The National Film Board of Canada has launched a digital hub of Canadian video stories related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s called ‘The Curve’ and is meant to bring to life the voice of Canadians touched by COVID-19 across the country.
“The Curve is an online destination where these experiences will be expressed in animation, documentary and digital storytelling formats,” the organization’s website reads.
There are currently three video stories in the first installation in which the directors “craft stylish and thoughtful reflections on the COVID experience.” The board notes that this is a growing hub and that more stories will be added.
The first video is called ‘K’i Tah Amongst the Birch’ and was directed and written by filmmaker and activist Melaw Nakehk’o. It focuses on how Nakehk’o has spent the pandemic with her family at a remote land camp in the Northwest Territories. Nakehk’o documents camp life activities like making fish leather and scraping moose hide.
Next, there’s a short film called ‘In the Garden on the Farm,’ which was directed and written by Kristin Catherwood. It focuses on how Catherwood moved back to her family’s farm during the pandemic. The video shows how Catherwood is thinking about planting her vegetable garden and how it reminds her of her mother and grandmothers.
Lastly, the installation includes a short film called ‘Thursday,” which was directed and written by filmmaker Galen Johnson. The video was shot from his high-rise apartment during the COVID-19 lockdown. He captures eerily empty streets, parking lots, balconies and riverbanks.
“The extreme distance and the diminutive scale of humans is paired with sound close-ups — a combination that embodies the strange, heightened intensity of feeling of the time, knowing an era-defining tragedy is happening yet being so physically removed,” the video’s description notes.
All three of the stories are now available to watch on the National Film Board of Canada’s website. It has now been many months since the start of the pandemic, and the films are a nice way to reflect on how it has shaped different Canadian lives.
Image credit: Galen Johnson
Source: National Film Board of Canada
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