The NFB at the 2022 Ottawa International Animation Festival. Four NFB-produced or co-produced films screening in competition, with a special presentation of Borislav Kolev’s documentary Theodore Ushev: Unseen Connections.

With a selection of six short films—four of which are in competition, including The Flying Sailor by renowned filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis—and the world premiere of a feature documentary screening as a special presentation, as well as a retrospective, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) takes pride of place at the 2022 Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF). The largest festival devoted solely to animation in North America, the OIAF will run from September 21 to 25.

Quick Facts – The NFB at the OIAF

• Narrative Short Animation (official competition): The Flying Sailor by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis and 100 Miles by Louis Bodart
• Animated Series category (official competition): Magical Caresses – Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo (Caresses magiques – Masturbation: la petite histoire d’un grand tabou) by Lori Malépart-Traversy and The Great List of Everything 2 – The Bathtub (La liste des choses qui existent 2 – Le bain) by Francis Papillon
• Special Presentation: Theodore Ushev: Unseen Connections by Borislav Kolev, a world premiere
• Canadian Panorama: 50 ans Vidéographe by Karl Lemieux and Baek-il by Grace An
• John Weldon retrospective

Narrative Short Animation (official competition)

The Flying Sailor by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (7 min 45 s)
Produced by David Christensen for the NFB’s North West Studio in Edmonton
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-flying-sailor

• Inspired by true events, this new film by Oscar-nominated duo Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby is a meditation on a sailor’s unexpected voyage.
• The short film made its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and is having its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It also won the award for Best Narrative Film at Animafest Cyprus 2022.
• 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.

100 Miles by Louis Bodart (1 min)
Produced by Maral Mohammadian for the NFB’s English Program Animation and Interactive Studio in Montreal
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/100-miles

• Are we there yet? When the kids act up in the back seat, a family road trip gets knocked hilariously off course.
• Produced as part of the 13th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse
• Louis Bodart’s graduation film, Teddy Bear Rescue, was widely screened at festivals, winning awards at the Feel the Reel, Short to the Point and Les Percéides fests.

Animated Series category (official competition)

Magical Caresses – Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo (Caresses magiques – Masturbation: la petite histoire d’un grand tabou) by Lori Malépart-Traversy (4 min)
Produced by Julie Roy and Christine Noël for the NFB’s French Program Animation Studio in Montreal
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/magical-caresses

• Animator Lori Malépart-Traversy is back with the animated documentary series Magical Caresses, which comprises five short films, including Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo, selected for this year’s OIAF. This short looks back at the surprising story of our relationship with masturbation—and its repression—from prehistory to today.
• The short film made its world premiere at the 2022 Sommets du cinéma d’animation in Montreal, where it won the award for Best Educational Film. Another film in the series, Sweet Jesus (Doux Jésus), screened in competition at Annecy.
• Lori Malépart-Traversy’s graduation film, Le clitoris, was an international hit both on the festival circuit and online.

The Great List of Everything 2 – The Bathtub (La liste des choses qui existent 2 – Le bain) by Francis Papillon (3 min)
Co-produced by Anne-Marie Bousquet and Marc Bertrand for the NFB’s French Program Animation Studio in Montreal, Solen Labrie Trépanier for La Pastèque, in collaboration with Télé-Québec and with the financial participation of the Shaw Rocket Fund
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/the-great-list-of-everything-season-2

• Based on a French-language comic book, The Great List of Everythingfeatures artists Cathon and Iris—two curious, quirky and imaginative young women. Don’t believe everything Cathon and Iris tell you about everyday objects!
• The Bathtub episode: In the spirit of sustainability, Iris offers to leave her bathwater for Cathon—but a minor detail gives her pause. Fun (or maybe not-so-fun) fact: during the Renaissance, people avoided bathing for fear that microbes would get into their bodies!
• Francis Papillon is a director, illustrator and animator who has created several online educational and animated shorts (Explique-moi ça!,La COVID expliquée aux enfants, Récolte), the short films Un sacré mariage, Clara and Je m’excuse, the animated web series Ahchiouta’a for APTN, and The Great List of Everything (series 1 and 2).

Special Presentation

Theodore Ushev: Unseen Connections by Borislav Kolev (78 min) – WORLD PREMIERE
Co-produced by Borislav Kolev, Maria Landova and Eli Kovalev for Projector Ltd. (Bulgaria), and Marc Bertrand for the NFB’s French Program Animation Studio in Montreal
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/theodore-ushev-unseen-connections

• Theodore Ushev, the auteur behind a number of renowned animated shorts, reveals his inner universe, formed by a half-century of personal experience acquired in a constantly changing world. In this feature documentary, Ushev reminisces about the “unseen connections” in his life—biographical and historical, cultural and subcultural. Connections that shaped him as a person and an artist.

Canadian Panorama

50 ans Vidéographe by Karl Lemieux (1 min 44 s)
Produced by Anne-Marie Bousquet for the NFB’s French Program Animation Studio in Montreal

• This film is an homage made using traditional animation with 16mm film stock. It’s a multi-layered work, remixing textures and materials to gradually reveal Vidéographe’s 50th-anniversary logo.

Baek-il by Grace An (1 min)
Produced by Maral Mohammadian for the NFB’s English Program Animation and Interactive Studio in Montreal
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/baek-il

• The Korean legend of Ungnyeo, a bear reborn as a woman, becomes a percussive and mesmerizing riff on the themes of transformation and quarantine. This film has been produced as part of the 13th edition of the NFB’s Hothouse

John Weldon retrospective

The OIAF pays homage to multi-talented artist John Weldon, best known for the Log Driver’s Waltz, one of the most popular Canadian animations of all time, as well as for the Oscar he won with Eunice Macaulay in 1979 for Special Delivery. Details on the retrospective: animationfestival.ca/festival/specialscreenings

Jury members

On this year’s jury will be award-winning NFB producer Marc Bertrand, a Franco-Ontarian from Hawkesbury, and Cree-Métis Orkney filmmaker Terill Calder, whose film Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics screened in competition at last year’s OIAF.

Associated Links

Calgary International Film Festival
La Pastèque
Télé-Québec
Shaw Rocket Fund

French version here | Version française ici.

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a leader in exploring animation as an artform, a storytelling medium and innovative content for emerging platforms. It produces trailblazing animated works both in its Montreal studios and across  the country, and it works with many of the world’s leading creators on international co-productions. NFB productions have won more than 7,000 awards, including seven Oscars for NFB animation and seven grand prizes at the Annecy festival. To access this unique content, visit NFB.ca.