Seven NFB films at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival
Four docs, two animated films, and one short
Two animated films in official competition, one short and four documentaries comprise the NFB selection for the 26th WFF in Montreal, August 31 to September 1.
In official competition
Animator, Theodore Ushev, once again addresses the ideological and artistic excesses of the 20th century in Drux Flux; Jean-François Lévesque’s The Necktie, tells the story of a model employee in a dead-end job.
Focus on World Cinema
In her second visit to the WFF, filmmaker JoDee Samuelson is presenting her new film, Uncle Bob’s Hospital Visit which is a sweet little tale about the importance of emotional support, hope and love in the healing process.
Documentaries of the World
In Folle de Dieu, Jean-Daniel Lafond gives an astonishing portrait of Marie de l’Incarnation who founded the Ursuline convent in Quebec City in 1639. The passion that connects her to God also makes her abandon her son and her country.
The conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal is the focus of the documentary J’me voyais déjà by Bachir Bensaddek, in which 13 aspiring actors reveal their fears, uncertainties and expectations.
Sweetest Embrace: Return to Afghanistan is the moving return of two young men to their native land, 16 years after being sent to Tadjikistan because of the Soviet occupation of their country.
Griefwalker is an extraordinary portrait of Stephen Jenkinson and his work with the dying. The film is framed by director Tim Wilson’s wrestling with his denial of his own death as he nearly succumbs to a sudden illness, and his having to face the death of someone very close to him.
The NFB will also make its 22nd presentation of the Norman McLaren Prize to the winner of the 39th Canadian Student Film Festival, part of the WFF. The prize is $2,500 worth of NFB technical services for the winner’s next film as part of FAP-Québec (Filmmaker Assistance Program).
For more about the NFB at FFM, go to www.nfb.ca/ffm08
Read the press release
