Always on the cutting edge of creativity, the National Film Board will be at the REGARD Festival in Saguenay from March 22 to 26, with eight short docs and animated films made by NFB studios across Canada, exploring an array of subjects in a range of styles. The lineup includes the world premiere of Fire-Jo Ball by filmmaker Audrey Nantel-Gagnon, about a 57-year-old bartender with big dreams, and the Canadian premiere of Janice Nadeau's Harvey (NFB/Folimage), which screened at Clermont-Ferrand and was inspired by the eponymous graphic novel by Saguenay writer Hervé Bouchard about a child's grief.
Quick facts
- Official competition: Fire-Jo Ball by Audrey Nantel-Gagnon, presented as a world premiere, and The Flying Sailor (Le matelot volant) by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, which is up for an Oscar this year.
- Youth competition: Harvey by Janice Nadeau, having its Canadian premiere, and Magical Caresses - Masturbation: A Short History of a Great Taboo by Lori Malépart-Traversy.
- "Territoires" section: Heartbeat of a Nation (Le cœur battant d'une nation) by Éric Janvier.
- Festival Présence autochtone's carte blanche selection: Mobilize (Mobiliser) by Caroline Monnet, Florent Vollant: I Dream in Innu (Florent Vollant: Je rêve en innu) by Nicolas Renaud, and Now Is the Time (Maintenant plus que jamais) by Christopher Auchter.
Official competition
Fire-Jo Ball, Audrey Nantel-Gagnon (15 minutes) - WORLD PREMIERE
Producer: Nathalie Cloutier for the NFB's Quebec, Canadian Francophonie & Acadian Documentary Studio
