The Flying Sailor

Animated short film inspired by real events

The Flying Sailor

Directed by| Wendy Tilby
Amanda Forbis
Written by| Wendy Tilby
Amanda Forbis
Produced by| David Christensen
Music by| Luigi Allemano

Production
company

National Film Board of Canada

Release date

| 13 June 2022

Running time

| 8 minutes
Country| Canada

The Flying Sailor is a 2022 Canadian independent[1] animated short film directed by Oscar-nominated directors[2] Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis.[3] The film debuted at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival[4][5] and has received several nominations and awards, including a nomination for Best Animated Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards,[6] and winning the award for the Best Canadian Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.[7]

The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2022.[8]

## Plot[edit]

When a nearby ship explodes, a sailor is launched on an unexpected existential voyage.[9] The 8-minute short explores the fragility of life through a sailor's near-death experience[10] inspired by the real life catastrophic Halifax Explosion of 1917. The last credit states the film is dedicated to "Charlie Mayers - A Sailor who, in the Halifax Explosion of 1917, flew over 2 kilometers and lived to tell about it."[11][12]

## Inspiration[edit]

Charles Mayers was an officer aboard the SS Middleham Castle, a ship moored at a wharf in Halifax Harbour on the morning of the explosion. Mayers was blow from the ship's deck to land on Fort Needham Hill overlooking the harbour, injured and naked but alive. Tilby and Forbis were inspired by the story when they encountered it on a visit the to Halifax Explosion exhibit at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.[13]

## Reception[edit]

Year  | Award  | Award/Category  | Status  | Ref

|
|
|
|

2022  | Ottawa International Animation Festival | Best Canadian Film  | Won  | [7][14]
Calgary International Film Festival | Best Animated Film  | Won  | [15]
Countryside Animafest Cyprus  | Best Narrative Film  | Won  | [16]
2023  | 95th Academy Awards | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated  | [17]
11th Canadian Screen Awards | Best Animated Short | Won  | [18]
Sundance Film Festival | Short Jury Award: Animation  | Won  | [19]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Know Your Indie Filmmaker: Amanda Forbis And Wendy Tilby|Cartoon Brew
2. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (2022-11-18). "Watch 'The Flying Sailor' in The New Yorker's Screening Room Today". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-20. "Forbis and Tilby are Calgary-based animators who have shared Best Animated Short Film Academy Award nominations for When the Day Breaks (1999) and Wild Life (2011), with Tilby also nominated individually for Strings (1991)."
3. ^ Robinson, Chris (2022-07-29). "Know Your Indie Filmmaker: Amanda Forbis And Wendy Tilby". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2022-11-20. "The duo just finished the short, The Flying Sailor. The film is inspired by the apparently true story of a man who survived being blown a mile into the sky during the Halifax Explosion of 1917."
4. ^ "Put on Your Shorts: Annecy 2022". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
5. ^ "Annecy Festival 2022 chooses 38 animated shorts for competition -". www.animationxpress.com. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
6. ^ "2023 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
7. ^ a b Vancouver, 520 East 1st Avenue; V5t 0h2, Bc; Canada (2022-10-18). "'The Flying Sailor' Wins Festival Acclaim". www.ecuad.ca. Retrieved 2022-11-14.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
8. ^ Pat Mullen, "Three Feature Docs Make Canada’s Top Ten". Point of View, December 8, 2022.
9. ^ Alex Heeney, "Ten must-see shorts at TIFF 2022". Seventh Row, September 8, 2022.
10. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (2022-10-06). "NFB Short 'The Flying Sailor' Sets US Fest Premieres in NYC & LA". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
11. ^ "Serenity Amid Disaster in "The Flying Sailor"". The New Yorker. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
12. ^ Cooke, Stephen. "Animated short inspired by Halifax Explosion to premiere at TIFF 2022 | SaltWire". www.saltwire.com. Retrieved 2022-11-20. "The collision of the Mont Blanc and the Imo in the Halifax Explosion is shown in The Flying Sailor, a new animated film from the National Film Board receiving its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. - National Film Board"
13. ^ Sabine Antigua, "In Oscar-nominated film ‘The Flying Sailor history and imagination collide", The Signal, Jan. 27, 2023
14. ^ Lang, Jamie (2022-09-25). "'Dozens Of Norths,' 'Bird In The Peninsula' Take Top Prizes At Ottawa 2022". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
15. ^ "Calgary International Film Festival jury winners announced". calgaryherald. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
16. ^ "Winners Announced for Animafest Cyprus 2022". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
17. ^ 'The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse' Wins Best Animated Short Film | 95th Oscars (2023)
18. ^ Jenna Benchetrit, "Brother dominates with a dozen wins on third night of Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News, April 13, 2023.
19. ^ Sundance Film Festival

## External links[edit]

* The Flying Sailor at IMDb
* The Flying Sailor Trailer on YouTube
* The Flying Sailor to stream for free on The New Yorker
* Watch The Flying Sailor on the NFB website

* v
* t
* e

Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short and Best Theatrical Short

Theatrical Short
(1949–1996)|

* Who Will Teach Your Child? (1949)
* North Shore (1950)
* After Prison, What? (1951)
* Opera School (1952)
* L'Homme aux oiseaux (1953)
* Farewell Oak Street (1954)
* High Tide in Newfoundland1 (1955)
* Gold (1956)
* The Sceptre and the Mace (1958)
* Money Minters, The Quest and The Tall Country (1959)
* Royal River (1960)
* Universe (1961)
* Morning on the Lièvre (1962)
* Nahanni (1963)
* Anniversary (1964)
* Do Not Fold, Staple, Spindle or Mutilate and Ça n'est pas le temps des romans (1968)
* Vertige and At Home (1969)
* A Matter of Fat and Blake (1970)
* Don't Knock the Ox (1971)
* This Is a Photograph (1972)
* Goodbye Sousa (1973)
* Along These Lines (1975)
* Cooperage (1976)
* Spartree (1977)
* L'Affaire Bronswik (1978)
* Nails (1980)
* The Strongest Man in the World (1981)
* Zea (1982)
* Elvis Gratton (1983)
* Ted Baryluk's Grocery (1984)
* Charade (1985)
* George and Rosemary (1988)
* Saeed (1991)
* Arrowhead (1994)
* Les fleurs magiques (1995)
* The Home for Blind Women (1996)

Live Action Short
(1986–present)|

* The Edit (1986)
* I Need a Man Like You to Make My Dreams Come True (1987)
* The Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (1989)
* In Search of the Last Good Man (1990)
* Battle of the Bulge (1992)
* The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore (1993)
* The Hangman's Bride (1997)
* When Ponds Freeze Over (1998)
* Moving Day (1999)
* Le P'tit Varius (2000)
* The Heart of the World (2001)
* I Shout Love (2002)
* Noël Blank (2003)
* Capacité 11 personnes (2004)
* Milo 55160 (2005)
* Le rouge au sol (2006)
* Après tout (2007)
* Next Floor (2008)
* Danse Macabre (2009)
* Savage (2010)
* Doubles with Slight Pepper (2011)
* Throat Song (2012)
* Noah (2013)
* Hole (2014)
* She Stoops to Conquer (2015)
* Mutants (2016)
* Fluffy (2017)
* Fauve (2018)
* Pick (2019)
* Black Bodies (2020)
* Girls Shouldn't Walk Alone at Night (2021)
* Simo (2022)

Animated Short
(1968–present)|

* Un enfant...un pays1 (1968)
* Walking (1969)
* To See or Not to See (1970)
* Evolution (1971)
* Dans la vie... (1972)
* The Family That Dwelt Apart (1973)
* The Owl Who Married a Goose (1975)
* The Street (1976)
* Spinnolio (1977)
* Afterlife (1978)
* Every Child (1980)
* The Big Snit (1986)
* Get a Job (1987)
* The Cat Came Back (1989)
* Juke-Bar (1990)
* Strings (1992)
* Pearl's Diner (1993)
* La vieille dame et les pigeons (1997)
* Bingo (1998)
* When the Day Breaks (1999)
* Village of Idiots (2000)
* The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg (2001)
* The Hungry Squid (2002)
* Falling in Love Again (2003)
* Ryan (2004)
* cNote (2005)
* The Danish Poet (2006)
* Madame Tutli-Putli (2007)
* Isabelle au bois dormant (2008)
* Runaway (2009)
* Lipsett Diaries (2010)
* Romance (2011)
* Paula (2012)
* Subconscious Password (2013)
* Me and My Moulton (2014)
* The Ballad of Immortal Joe (2015)
* Blind Vaysha (2016)
* The Tesla World Light (2017)
* Animal Behaviour (2018)
* Giant Bear (2019)
* Hot Flash (2020)
* Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice (2021)
* The Flying Sailor (2022)

1 These two films were given honorable mentions rather than officially winning the award, but are included here as no other winner was named above them.
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