[1]The National Film Board of Canada [1] (NFB) is launching the fifth edition of Get Animated! [2] from October 22 to November 6, 2011, and offering an expanded array of free animation screenings and activities in over 20 cities across Canada. Get Animated! is being presented by the NFB in partnership with local organizations, showcasing great animation on the big screen in YOUR community, in celebration of International Animation Day, October 28.
International Animation Day is an annual celebration in over 40 countries, initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) in 2002. Norman McLaren was the first president of ASIFA, and the NFB is proud to be bringing this global celebration to Canadian communities for the fifth consecutive year.
Get Animated! features the finest—and some of the funniest—new releases from the NFB’s Oscar-winning animation studios, a family program for all ages, master classes by renowned NFB animators, workshops on how to make your own animated films and meet-the-director sessions.
Get Animated! is coming to a location [2] near you:
October 22–23 – Richmond
October 22, 26 & November 5 – Vancouver
October 22, 26 & 29 – Windsor
October 26–30 – Charlottetown
October 27 – 28: Halifax
October 27 – 30: Montreal
October 27–30 & November 2 – Toronto
October 28 – Stephenville
October 28–30 & November 5 – Winnipeg
October 29 – Edmonton
October 29 – Moncton
October 30 – Flin Flon
October 30 – Whitehorse
October 30 & November 4 – Prince George
November 1 – Abbotsford
November 1 – Saskatoon
November 2, 5, 6 – Regina
November 5 – Kitchener
November 5 – Yellowknife
November 6 – Calgary
Ten exciting new animated releases, as well as a kids’ program, are featured in Get Animated! this year, which includes Big Drive by Anita Lebeau, the story of a family road trip across the Canadian prairies set in the 1970s. An exuberant exploration of childhood imagination, Big Drive invites audiences of all ages to see the world as it appears from the back seat.
Other new releases in Get Animated! include:
- Wild Life, by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby – the story of a dapper young Englishman sent to the wild west of Alberta to try his hand at ranching
- Juliette Loubières’ puppet animation film Pumpkins and Old Lace
- Patrick Doyon’s Sunday, recipient of a Special Mention at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
- Marv Newland’s CMYK, a dizzying celebration of sound, colour and movement
Highlights also include acclaimed new shorts such as:
- I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, director Ann Marie Fleming’s adaptation of Bernice Eisenstein’s celebrated illustrated memoir
- Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge’s Strings, a poetic exploration of the irrepressible human desire to freeze our fleeting moments of happiness
This year, Get Animated! offers a fun-filled selection of some of the NFB’s newest animation for kids of all ages:
- Anita Lebeau’s lively Big Drive
- Phyllis Grant’s Waseteg, the story of a young Mi’kmaq girl
- Nicola Lemay’s Private Eyes, about a visually impaired boy with great powers of observation
- Jo Meuris’s The Girl Who Hated Books
Get Animated! offers a unique opportunity to learn from animation masters and discover the techniques—and challenges—behind a variety of NFB animated films. Oscar-winning director Co Hoedeman (The Sand Castle) will lead animation master classes on the creative process, working collaboratively and making peace through animation. Composer Luigi Allemano offers interactive exercises and discussions demonstrating the process of creating music for animated film. Animator Marv Newland gives a master class revolving around the techniques he used to animate his new film, CMYK. Producer Marc Bertrand and director Nicola Lemay discuss the challenges of adapting the book Private Eyes into a hand-drawn 3D film.
Acclaimed animators will be available to take questions and to discuss the art of animation in Calgary (Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Wild Life), Montreal (Patrick Doyon, Sunday), Vancouver (Marv Newland, CMYK, and Ann Marie Fleming, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors) and Winnipeg (Anita Lebeau, Big Drive).
Hands-on workshops will accompany the Family Program in Charlottetown, Montreal, Prince George, Richmond, Toronto, Vancouver, Whitehorse, Winnipeg and Yellowknife. These workshops demonstrate the basics of animation and give participants the chance to make their own short animated film.