Montrealers will get their hands on making films at the National Film Board (NFB) Saturday as the city celebrates the 23rd edition of Nuit Blanche.
The NFB is transforming their space into a giant playground and will host a full night of festive and interactive activities, allowing guests to dive into their creative side.
The event was conceived jointly by Concordia University and Université de Montréal’s film and music faculties.
“It’s a little glimpse into what it is to produce a film, build a film, edit a film and watch it in front of everyone,” said Anne-Claire Lefaivre, director general of programming & audience engagement at NFB.
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“You have to see this as the NFB opening their curtains so people can discover who we are, what we do, some films, and discover cinema,” Lefaivre explained. “So coming in there’s usually between 5,000 and 6,000 people coming in.”
Upon arrival, guests will be invited to take part in the NFB’s first-ever “Re-Archive” activity, where they can use 60 archival clips, pre-selected by Concordia students Sarah Bastien and Charlie Gallia-Mickler – to craft their own three-minute film.
“The main outcome of the night will be the experience in itself to get the chance to create an experiment and try to be creative with video making,” said Bastien.
“Not only to position the NFB as a space where creativity is encouraged, a safe space to test things out, but also maybe to influence people to become video makers of their own and have fun with it afterwards.”
A sound design team of 10 musicians from Université de Montréal, specializing in film composition, will be on site with over 100 instruments, helping guests bring their films to life by improvising music in real time.
Music professor Pierre Michaud said, “My role as a musical director is just making sure that there’s speed dating and people are compatible at a given time during the evening.”
“But it’s really going to be reacting to whatever the public is going to throw at us basically,” Michaud added.
The NFB will also be screening two programs from emerging HotHouse 15 creators on a continuous 30-minute loop in the Alanis Obomsawin Theatre.
Lefaivre said there will be six films which were a hit on NFB’s website and on YouTube.
“We also have three episodes of the making of these episodes so it’s really (reality tv) where you follow the whole creative process of these six students while they prepare production, are in production and do postproduction,” Lefaivre added.
The NFB was even able to get their hands on a prop from renowned stop-motion animated film The Girl Who Cried Pearls, an Oscar’s nominee for Best Animated Short Film this year.
The event is free of charge and will run from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
