Toronto – Four award-winning National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produced and co-produced documentaries will be featured at DOC NYC in New York City, from November 13 to December 1, 2024.
Sonic Cinema section
November 19, 2024, 6:45 p.m., Village East by Angelika
November 20, 2024, 4:00 p.m., Village East by Angelika
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee (99 min)
Produced by Amanda Burt, Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen (Banger Films); Michael Mabbott; Justine Pimlott (NFB)
Executive produced by Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn, Chanda Chevannes (NFB), Anita Lee (NFB), Elliot Page and Matt Jordan Smith (PAGEBOY Productions), Martin Katz, Nia Long and CJ Mac
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/any-other-way-jackie-shane
- A star is reborn. With an outsize stage presence that eclipsed R&B greats like Etta James and Little Richard, soul singer Jackie Shane was the real deal. Jackie boldly carved a new path as one of music’s trailblazing Black trans performers—but on the edge of stardom, why did she suddenly leave the spotlight?
- Any Other Way won the Out in the Silence Award at the Frameline International LGBTQ+ Film Festival in San Francisco, the Audience Award for Best Music Documentary at the Nashville Film Festival, and the DGC Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs, where it was also a Top 10 Audience Favourite.
- Toronto filmmaker Michael Mabbott’s features The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (Best Canadian First Feature Award) and Citizen Duane both premiered at TIFF. His first documentary, Music Lessons, premiered at Hot Docs.
- Lucah Rosenberg-Lee is a Toronto speaker, entrepreneur and filmmaker specializing in documentary and LGBTQ+ content. He has produced and directed a variety of projects including Passing and For Nonna Anna, which have screened at TIFF, Inside Out and Sundance.
Shorts: Our Bodies section
November 16, 2024, 11:15 a.m., Village East by Angelika
November 17, 2024, 9:30 p.m., Village East by Angelika
Am I the skinniest person you’ve ever seen? by Eisha Marjara (22 min)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/am-i-the-skinniest-person-youve-ever-seen
Producers: Joe Balass (Compass Productions); Ariel Nasr (NFB)
- “Hey, let’s go on a diet together.” As kids in a small Quebec town, Eisha and Seema were more than sisters, they were soul mates, and a joint diet offered a shared sense of purpose. But their carefree project would take a dark turn, pushing Eisha to the very brink of death. Consumed by anorexia, she found herself battling her own fragile body—stranded between childhood and adulthood. Decades later, Eisha revisits her past in an exquisitely crafted work of auto-ethnography, evoking her unusual youth with aching lyricism.
- The film has garnered the Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, a short-films qualifying festivalfor the 97th Academy Awards.
- Montreal filmmaker Eisha Marjara has made several award-winning films, including Locarno’s Prix de la Semaine de Critique winner Desperately Seeking Helen. Venus (2017), a dramatic comedy, won the EDA Award for Best Feature at the Whistler Film Festival and Best Feature Film at Cinequest, among other accolades. Eisha also authored the acclaimed young adult novel Faerie and is in post-production on her next feature, Calorie.
Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (17 min)
Producers: Liz Cowie and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs
- At the age of 13, deciding not to shave her legs led Andrea Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. With charm, warmth and humour, Dorfman’s film Hairy Legs captures the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom as they evolve from spending exuberant, carefree days on their bicycles to facing and challenging stereotypes.
- Winner of the Diversity Award (Film) at the Spark Animation Festival in Vancouver and an Honourable Mention – DGC Award for Best Canadian Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
- Halifax filmmaker Andrea Dorfman has written and directed many award-winning documentaries, features and animated films, including the NFB-produced Flawed (2010), Big Mouth (2012) and feature doc The Girls of Meru (2018). Dorfman’s video collaborations with poet-musician Tanya Davis, How to Be Alone (2010) and How to Be at Home (2020), became YouTube sensations.