National Film Board

[Hobb]

When Marc visited us we spent an enjoyable night watching NFB films off of their website (here). Unfortunately the NFB charges $$$ to actually download their films - which is insane considering these films were made with public funds. Fortunately you can find downloadable versions of the films on 'Office National du Film du Canada''s Youtube channel (here) and on NFB's Vimeo channel (here) with the right Firefox add-ons (I use Video Download Helper).

We watched Gaston's Recital (1974), Paper Boy (1971), Madame Tutli-Putli (2007), Black Fly (1991) - a personal favorite, the postal comedy Special Delivery (1978),  Norman McLaren's classic Neighbours (1952), plus a bunch more.

One of the really discoveries that night was the work of Arthur Lipsett who did some pioneering avant-garde short films in the 1960s including 'Very Nice, Very Nice' and '21-87'. Those two films are about America (New York in particular) and are edited in Surrealist manner but after watching them a few times - and that's why I download films - we found a humanity and humor to them.

To my amazement '21-87' was seen by a young George Lucas and its' where he got the concept of The Force from (source) and if you watch 21-87 the scene is unmistakeable.  Lucas paid a tribute to this film by also making Leia's prison cell '2187'.

There is plenty on the NFB site from WWI plane footage to kid's films about baby racoons and go-karts, so spend sometime going through Canada's film archives.

[Marc]

I believe it was down to your sharing of the Top 100 Animations that got me interested in checking out the NFB in the first place. Apart from everything else I've enjoyed about the english and french films I have watched, it's also been great to revisit films I would have seen in the mid-70s. Forty damn years ago!

During the 70's I would have sat in a classroom and watched a tattered workboot talk to me, a skeleton called Mr. Bones sing to me (both from BETA tapes) and watched a little boat be made and then floated from Superior, through the Great Lakes and out the St. Lawrence - I'm assuming on film through a projector - and this is definitely the NFB "Paddle to the Sea," by Bill Mason, which I would have watched in class, around 1975. I remember it leaving a strong impression on me, after seeing it. Something about geography and the movement of water across part of a continent still DOES leave an impression on me!

Since I also happened to be looking for online content since moving into this place last November, an NFB-kick was a great way to go. Quite recently, I decided to see what PBS offers for online stuff. There, I encounter some "rights" issues in my area, but I recommend you try this one:

2015 Film Festival: Counter

[Hobb]

Nice little bit drama about the Civil Rights struggle in that link! It was PBS that opened my eyes to the whole idea of the Civil Rights struggle in America as a kid when I watched a series called 'Eyes on the Prize'. It was didn't just open my mind to history but it opened by humanity too.

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