AMANDA FORBIS & WENDY TILBY

Short film
Canada (2022)
7 min.
VOE with French subtitles

Excerpt

Two ships collide in a harbour, an explosion shatters a city, and a sailor is blasted skyward. With ears ringing, blood pulsing and guts heaving, he soars high above the mayhem and towards the great unknown. A bold blend of comedy, suspense and philosophy, The Flying Sailor is an exhilarating contemplation of the wonder and fragility of existence.

AMANDA FORBIS & WENDY TILBY

Short film, animation
Canada (2011)
13 min.
VOE with French subtitles

Excerpt

In 1909, a dapper young remittance man is sent from England to Alberta to attempt ranching. However, his affection for badminton, bird watching and liquor leaves him little time for wrangling cattle. It soon becomes clear that nothing in his refined upbringing has prepared him for the harsh conditions of the New World. This animated short is about the beauty of the prairie, the pang of being homesick and the folly of living dangerously out of context.

AMANDA FORBIS & WENDY TILBY

Short film, animation
Canada (1991)
10 min.

The NFB’s 58th Oscar®-nominated film.

This animated film paints a vivid portrait of two strangers intimately linked by the shared ceilings, floors and plumbing of their apartments. When an unexpected problem arises, these comfortable connections are compromised. Wendy Tilby uses a painstaking animation process involving painting on glass and stop-action filming. Strings is a film as beautiful as it is haunting. Without words.

AMANDA FORBIS & WENDY TILBY

Short film, animation
Canada (1999)
9 min.

The NFB’s 64th Oscar®-nominated film.

In this animated short, Ruby the pig seeks affirmation in the city around her after witnessing the accidental death of a stranger… and finds it in surprising places. With deft humour and finely rendered detail, When the Day Breaks illuminates the links that connect our urban lives, while evoking the promise and fragility of a new day. Winner of over 40 prizes from around the world, the film also features singer Martha Wainwright.

Micheline Lanctôt interview with directors and hosts Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby (virtual)

Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby

Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis met at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver where they studied film, video, and animation. Each went on to create their own works with the NFB before co-directing the acclaimed When the Day Breaks (1999), a story about collisions, connections, and the accidental death of a chicken. It received an Oscar® nomination and more than 30 international awards, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes, a Genie Award and the Grand Prix at the Annecy, Zagreb and Hiroshima international animation festivals. 

In 2011, they released Wild Life, the story of a naïve Englishman who emigrates to the Canadian prairie to try his hand at ranching. Wild Life garnered many awards and, in 2012, was also nominated for an Academy Award®. 

Wendy and Amanda recently completed their third NFB production, The Flying Sailor (2022). Inspired by real events, it tells the story of a sailor who, in a catastrophic explosion, takes a very unexpected voyage. 

In addition to their personal work, the duo have collaborated on numerous commissioned projects, including illustrations, theatrical projections, and TV commercials. Interview, their ad for United Airlines, was nominated for an Emmy in 2004. In 2018, they were recipients of ASIFA’s Winsor McCay Award for their ‘exceptional contribution to the art of animation’.

Micheline Lanctôt

Did you know? Micheline Lanctôt studied music at the École Vincent-d’Indy (piano, cello) and art history at the Université de Montréal, before working for the animation studio of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), then as an assistant animator at Potterton Productions in Montreal. After three years, she became an animator. It was at this point that she was approached by Gilles Carle to play the title role in La Vraie Nature de Bernadette. She continued to work as a freelance animator, playing one role after another. In 1973, she starred in Jean-Charles Tacchella’s first feature film in France, Voyage en Grande Tartarie.Micheline Lanctôt.