Eleven Canadian Shorts, 75 mins
Admission is $10
Festival Trailer: An annual gathering that celebrates all things animation from Halifax and beyond!
The Vegan Delights Program is inspired by passion, playfulness and inclusivity. It showcases independent animation that expresses a heartfelt personal investment and reflects a creative connection with the audience.
Curated by Festival Director, Siloën Daley and her outstanding team, this year's program contains eleven fairly new short animated films. Some of the artists will be present to take part in a Q&A following the screening.
• Welcome | Laura Stewart | Quebec | 2018 | 2m
A man tries to befriend his new neighbour by baking her cookies. It doesn't go as planned.
Biidabaan | Amanda Strong | BC | 2018 | 19m
• Biidabaan | Amanda Strong | British Columbia | 2018 | 19m
Based on the writings of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, the film centres on Biidaaban, a young shapeshifter on a secret mission to revive the traditional First Nations ritual of harvesting sap from maple trees.
• Hole | Gil Goletski | British Columbia | 2018 | 6m
Mo is an adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder. They spend a lot of time in their brain. Today, a hole started following them.
• Through Dirt | Sharron Mirsky | Quebec | 2018 | 1m
Animated with potting soil on a lightbox, this collage of sounds and abstract visuals moves through the uncomfortable murk of ambivalence and indecision to acceptance.
• Freaks of Nurture | Alexandra Lemay | Quebec | 2018 | 6m
A stop-motion film about a mother-daughter relationship bursting at the seams with babies, poodles and flying spaghetti.
• Reach the Sky | Daniel Sterlin-Altman | Ontario | 2018 | 6m
Animated by Evan DeRushie, Daniel Sterlin-Altman, and Martha Grant. On the open road, three queer friends in three queer cars are separated by an unexpected queer fork in the road.
• Abeo | Brenda Lopez, Ana Eskildsen | Quebec | 2018 | 7m
Abeo is a hard hitting mixed media short that depicts the journey of Nadia and Lupe, two immigrants who risk their lives to cross the Arizona desert in search of a better life.
• First Sun | Leslie Supnet | Ontario | 2014 | 2m
The rising sound of drums and the imagined birth of our nearest star.
• Laila Sady Johnson Wasn’t Beaten by No Train | Jenna Marks | Nova Scotia | 2019 | 5m
This country ballad, sung by Regina’s Belle Plain, uses both live-action and paper animation to take us through a heart racing account of when her grandmother was nearly killed by a train. It is a story that embodies the strength of her grandmother, a love of the prairies and her family farm.
• Billy's Behemoth Blast | Josh Owen | Nova Scotia | 2017 | 6m
Baby Billy gets accidentally blasted by the infamous Halifax Explosion of 1917.
• Animal Behaviour | Alison Snowden, David Fine | Quebec | 2018 | 14m
A group therapy session, with animals.
Saturday May 11 9:30PM | FREE
Following the show the Helen Hill Animation Award will be presented by the Atlantic Filmmakers’ Co-op to an artist to create a new short animation.
Helen’s particular style of creation was unhampered by convention, and marked by a rarely found honesty and immediacy. Her clear and engaging presence can be felt in all her work. Helen is a key inspiration behind the Animation Festival of Halifax.
The Helen Hill Award was created by the Linda Joy Media Arts Society to celebrate this remarkable individual and to support artists working in animation.
Saturday May 11 10PM | FREE
The evening will wrap with a party and live music by local skankers, The ConquerAlls.
The ConquerAlls have been setting dancefloors around Nova Scotia aflame since 2017. This seven-piece band plays the best of first and second-wave ska, with a bit of reggae, rockabilly, and Northern soul thrown in for good measure. Their tight rhythm section, killer horns and engaging and entertaining vocal performance have showgoers up and skanking faster than you can shout “2 Tone!” The ConquerAlls’ features former members of The Flashing Lights, Dr. Skankworthy, The October Game, Forbidden Dimension and charity fundraisers The Soda Shoppe Gang.
