Before I talk about this week’s film, I just have to tell you something. Did you know that the National Film Board of Canada has 3D movies on their site? And, AND, they will send you a pair of 3D glasses to watch them. For free!

I really want to post a few 3D movies, so everyone run out and request your pair of glasses today. The ones you get at the movies don’t work with online videos, sadly. Or at least, the ones I got at Clash of the Titans didn’t. Yes, I paid money to watch that. And yes, I enjoyed it. Don’t judge me!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming…

When the Day Breaks (9 min 40 s) by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, came out in 1999. After witnessing a horrible accident, Ruby struggles to find connections to the world around her.

All of the characters in When the Day Breaks are animals, including a stuffy old rooster (complete with hat that accommodates his comb), a timid rabbit as the sales clerk, and a bulldog police officer, just to name a few. The film has a scratchy, newsreel quality to the animation, which was achieved by painting and drawing on photocopies.

If it looks familiar to you, it may be because of the international attention When the Day Breaks received. The film was nominated for an Oscar, and won a few Cannes Film Festival awards as well.

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/playlists/annecy-zagreb-film-festival/viewing/when_the_day_breaks/

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

When the Day Breaks film image

Mike Duff was a Canadian motorcycle racer in the 60s. He shattered his hip in Japan and had major surgery to repair it. His recovery and return to racing was captured by Robin Spry in the 1966 documentary Ride for Your Life (9 min 40 s).

This film has some incredible footage of motorcycle races, and crashes, in the 60s. It also has some images from Duff’s hip operation, so if you’re not a fan of watching surgeries you may want to distract yourself for a few seconds. But it doesn’t last long, I promise.

What I find so fascinating (besides the insanity of racing itself) is the lifestyle that goes along with it. Duff travels around the world with his wife and two toddlers in tow, living out of trailers during race season. He casually mentions how two or three friends die a year in the races, as if this is sad but totally acceptable.

Mike Duff became Michelle Duff in the 80s. She continued racing and writing, and has published several books.

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/ride_for_your_life/

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

Mike Duff Racing

Runaway is a short animated film set to music by Ben Charest (you may know him from Triplets of Belleville. And if you don’t, you should go rent it right now!), about a train ride that goes horribly wrong.

Director Cordell Barker has done a few films with the National Film Board of Canada. The Cat Came Back (1988) and Strange Invaders (2001) both won several awards and were nominated for Oscars. Runaway is his latest film.

What continues to amaze me is the amount of work that goes into producing short films. You’d think an eight minute piece would be relatively quick and easy to throw together. But anyone in the film industry would probably want to chase me out of the room shaking a pitch fork for uttering such blasphemous words.

Barker discusses the process of creating Runaway here (but watch the film first!).

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/runaway

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

Image from “Runaway”

Okay, I admit it. I was really hungry when I went looking for this week’s film. So I typed “chocolate” in the National Film Board’s (NFB’s) search, and only one film came up. One? I thought. They should make many, many more!

After watching How Do They Put The Centres In Chocolates, I’m not so sure. It’s part of a series of “How do they” films by director Don White. We’re basically watching factory workers and machines assemble chocolates for Purdy’s.

Interesting? Yes.

Appetizing? I suppose that’s in the stomach of the beholder. For me, a lot of the stuff looked like puss.

However, I did find the rhythmic hum of the machines quite soothing. I think I could sleep very happily under one of the conveyor belts, as long as I had some sort of protective covering so I didn’t get doused in cookie run-off.

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/how_do_they_put_the_centres_in_chocolates/

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

Chocolate Star © Wikicommons. Some Rights Reserved.

It’s full-on hockey mania these days. Playoffs, playoffs, PLAYOFFS! And how better to celebrate with a little animation?

The Sweater, by Sheldon Cohen , is adapted from a short story by Quebec writer Roch Carrier (who also narrates this film). In a rural Quebec village the whole town celebrates the Montreal Canadiens, and all the boys proudly sport the #9 jersey of Maurice “Rocket” Richard. One boy’s life is nearly ruined when he is accidentally sent the jersey of the Toronto Maple Leafs. SHOCK! GASP!

The story takes place in the 1940s, was written in the 70s, and the film was created in the 80s. Even today hockey fans everywhere can enjoy the trials and tribulations of the young fan and his ill fated jersey.

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/sweater/

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

“The Hockey Sweater” Book Cover

The Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare commissioned Ashes of Doom in the 70s as part of their anti-smoking campaign. It’s only two minutes long, and half of that is the credits. But it’s truly fantastic. They stole the set, costume and sound effects from an Ed Wood movie, drew massive raccoon eyes on the leading lady’s face, and got her to chain smoke maniacally for 40 seconds in her creepy chamber until — oh no! — Dracula shows up! But remember kids, smoking kills! Even the undead (sorry, total spoiler there…)

If you read the credits (and really, who doesn’t?) you’ll notice that Ashes of Doom is based on a book. That’s right, folks. This little gem was adapted from a novel  by Dominic Arioli, who has not left a single trace of himself on the interweb. But one of the producers is named Don Arioli, so I can only assume that he stole the secret manuscript his brother kept hidden in the floorboards and used it to rocket his way to fame and fortune.

Those crazy cats in Hollywood are remaking everything these days. Clash of the Titans, Karate Kid, Dirty Dancing. All the classics. I say we get the Twilight version of Ashes of Doom, where Bella takes up the cancer sticks and Ed and the wolf guy start fighting over who gets her. “You take her!” “No, you!” “She smells!” “You smell!” “Take it back, you hairy dufus!” “I hate you!” And so on…

Dear Government,

Please make ads like this again. Pretty please? I promise to start smoking so I can be one of the multitude that quit because of your fantastic ad campaign.

Love, Sarah

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/ashes_of_doom

What do you think? Leave a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

“Nosferatu Shadow” from the 1922 film Nosferatu. Public Domain.

I was listening to the radio the other day — some movie review program. In passing the host said something about the National Film Board of Canada having their films available for free online. They kept talking about the latest blockbuster, but I stopped listening. The NFB? Online? I scrambled over to my computer to verify this claim.

My early experiences with the NFB were horribly dull “educational” videos forced upon us in elementary school in the 80s. You know, the kind of thing the teacher chucks on during social studies when she’s forgotten to actually plan a lesson. I didn’t give them any thought at all until about eight years ago. I was wandering aimlessly through Toronto and stumbled into the NFB building, where you could sit and watch films all day long in little telephone booth styled screening rooms. Which is exactly what I did.

It never occurred to me to look for them online. But online they are, with over 1,600 films free to stream. How cool is that? And more importantly, does anyone actually know about this?

I love free films (and alliteration), so I thought, “What would be better than a Free Film Friday segment?” We can celebrate some of the cinematic wonders available online, and maybe see some things we’d otherwise miss. They won’t all be from the NFB, but that’s a great resource to get started with.

Without further ado, let me present to you an animated film by Norman McLaren that I was delighted to find online — Hen Hop.

Hen Hop was created in the 1940s using a technique called Cameraless Animation. As the name suggests, this form of animation does not involve a camera to capture images. Instead, the artist works directly on motion picture film stock: drawing, painting, scratching, etc, to create a series of images. Then it is run through a projector like a regular movie. An average animated movie has between 12 and 24 images (frames) shown per second. That means every second your eye is seeing 12-24 still pictures, which is so fast that it looks like continuous movement.

So keep in mind that McLaren hand-drew thousands of little images in this 3+ minute video, directly on to tiny strips of film. How is that for patience and perseverance? And who doesn’t love the NFB intro that sounds like cheesy space alien sound effects?

oehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/hen-hop

What do you think? Send us a comment with your film review.

Photo Credits

“Norman McLaren drawing on film – 1944” © Creative Commons