Halifax, Nova Scotia - National Film Board of Canada

A harrowing tale of stranded seal hunters, a portrait of a political icon, a visionary homage to a Canadian film legend—these are just three of the seven National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films that will be showcased at the prestigious Atlantic Film Festival (September 11–18, 2014), one of Canada’s marquee cinephile destinations, drawing major international players in film, media and music to Halifax every year. Featuring three world premieres, the winner of the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award at Hot Docs, and a short that recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the NFB lineup reaffirms our commitment to world-class, groundbreaking Canadian documentary and animation filmmaking.

Quick facts

•    Danny – World premiere 

-    The NFB program opens with the world premiere of Danny, directed by Justin Simms and William D. MacGillivray and produced by the NFB’s Annette Clarke Over the course of his seven years as Premier, the feisty and shrewd Danny Williams transformed Newfoundland and Labrador from a “have not” into a “have” province. Danny is an eye-popping, entertaining and inspiring look—back-room anecdotes and all—at how Williams became the most beloved Canadian politician of his era, receiving unprecedented approval ratings during his tenure at the head of the province.
-    Award-winning screenwriter/director Justin Simms is a son of St. John’s whose debut feature, Down to the Dirt (2008), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Subsequent films include the NFB-produced docudrama Hard Light (2011) and the feature drama Hold Fast (2013). 
-    Also a native Newfoundlander, William D. MacGillivray is one of the country’s most respected filmmakers and the director of Canadian classics Stations (1983) and Life Classes (1987). MacGillivray is a recipient of the prestigious Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

•    54 Hours – World premiere

-    Produced by Annette Clarke, the moving and visionary 54 Hours marks the centenary of the 1914 sealing tragedy involving the SS Newfoundland, the last of the wooden sealing ships. 
-    Directors Bruce Alcock and Paton Francis relate the harrowing tale of the betrayal of 132 sealers, who were ordered to hunt seals on an icepack during a severe snowstorm. Seventy-eight men froze to death during two unbearably glacial nights while their ship was unable to break ice or radio for help. This strikingly inventive film tells the story in elegant and stirring fashion, disarming viewers with an array of narrative techniques, including survivor testimony, archival materials, animation and puppetry.
-    Newfoundland’s Bruce Alcock is an acclaimed animator and the founder of Global Mechanic, an innovative Vancouver-based design company. His NFB films include Impromptu (2013) and Vive la rose(2009). Fellow Newfoundlander Paton Francis is the animator/illustrator behind the NFB short Little Thunder and runs his own studio, Cardboard Treehouse; he is also related to some of the survivors of the 1914 sealing tragedy. 
-    Screenwriter Michael Crummey is an accomplished Canadian poet and writer whose work often draws on the history and landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador. His debut novel, River Thieves(2001), was shortlisted for the Giller Prize.
 
•    A Song for Cuba – World premiere

-    Directed by Cuba native Tamara Segura and produced by Annette Clarke, A Song for Cuba is an experimental documentary that addresses the nature of memory and music. The film follows a young Cuban couple charting a new course for their lives on an island in the North Atlantic.
-    Segura studied at the International Film and Television School in San Antonio de los Banos in her native country, and relocated to Newfoundland after experiencing the arduous process of applying for political asylum. Segura has received awards from festivals in Spain, Costa Rica, Mexico and her native Cuba, and is heralded as an emerging cinematic voice.

•    Wake – World premiere

-    Director and athlete Jenna Marks is a double threat who knows the subject of her film inside and out. Based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Marks is a recent graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design Film Academy and a talented sprint canoeist on CanoeKayak, Canada’s National Team. 
-    Produced by Michael Fukushima for the NFB, Wake fuses Marks’ pursuits of athletics and art. In the film, a woman looks out across a lake, where each drop of water contains a memory of a pioneer in women’s sports, preserved forever. Marks is herself a pioneering athlete in her discipline: the Olympics do not yet have a women’s canoe event, a fact Marks is hoping to change by the 2016 games.

•    Jutra – Nova Scotia premiere

-    Director Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre’s brilliant era-striding portrayal of legendary Quebec filmmaker Claude Jutra (Mon oncle Antoine) will have its Nova Scotia premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival.
-    Through an inspired use of animation and skilful editing, Saint-Pierre shatters the boundaries of documentary filmmaking in sequences where NFB alumnus Jutra seemingly converses with himself, bringing her subject to life in a way he would have especially appreciated. Co-produced by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre (MJSTP) and Marc Bertrand (NFB), this short film returns to Canada after a screening at the respected Director’s Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival.

•    Out of Mind, Out of Sight – Nova Scotia premiere

-    Four-time Emmy-winning director John Kastner’s latest NFB co-produced documentary will have its Nova Scotia premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival.
-    Out of Mind, Out of Sight is the follow-up to the Toronto filmmaker’s acclaimed 2013 documentary,NCR: Not Criminally Responsible. Named Best Canadian Feature Documentary at the 2014 Hot Docs festival, the film intermingles the powerful stories of four patients, documented during an unprecedented 18 months of shooting inside the Brockville Mental Health Centre. 
-    Out of Mind, Out of Sight is produced, directed and written by John Kastner. The film’s producers are Deborah Parks, with Silva Basmajian as producer and executive producer for the NFB. The film is produced by J.S. Kastner Productions and the NFB, and was commissioned by TVO.
 
•    Self(less) Portrait – Nova Scotia premiere

-    Danic Champoux’s bold reinvention of the POV documentary genre will have its Nova Scotia premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival.
-    Fifty people bravely share a multitude of personal subjects on camera, ranging from the funny to the heartbreaking. A human mosaic emerges from these stories, one with which we can all identify, and one that celebrates the diversity of human experience. An atypical, free-form film, Self(less) Portraitbreathes new life into the documentary genre and serves as a fascinating compendium of raw emotions. 
-    Self(less) Portrait was written and directed by Danic Champoux through NFB French Program’s Filmmaker-in-Residence program. The film was produced for the NFB by Colette Loumède.

src:news.gc.ca