NFB at Annecy-MIFA: the challenges and future of the Canadian animation

‘Our studio is coming back to life after two pandemic years. Although some filmmakers had continuous access to our facilities during the various lockdown phases that began in March 2020, we are now bringing most of our creators back within our walls, along with all of our technical and administrative staff. This pandemic has definitely revolutionized the world of work, and the animation industry is no exception’, initiated Christine Noel.
 

The executive said that the Studio is in a ‘transitional phase’ at the moment. The filmmakers who over the past 10 years were seen as representing the emerging generation of Canadian animation —Theodore Ushev, Patrick Bouchard and Diane Obomsawin— ‘are clearly now experienced filmmakers with well-established careers’. 

She has been developing creative relationships with several new voices in animation. ‘We’ve been seeking out distinctive graphic looks and personal artistic visions of animation from creators who’ve rarely or never worked with us. We’ve made sure to maintain gender parity among directors. And we are also committed to ensuring representation of creators from racialized, Indigenous and LGBTQ2+ communities, as well as neurodivergent people, in keeping with the NFB’s diversity, equity and inclusion commitments and objectives’. 

Her arrival at the Studio in January 2021 coincided with the completion of a tour of conversations with the animator community. ‘It begun in January 2020, and provided the opportunity to discuss issues facing the Studio, as well as the place of creators and animation at the NFB, with no fewer than 42 filmmakers. Concretely, those conversations were a way to sound out potential redefinitions of the role of creators at the NFB. This consultation exercise was very enriching to my thinking about the Studio’, she underlined. 

Rob McLaughlin commented that the English animation studio has recently expanded to now include the digital team inside English Program. ‘Called the Animation and Interactive Studio, the expansion is a reflection of our deep commitment to the genre of animation filmmaking and a dedication to experimentation in all its forms. The studio slate currently has 17 animation film projects in various stages of production and development and another 15 experimental immersive and interactive projects’. 

Regarding projects, Noel enumerated the stop-motion series produced with Clyde Henry Productions (the duo of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski) La jeune fille qui pleurait des perles by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski; and Le tableau by Michèle Lemieux resumed in the fall of 2021 from the French director Nicolas Liguori, who was among the eight filmmakers selected by the CNC in 2015 for an experimental residency on the Épinette pinscreen after its acquisition by the CNC. 

‘At Annecy, we had in competition TV and Commissioned Films like Magical Caresses (5x4’), a series of animated documentaries by Lori Malépart-Traversy, creator of the popular short film Le clitoris. And Episode 3: Sweet Jesus, an animated short takes a light and humorous approach to examining religion’s moral taboos around the female body and desires’, she added. 

Mc Laughlin remarked that he is ‘proud’ to have Terril Calder’s stop-motion tour de force Meneath competing at this year’s festival in the Perspectives program. In this stop-motion film, creator Terril Calder charts a challenging journey for a precocious Métis baby girl as she contemplates her path to Hell. 

‘We’re also thrilled to celebrate the world premiere of The Flying Sailor, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis’s latest work, produced by David Christensen from the NFB’s North West Studio. Presented in “Short Films – Official Competition”, the film is inspired by true events. This highly anticipated new film by Oscar-nominated duo Forbis and Tilby is a meditation on a sailor’s unexpected voyage’. 

Challenges? ‘In French Canada, especially in Quebec, there are more and more independent prodcos specialized in animation. As recently as 10 years ago, there were few production centers dedicated to director-driven animated shorts, other than MJSTP Films (it has produced the majority of projects by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre) and L’Unité centrale. At the time, that genre of shorts was being produced mainly at the NFB’, said Noel. 

And she added: ‘The indie production ecosystem has grown, with new players who are redefining the genre and working with new creators: E.D. Films (Giant Bear by Daniel Gies), Bravo Charlie (Theodore Ushev’s The Wolf), Parce Que Films (Joël Vaudreuil’s works), H264 Production, and Embuscade Films, which not only produces animation short subjects but features as well, including Archipelago by Félix Dufour-Laperrière. 

The issue right now is the scarcity of labour and talented craftspeople, especially animators who are willing to work on those types of productions. ‘The competition for talent is definitely coming from the major studios, which recruit all over the world, gaming companies, which have a strong presence in Montreal with Ubisoft, but now also from these newer production companies. It’s a nice problem to have, because it’s a reflection of the great vitality and creativity of our industry’, concluded Noel. Mc Laughlin said animated productions ‘are plentiful and thriving’ in Canada in all sectors: film, television, gaming. ‘The volume of projects creates challenges for all productions looking to secure crew and experienced talent’, he completed. 

 

To conclude, the executives talk about the future. ‘The English studio has just begun to take advantage of the newly expanded team. We are excited to see the results from combining the groundbreaking interactive and immersive work of the Digital Studio with the legendary, genre-defining practice of the Animation Studio. We know we will be better able to serve the larger animation community and artists across Canada with our specialized expertise, and we are focussed on continuing to produce works that are recognized globally for their creative excellence and innovation’, Mc Laughlin ended. 

 

And Noel concluded: ‘A major project that we’ll soon be busy with involves the future of the NEC pinscreen, which the NFB acquired in the early 1970s from Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker. With the death of animator Jacques Drouin on August 28 of last year, and Michèle Lemieux’s latest film, Le tableau, due for completion next year, we have to consider the future of the NEC once again. We also have to consider the transmission of knowledge about the instrument for the long term. Lastly, we also want to make sure we develop younger artists in the use of the tool’.