“I like telling stories.”

Since 1992 Diane Obomsawin has created a body of works composed of twenty short films ranging from ten seconds to nine minutes. This marks the first complete retrospective devoted to this important artist in animated film.

Based in Montreal, the cartoonist and animator has made several films as an independent filmmaker and four auteur films in conjunction with the National Film Board of Canada. Over the years, she has forged a narrative style all her own, tinged with naivety and restraint, humour and humanity, often incorporating autobiographical elements. Her themes and the simplicity of her drawings reflect an approach that is both serious and ingenuous. The surprising balance that results gives her works the feel of an urban fable, at once poetic and grounded in reality.

Since 2007 she has created a corpus of “home movies,” as she calls them, in which images and sounds from the Internet are integrated into her drawings and sequences in which she herself appears. These previously unreleased shorts, shot inside her apartment, display a world of moving images and shapes, often in a loop; framing these “plays of the moment” are soundtracks that are often of her own invention. Animal themes appear from one work to the next, and viewers react affectionately to these half-animal, half-human creatures and their engaging behaviour. These fascinating bestiaries of images and sounds are an invitation to reconsider our images of childhood.

The entire filmography of Diane Obomsawin is pervaded by a spirit of exploration: in her incorporation of other elements into her drawings (photographs or reproductions from magazines, pieces of fabric, etc.); in her elliptical, sometimes dizzying, narration; and in her exuberant soundtracks.

The works of Diane Obomsawin have been presented at various festivals in Canada and abroad, and have earned a number of awards.

The screening of her works will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker, hosted by the curator, touching on various aspects of her artistic approach. At this time, she will also present films by some of her favourite animators, including Michèle Cournoyer’s La basse cour (1992), Gilbert Taggart’s La petite forêt (2001) and J.J. Villard’s Son of Satan (2003).