Lineup of six NFB films at AIFF includes works from Haligonians Andrea Dorfman and Elliot Page. NFB’s roots in Atlantic Canada showcased at the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival.

From: National Film Board

August 14, 2024

Halifax filmmaker Andrea Dorfman’s animated short Hairy Legs will have its world premiere as part of a stellar selection of six National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films at the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival (AIFF), taking place September 11 to 18.

Film lovers in Halifax will also be treated to Atlantic premieres of two feature documentaries with strong ties to the region.

Executive produced by Halifax-born Elliot Page and produced by NSCAD/UKing’s alumna Amanda Burt, Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee’s Banger Films/NFB co-production Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story  will screen at AIFF before opening September 20 at Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane.

The festival will also present Newfoundland filmmaker Tamara Segura’s feature doc Seguridad.

The NFB selection at AIFF 2024 also includes Yuqi Kang’s feature doc 7 Beats Per Minute (Intuitive Pictures/NFB) and the animated shorts Maybe Elephants (Mikrofilm/NFB) by Oscar winner Torill Kove and Inkwo for When the Starving Return (Spotted Fawn Productions/NFB) by Amanda Strong.

Documentary Program

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee (99 min) – Atlantic premiere
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’strailblazing 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 as well as 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 includingPassing and For Nonna Anna, which have screened at TIFF, Inside Out and Sundance.

Seguridad by Tamara Segura (76 min) – Atlantic premiere
Producer: Annette Clarke and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/seguridad

• Once named “Cuba’s youngest soldier” in a publicity stunt, Newfoundland-based filmmakerTamara Segura explores her father’s troubled past and its connection to the Cuban Revolution. She returns to Cuba after four years away, camera in hand, hoping to make amends. But her father’s sudden death forces Segura to confront the past and the role Cuba’s highly militarized system played in his downfall.
• Tamara Seguragraduated from the prestigious International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV). Her films have received awards in Spain, Cuba, Canada and Mexico. Based in Newfoundland since 2012, Segura previously worked with the NFB in Halifax on such films as Song for Cuba (2014) and Becoming Labrador (2018).

7 Beats Per Minute by Yuqi Kang (100 min)
Producers: Ina Fichman (Intuitive Pictures); Sherien Barsoum (NFB)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/7beatsperminute

• Yuqi Kang followsfreediving champion Jessea Lu’s return to the site of her near-death experience, to face the traumas of her past. With intimate cinéma vérité camerawork, underwater imagery and personal interviews, 7 Beats Per Minute places the audience and the filmmaker herself in the immediacy of the experience, when barometric pressure compresses the body, the heart slows and the pulse drops.
• Yuqi Kangis a Mongol Chinese Canadian filmmaker driven by a passion for crafting psychological profiles set in extreme circumstances. Her directorial feature debut, A Little Wisdom, premiered at Busan, SXSW, Karlovy Vary and Hot Docs, where it won Best Canadian Feature. Kang was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Directors Guild of Canada’s Discovery Award and was awarded 40 Under 40 by DOC NYC.

Short Films

Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman (17 min) – World premiere
Producers: Liz Cowie and Rohan Fernando
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/hairy-legs

• Andrea Dorfman’s animated short film documents a 13-year-old girl’s small yet life-changing act of rebellion on the road to womanhood and feminism. Deciding not to shave her legs led filmmaker Dorfman to question and ultimately defy society’s expectations. With charm, warmth and humour, Hairy Legscaptures the universality of girls exploring gender, curiosity and freedom as they evolve from spending exuberant, carefree days on their bicycles to facing and defying stereotypes.
• 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.

Maybe Elephants by Torill Kove (16 min 43 s)
Producers: Lise Fearnley (Mikrofilm), Maral Mohammadian (NFB), Tonje Skar Reiersen (Mikrofilm)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/maybe-elephants

• In the ’70s, three rebellious teenage daughters, a restless mother, a father struggling with potatoes, and maybe some elephants, find themselves in bustling Nairobi. The family will never be the same. Maybe Elephantsis a playful and loving autobiographical homage to Kove’s three formative years in Kenya, and the therapeutic power of memories, however unreliable.
• Narrated by Torill Kove and featuring the return cast of her Oscar-nominated short Me and My Moulton, Maybe Elephants was made with the collaboration of several Kenyan Canadians who played the roles of Kenyan characters and with whom Kove consulted on Swahili language and Kenyan culture.
• Torill Kove is a Norwegian-born filmmaker and animator living in Canada. Three of her films (includingMy Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts and Me and My Moulton) have been nominated for Academy Awards, with The Danish Poet winning the coveted golden statue in 2007. Kove’s films are known for her expressive designs and playful and poignant autobiographical themes.

Inkwo for When the Starving Return by Amanda Strong (18 min 27 s)
Producers: Amanda Strong (Spotted Fawn Productions), Maral Mohammadian (NFB), Nina Werewka (Spotted Fawn Productions)
Press kit: mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/inkwo-for-when-the-starving-return

• In this stop-motion animated short, Dove, a gender-shifting warrior, uses their Indigenous medicine (Inkwo) to protect their community from a swarm of terrifying creatures.
• An adaptation of the short story “Wheetago War” by award-winning Tlicho Dene storyteller Richard Van Camp, Inkwo features the voice talents of Paulina Alexis (Critics Choice Award winner), Tantoo Cardinal (Order of Canada) and television producer, actor and storyteller Art Napoleon.
• Amanda Strong is a Michif/Métis artist, writer, producer, director, filmmaker and mother. As the owner and executive producer of Spotted Fawn Productions Inc., her collaborative creations serve to amplify Indigenous storytelling and ideologies. Strong’s work has received Canadian Screen Award and Emmy nominations.

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