The 2023 Reelworld Film Festival in Toronto (November 1 to 7) will showcase powerful and intimate stories from National Film Board of Canada (NFB) creators, with premieres of Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma's animated short documentary Boat People and the feature documentary Lay Down Your Heart, directed by Marie Clements and written by Clements and Niall McNeil.
Working with the NFB's Ontario Studio in Toronto as well as the Animation & Interactive Studio in Montreal, Toronto creators Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma have crafted a striking metaphor to trace one family's flight across the turbulent waters of history in Boat People, which just received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short Film at the Calgary International Film Festival.
Winner of the Audience Award in the Portraits program at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Marie Clements' Lay Down Your Heart offers an intimate look into the life of Niall McNeil, an artist and performer with Down syndrome, and his remarkable chosen family.
Lam, Boersma, Clements and McNeil will all be in attendance at the festival.
Celebrating its 23rd year, Reelworld is Canada's longest running film festival and institute committed to advancing opportunities for Black, Indigenous, Asian, South Asian, and People of Colour in the Canadian screen industries.
More about the films
Boat People by Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma (10 min)
Toronto premiere
Producers: Justine Pimlott for the NFB's Ontario Studio and Jelena Popović for the NFB's English Program Animation & Interactive Studio
