screened for the first time in North America, in the Focus on World Cinema section.

Absences – WORLD PREMIERE
Produced at the NFB by Colette Loumède, Absences was directed by Carole Laganière through the NFB’s filmmaker-in-residence program, which gives selected applicants an opportunity to make films in a unique environment with total creative freedom.

Through its portrayal of four protagonists who are each confronted with some form of absence, Laganière’s film explores the painful inner regions of the psyche, where our sense of loss and resiliency coexist. Ines returns to Croatia hoping to find the mother who abandoned her in 1993 during the war in the former Yugoslavia; Deni, an American writer (Cures for Hunger, Goose Lane Editions, 2012), goes in search of his Quebec roots to piece together the story of his family and fill the void of an uncertain and fragile identity; Nathalie is looking for her sister, Marilyn, who disappeared suddenly, over five years ago; and the film’s director experiences her own intimate tragedy as she copes with the progressive estrangement of her mother, whose memory is slowly being consumed by Alzheimer’s disease. Absences subtly weaves links between these individuals, forming a chain of life built on loss. To unify these strands, the filmmaker chose the metaphor of hotel rooms, where human emotions play out in ever-changing succession. The result is a work of many voices that explores the infinite nuances of emotion. After winning several awards for her fiction works (Le mouchoir de poche, The Day Off and Aline), Laganière is now devoting her talents exclusively to documentary, a genre that allows her to focus on both social and artistic concerns. She won the Best Canadian Documentary award at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival in 2002, for The Fiancée of Life, and in 2003, for The Moon and the Violin. She subsequently directed East End Kids and East End Forever. Both helped establish her as a mature artist with a compassionate and insightful perspective.

The filmmaker and the film’s protagonists will attend the world premiere at the WFF. Absences will have its theatrical release at the Ex-Centris cinema in Montreal starting on September 20.

Inspector Street – WORLD PREMIERE
Director Emmanuelle Loslier transforms a newspaper forgotten on a park bench into a performance directed by strange and fantastical creatures in her highly original film Inspector Street, which combines animation, urban landscapes, hints of the surreal, humour and fantasy.

This animated film without words is screening in the World Competition category. It was produced by Julie Roy through the NFB’s Cinéaste recherché(e) competition, a biennial initiative that allows winning filmmakers to direct their first professional animated film at the NFB French Program’s Animation and Youth Studio. Inspector Street will have its world premiere at the WWF.

Emmanuelle Loslier has already garnered an award; her graduation film Tic Tac (2007), made at Concordia University, won the award for best production at the 2007 WFF Canadian Student Film Festival.

Soup of the Day – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Co-produced by Marcy Page (NFB) and Lynn Smith, Soup of the Day, by filmmaker Lynn Smith, will be screened in the Focus on World Cinema section.

Set to a rollicking doo-wop song by Canadian songwriter Alexander (Zander) Ary, this animated short tells the story of the dilemma a husband and wife face every time they go out to eat. Will their culinary differences douse the flames of romance, or will love prevail? Director Lynn Smith brings her gouache paintings to life, animating directly under the camera and serving up a tour de force of storytelling. In this unique interpretation of a funny, loving song, vocalists Susie Arioli and Zander Ary add a dash of tenderness to the colourful animated couple.

Soup of the Day was screened at the latest Annecy International Animation Film Festival and recently won the SICAF Choice Award in the Special Competition category at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival. Lynn Smith will be present for the North American premiere of her film.

About the NFB

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 4 Canadian Screen Awards, 7 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.