Celebrate Animation Day with the NFB

From a media release - you can check out the schedule of screenings and actitvities for Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver at NFB.ca/getanimated and check here for exclusive online programming.

“GET ANIMATED!” WITH FREE ANIMATION SCREENINGS AND ACTIVITIES
FROM THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA

Get Animated!

Toronto, October 12, 2010 – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is launching the fourth edition of Get Animated!, a series of free animation screenings and activities from October 26 to November 7, 2010, in cities across Canada. An internationally renowned producer of auteur animation, the NFB created Get Animated! as its contribution to International Animation Day, October 28.

Get Animated! will feature new releases from the NFB’s Oscar-winning animation studios, a Fairy Tales for All program for all ages, master classes by renowned NFB animators as well as additional programming in selected cities. The NFB website will also offer a special Get Animated! playlist at .

Get Animated! kicks off in Toronto at the NFB Mediatheque, where it runs from October 26 to 31, followed by Montreal at the NFB CinéRobothèque (October 28–31), Winnipeg (October 28–31), Edmonton (October 28), Halifax (October 28–29, November 6–7), Vancouver (October 28–November 1), Moncton (October 31) and Calgary (November 6–7). For the complete schedule, visit NFB.ca/getanimated.   
New releases
 
Ten new animated releases will be featured in Get Animated! this year, including Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life, a puppet-animated work by Oscar nominees Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli), based on the book by Maurice Sendak, featuring the voices of Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker and produced in association with Warner Home Video.
 
Other new releases in Get Animated! include Lipsett Diaries, a film by Theodore Ushev, written by Chris Robinson, exploring the life and work of legendary Canadian experimental filmmaker Arthur Lipsett; and Nicolas Brault’s Folimage/NFB co-production The Circus, winner of the Public Award for Best Canadian Short Film at the Montreal World Film Festival.

Highlights also include acclaimed new shorts like Claude Cloutier’s The Trenches, Marie-Hélène Turcotte’s The Formation of Clouds, Karl Lemieux’s Mamori, Andrea Dorfman’s Flawed, Matthew Talbot-Kelly’s Glimpse Digital/NFB co-production The Trembling Veil of Bones and Valère Lommel’s The Barewolf.

In addition, Get Animated! showcases new animation from Nunavut this year, with Jonathan Wright’s The Bear Facts, created at the Nunavut Animation Lab.

Fairy Tales for All

This year, Get Animated! also offers a selection of award-winning films for fairy tale lovers of all ages.

There’s Janet Perlman’s Academy Award nominee The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin and Claude Cloutier’s Sleeping Betty, a playful retelling of the classic tale “Sleeping Beauty” that won over 20 awards including the Genie for Best Animated Short.

Fairy Tales for All also features two animated medieval tales of bravery: Carles Porta Garcia’s François le Vaillant (NFB/Folimage), winner of the Special International Jury Prize at the International Animation Festival, and Pierre-Luc Granjon’s Molly in Springtime, co-produced by Folimage, Piwi, Divertissement Subséquence and the NFB, and named Best Animation at the Banff World Television Festival.

Master classes

Get Animated! will offer animation master classes in Calgary (led by Cam Christiansen, The Real Place), Winnipeg (Anita Lebeau, Louise), Vancouver (Matthew Talbot-Kelly, The Trembling Veil of Bones) and Halifax (Andrea Dorfman, Flawed).

Montreal’s CinéRobothèque will feature master classes from Theodore Ushev and Chris Robinson (Lipsett Diaries), as well as filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski and puppeteer Marcelle Hudon, creators of Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life.

In Toronto, the Mediatheque will screen 3D stereoscopic short films from the NFB’s Hothouse program for emerging filmmakers and present a discussion on the future of 3D filmmaking with Maral Mohammadian, associate producer and production manager of NFB’s 3D StereoLab unit, and Hothouse filmmakers Megan Turnbull and Zane Kozak.

About International Animation Day

International Animation Day, October 28, is an annual celebration in over 40 countries initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) in 2002. Norman McLaren was the first president of ASIFA, and the NFB is proud to be bringing this global celebration to Canadian communities for the fourth consecutive year.

About the National Film Board of Canada

The NFB has led the way in auteur animation since 1941, when Norman McLaren founded its first animation unit. Since then, NFB animators have created groundbreaking films using a wide array of techniques and styles. Today, the NFB is creating visionary new works at its renowned animation studios in Montreal and at NFB centres across Canada, as well as via international co-productions with many of the world’s leading auteur animators. As the digital media revolution changes the way animation is created and experienced, the NFB is exploring new approaches in 3D stereoscopic animation at its StereoLab and developing content for new platforms. It’s also working to develop the next generation of Canadian animation pioneers through its mentorship work with emerging filmmakers.

Since 1939, the NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. The NFB’s new website features over 1,800 productions online, and its iPhone and iPad apps are among the most popular and talked-about downloads. Visit NFB.ca today and start watching.