May highlights on nfb.ca will feature Asian Heritage Month special programming, as Prajwala Dixit's love, amma and the world premiere of Weiye Su's A Passage Beyond Fortune join the National Film Board of Canada's growing online collection, and the NFB hosts online conversation with animators of Asian descent on May 10 and 17.
Canadian Jewish Heritage Month will be celebrated with an NFB channel honouring the important contributions that Jewish Canadians have made to Canada's social, economic, political and cultural fabric.
There are also world premieres of documentaries from across Canada: Quebec filmmaker Christine Chevarie-Lessard's NFB/Avenida feature doc A Delicate Balance and Vancouver filmmaker lori lozinski's A Motorcycle Saved My Life, a deeply personal short doc from the roads of Northern Alberta.
The talents of Canadian creators are in the spotlight as the NFB honours this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards laureates with seven new film portraits.
In all, nfb.ca now features more than 6,000 online films as well as a collection of over 100 interactive works.
Starting April 29 | International Dance Day | Online premiere
- Quebec filmmaker Christine Chevarie-Lessard's NFB/Avenida co-produced feature A Delicate Balance takes an introspective look at four aspiring ballet dancers who candidly tell their stories and share their hopes and dreams.
Starting May 1 | Asian Heritage Month | NFB's Asian Communities in Canada and Animation by Women of Asian Descent channels
Over 50 titles are showcased in these two NFB online channels, including:
- Sandra Desmazières' Les Films de l'Arlequin/NFB co-produced Flowing Home (Như một dòng sông), an award-winning animated short about two sisters separated by war for nearly 20 years;
- Julia Kwan's animated short The Zoo, following the parallel lives of a polar bear cub and a Chinese boy who visits him until they're both in their twilight years;
- Baljit Sangra's Because We Are Girls, a powerful feature documentary about three sisters from a South Asian family in small-town B.C. breaking the silence on past sexual abuse to protect younger relatives and set an example for their own daughters.
Starting May 1 | Canadian Jewish Heritage Month | NFB's Canadian Jewish Heritage Month channel
There are 23 new and classic titles in this stellar collection, including:
- Donald Brittain and Don Owen's 1965 Direct Cinema landmark Ladies and Gentlemen... Leonard Cohen;
- Kitra Cahana's Perfecting the Art of Longing, a powerful meditation on love and hope filmed remotely with her father, a quadriplegic rabbi cut off from his loved ones during the pandemic lockdown;
- Hart Snider's The Basketball Game, an animated short about an epic basketball game between kids at Jewish summer camp and students of a notorious local Holocaust denier, also available as a graphic novel from Firefly Books.
Starting May 2 | Asian Heritage Month | Online premiere
- In Prajwala Dixit's love, amma, a young mother diagnosed with borderline personality disorder writes a letter to her daughter about their family's collective journey to acceptance.
Starting May 9 | Asian Heritage Month | NFB Blog
- A new NFB Curator's Perspective on "NFB Animation by Filmmakers of Asian Descent: A Brief History."
On May 10 and 17 | Asian Heritage Month | Online conversation with animators of Asian descent
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May 10 at 12 p.m. ET | In French
Conversation with animators Sandra Desmazières (Flowing Home) and Keyu Chen (Un printemps), moderated by Emilie Nguyen Ngoc.
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May 17 at 1 p.m. ET | In English
Conversation with Howie Shia (Flutter, BAM, 4 North A) and Thao Lam (Boat People), moderated by Anne Koizumi.
- Visit: events.nfb.ca for more details.
Starting May 15 | Online premiere
- In A Motorcycle Saved My Life, the open road presents a point of departure for director lori lozinski to process deep-seated grief;
- Accompanied by an NFB blog post about road movies in NFB history.
Starting May 22 | Asian Heritage Month | World premiere
- Weiye Su's A Passage Beyond Fortune is an homage to the buried history of Chinese-Canadian communities in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan;
- The film will also be making its in-person premiere at a community screening in Moose Jaw on May 24, with the director in attendance.
Starting May 27 | Governor General's Performing Arts Awards | World premieres
Seven short film portraits of the 2023 Governor General's Performing Arts Awards laureates will premiere online May 27 starting at 9 p.m. ET, immediately following the National Arts Centre gala.
These NFB shorts bring together acclaimed filmmakers, NFB producers and creative teams from across the country to create short cinematic tributes to Canadian performing arts legends.
