Montreal – Not-to-be-missed new releases produced or co-produced by the NFB are coming to nfb.ca in October. The feature-length documentary A Return to Memory, by renowned director Donald McWilliams, will be launched on nfb.ca on October 18 to mark Women’s History Month in Canada. Meanwhile, the acclaimed animated shorts Aphasia by Marielle Dalpé and Miserable Miracle by Ryo Orikasa will stream beginning on October 28 in celebration of International Animation Day.
October is also rich in cultural events, and nfb.ca remains an online destination of choice for insights into important topics. Our collection curators have designed themed channels and a blog entry to mark Latin American Heritage Month and Halloween, among other events.
Highlighting the rich collection of more than 14,000 works that it is preserving, digitizing and restoring, the NFB will also be marking World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on October 27. These works have been made widely accessible and continue to inspire the creation of new films based on archives, including Donald McWilliams’s A Return to Memory. Currently, more than 7,000 films are available to stream online free of charge at nfb.ca, along with over 100 interactive works.
NEW ONLINE RELEASES
Starting October 18, to mark Women’s History Month
- A Return to Memory by Donald McWilliams (2024, NFB) – ONLINE PREMIERE
Feature documentary (116 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/memoryThe intrepid women who helped create Canadian cinema come to vibrant life in A Return to Memory, a documentary illuminating their vital but little-known role in establishing Canada’s National Film Board during World War II. Juxtaposing a dazzling array of archival material with dynamic animation by NFB infographics artist Mélanie Bouchard, director Donald McWilliams evokes the years when women played a key part in transforming the NFB into a major international studio. Pioneering figures like Evelyn Spice Cherry, Red Burns and Jane Marsh Beveridge made movie history, creating work that spoke to the world with a distinctive Canadian voice.
- Channel: Representing Gender Equality and Diversity
As a complement to this newly produced documentary, explore this compelling selection of nearly 30 films about the major contributions that women and gender-diverse communities have made to the growth, development, character and identity of Canada.
Watch Courtney Montour’s Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again (2021) and Karen Cho’s Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada (2012), among other films.