MONTREAL – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) announced Wednesday its NFB.ca fall lineup will include the premieres of two new feature documentaries in September along with special online programming.
Starting Sept. 5, director Brian D. Johnson’s 2022 award-winning Sphinx Productions/NFB co-production The Colour of Ink will premiere on the NFB’s website. An Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, the film received the Canadian Screen Award for Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary this year.
“The Colour of Ink uncovers the mystery and power of our oldest medium through the eyes of Jason Logan, a visionary Toronto inkmaker who harvests colours from the natural world to make ink from just about anything,” reads a description in an NFB press release.
On Sept. 25, Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok’s 2022 feature documentary from British Columbia, Unarchived, will premiere online at NFB.ca.
“In community archives across British Columbia, local knowledge keepers are hand-fashioning a more inclusive history. Through a collage of personal interviews, archival footage and deeply rooted memories, the past, present and future come together in Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok’s Unarchived – fighting for a space where everyone is seen and everyone belongs,” reads a synopsis.
Several NFB online channels are also marking key dates and events in September.
Starting Sept. 11, the NFB’s Latin America on Screen channel will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Chilean coup d’état with special programming. NFB collection curator Camilo Martín-Flórez has published this week a special Curator’s Perspective on what the coup in Chile has meant for Chileans and democracy. Highlights of the Curator’s Perspective and channel include two landmark works by distinguished Chilean directors: Patricio Guzmán’s Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997) and Patricio Henríquez’s The Dark Side of the White Lady (2006).
Starting Sept. 20, the NFB will showcase its Ottawa International Animation Festival channel, which brings together many of the NFB animated shorts that have been honoured at the festival since 1976. New hits being featured include Terril Calder’s Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics (2021) and Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby’s Oscar nominee The Flying Sailor (2022).
To help mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30, the NFB’s Residential Schools channel will feature a selection of films about the tragic impact of residential schools in Canada. This 18-film collection includes such classic works as Gil Cardinal’s profoundly personal Foster Child (1987), alongside more recent films such as Marie Clements’ musical documentary The Road Forward (2017).
To mark Gender Equality Week in Canada during the fourth week of September, the NFB will showcase its Representing Gender Equality and Diversity channel, which offers a selection of films on the important contributions of women and gender-diverse communities in Canada. The collection includes such award winners as Courtney Montour’s Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again (2021) and Sheona McDonald’s Into Light (2021).
The NFB also announced a special immersive virtual reality installation, CHOM5KY vs CHOMSKY: A playful conversation on AI, will have its North American premiere at the NFB Space in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles, running from Sept. 6 through Oct. 15. “Created by Sandra Rodriguez and co-produced by the NFB and Germany’s Schnelle Bunte Bilder, CHOM5KY vs CHOMSKY is an engaging shared VR experience that lets participants take part in a fun and collaborative exploration,” the NFB’s press release says.
Images of (l-r) Unarchived, CHOM5KY vs CHOMSKY and The Colour of Ink provided by the National Film Board of Canada.
