The National Film Board of Canada will have another strong slate of films at this year's Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie (FICFA, the international festival of francophone films in Acadia), which will be screening four NFB-produced or co-produced animated shorts. These films tell their unique, funny and touching stories in the classic NFB tradition of auteur animation. The 35th FICFA will take place online and in Greater Moncton from November 11 to 19, 2021, with the animation selection to be featured at in-person screenings only.
QUICK FACTS
The four animated shorts selected for FICFA 2021:
- Mauvaises herbes (Bad Seeds) by Claude Cloutier, the third animated film by this veteran, award-winning animator to be screened as part of FICFA, following Sleeping Betty (2007) and Carface (2015).
- Chroniques du Centre-Sud (Centre-Sud Chronicles) by Richard Suicide and Le syndrome de la tortue (The Turtle Syndrome) by Samuel Cantin, two highly entertaining films that are part of the second edition of the NFB-produced Comic Strip Chronicles, a collection of shorts that celebrates the strong affinity between comic books and animation.
- Comme un fleuve (Flowing Home / Nhu môt dòng sông) by Sandra Desmazières, a finely crafted paper animation film currently winning acclaim on the Canadian and international festival circuits.
Mauvaises herbes (Bad Seeds) by Claude Cloutier (6 min 22 s)
Co-produced by L'Unité centrale and the NFB
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/bad-seeds
- Growth goes hand-in-hand with rivalry, and evolution with competition, in this shocking animated duel that's peppered with allusions to the western film, the Cold War, board games, and much more.
- Having lost none of his trademark ink-on-paper drawing style and absurdist humour, Claude Cloutier serves up the latest of 12 animated films produced or co-produced with the NFB.
- Among the awards received in 2021: Best Animation, NYC Short Film Festival; Prix du public de la compétition internationale, Sommets du cinéma d'animation, Montreal; Animated Short Grand Jury Prize, Calgary International Film Festival.
Chroniques du Centre-Sud (Centre-Sud Chronicles) by Richard Suicide (4 min)
Produced by the NFB
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/chronicles-2021
- In Montreal's Centre-Sud borough, a writer finds inspiration by observing his ingenious neighbour, Piton. This animated short offers a wildly funny portrait of a district in the midst of a full-blown transformation, and is voiced in English by Harry Standjofski.
- Richard Beaulieu (a.k.a. Richard Suicide) has been a major figure in the Quebec underground graphic novel scene. Chroniques du Centre-Sud won the Prix Marc-Olivier Lavertu (2014) and the Bédélys Québec award for comic book of the year (2015).
- Award: École NAD Award for Best Animation, Fantastiques week-ends du cinéma québécois, Fantasia International Film Festival, Montreal (2021).
Le syndrome de la tortue (The Turtle Syndrome) by Samuel Cantin (4 min)
Produced by the NFB
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/chronicles-2021
- What could the illness afflicting Henri Castagnette be? Overwhelmed by anxiety, the young man puts his fate in the hands of the exuberant Dr. Von Strudel.
- This frenzied and hilarious medical tale is voiced in English by Marcel Jeannin and Wyatt Bowen.
- Comic book artist and screenwriter Samuel Cantin published the first volume of Whitehorse in 2015 and won the Bédélys award for best comic published in Quebec. Volume 2 was released in 2017 and published as a collected edition in Cantin also wrote the screenplay for the short film Monsieur Cachemire.
Comme un fleuve (Flowing Home / Nhu môt dòng sông) by Sandra Desmazières (15 min)
Co-produced by Les Films de l'Arlequin and the NFB
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/flowing-home-nhu-mot-dong-song
- The child of a Vietnamese mother and French father, Sandra Desmazières has crafted an award-winning animated short about two sisters who are separated by war for nearly 20 years. The letters they exchange are their only way to connect as Thao and Sao Maï write about their everyday lives, their memories, war and its ghosts.
- Among the awards received in 2021: Best Animation, 2021 LA Shorts International Film Festival and Special Mention, Short of the Year, Autumn Festival.
- In Canada, the film has been selected to screen at the FIN Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, among others.
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