The National Film Board of Canada recently made its entire catalogue of films available for free online viewing, which is great if you have regular access to a computer with a fast Internet connection. For others, at least in Toronto and Montréal, your alternative is to strap yourself into one of the funky personal digital viewing stations at the Toronto Mediatheque or the Montréal CineRobotheque where you can watch films to your heart’s content for just $2/day. In yet another example of the NFB’s leadership, it is doing away with the fee altogether as of May 1st, which means free NFB films for (just about) everyone.
If you’re not being swept up next week by Hot Docs, or even if you are, drop by the Mediatheque at 150 John St. and check out some of the NFB’s 5,500 films for free!
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Canada’s world-renowned National Film Board has launched a brand-new screening room section on their website, allowing free access to more than 700 films, clips and trailers. Included at launch are such animated classics as The Cat Came Back and The Sweater, documentary Earth to Mouth (early work from Up the Yangtze (review) director Yung Chang), and Oscar-winning short doc If You Love This Planet. And I found all of those within ten minutes of browsing. This will be a massive resource for film lovers in Canada, though I’m not quite sure whether licensing restrictions will apply outside our borders. If you’re viewing this site from outside Canada, please click over and let me know if you can stream the films.
I’m leaking this news a bit, since the official press conference isn’t until tomorrow, but I’m just so delighted that all the riches of the NFB are now available right from my desktop.
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October 28 is World Animation Day and our National Film Board is hosting Get Animated!, a series of screenings and presentations on the subject across the country. The best part? Everything is FREE! (Our tax dollars at work, yet again!). The Toronto Mediatheque at 150 John Street (at the corner of Queen, across from the nasty “Scotiabank” megaplex cinemas) has a full programme running from Thursday October 25th through Sunday the 28th.
I’d particularly recommend the October 25th presentation and discussion of Madame Tutli Putli, a jaw-dropping and eerie puppet animation that features the most realistic eyes I’ve ever seen in an animated film. The film has already picked up two awards and is a favourite to win an Oscar.
More information about other countries’ participation is available at the web site of the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation, where it is referred to as International Animation Day.
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