The National Film Board of Canada (NFB | nfb.ca) will be part of the prestigious Young Audience competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival with the brand-new film Harvey, directed by Janice Nadeau. The animated short will have its world premiere at the event — purported to be the world’s largest festival dedicated to short films — which runs January 27 to February 4.
Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, written by Hervé Bouchard and illustrated by Janice Nadeau (éditions de La Pastèque), Harvey depicts a young boy who candidly recalls the spring day when his world turned upside down.
Filled with original little touches and told through the eyes of a child with an overflowing imagination and featuring music by Martin Léon (My Salinger Year), the piece poetically examines bereavement and coping with the loss of a parent.
Harvey is co-produced by the NFB (Marc Bertrand) and Folimage (Reginald de Guillebon), with the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée. Folimage’s Corinne Destombes was head of development.
The production was supported by a crew that included lead animators Claude Cloutier (director of Bad Seeds and Carface) and Marc Robinet (dir., Opération Père Noël) and sound designer Olivier Calvert.
Nadeau has illustrated numerous books and is a three-time recipient of Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award. She also directed the animated films No Fish Where to Go (NFB, 2014, with Nicola Lemay) and Mamie (NFB/Folimage, 2016), which were shown at more than 50 international festivals and won several awards.
In addition to this world premiere screening, animated highlights of Clermont-Ferrand 2023 include:
- Julie Ecoffey’s But What Does It Men? (Switzerland) and Joachim Hérissé’s Skinned (France) in the International Competition
- Osman Cerfon’s Aaah!, Florentina Gonzalez’s El After del Mundo, Manon Tacconi’s Cupid’s Bow, Mohammad Babakoohi’s Fires, Gobelins graduation short Go Fishboy and Camille Authouart’s The Great Arc in the National Competition
- Balázs Turai’s Amok (Hungary/Romania), Nikita Diakur’s Backflip (Germany/France), Atsushi Wada’s Bird in the Peninsula (France/Japan), Elizabeth Hobbs’ The Debutante (U.K.), Leo Černic’s Pentola (Italy), Sujin Moon’s Persona (S. Korea), Laen Sanches’ PLSTC (France) and Joseph Pierce’s Scale (France/Belgium/U.K.) in the Lab Competition
See the full festival lineup and find more information at clermont-filmfest.org.
