Oct 29, 2013

NFB Presents Get Animated! An online showcase of free shorts

Yesterday, in honor of International Animation Day, the National Film Board of Canada launched a month-long online showcase of animated short films called Get Animated! Get Animated! This is the seventh year of the festival, but this is the first year that the NFB will showcase all of its films online. The collection of shorts will be online until November 30, and among them are gems:

Enjoy a selection of recent films that have won national and international awards this year: Patrick Bouchard's "Bydlo," which won awards at the Jutra and Clermont-Ferrand Film Festivals Awards. Diane Obomsawin's "Kaspar (Inspired by the Life of Kaspar Hauser)" won an award in Poznan, Poland; Michel Lemieux's "Here and the Great Elsewhere" won nine awards, including the Grand Prix at Cinanima in Portugal. Cinanima, Portugal, where it won nine awards, including the Grand Prix. Martine Chartrand's "MacPherson" won two awards at the Montreal World Film Festival. Paula, directed by Dominique Etienne Simard, won awards at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Canadian Screen Awards.

"Petra's Poem," a sensitive and moving film by Shira Avni; "Oedipus," a Canadian-Dutch co-production by Paul Driessen that won awards in Portugal and Brazil; inspired by the directors of Studio D and dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Shannon Jen Strom's Assembly, inspired by the directors of Studio D and dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Shannon; Sylvie Trouvet's Reflection, which explores Montreal through an abstract lens; and Jeffrey St. Jules' Let the Daylight into the Swamp, which won two awards at the Yorkton Two awards, including Best Film, went to. Elise Simard's "My Little Underground" is a somber and beautiful autobiographical tale.

"Get Animated! s website also includes spotlights on directors Theodore Ushev and Chris Landreth, whose films "Gloria Victoria" and "Subconscious Password" are each considered strong Oscar contenders this fall. In addition to their earlier films, the spotlight also features shorts by other filmmakers whom Ushev and Landreth admire.

(Disclosure: NFB is promoting the "Get Animated" festival at Cartoon Brew)