The Romance of Transportation in Canada is a 1952 animated short directed by Colin Low

Colin Low (filmmaker)

Colin Archibald Low, CM, RCA is a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker.Born in Cardston, Alberta, Low attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Calgary Institute of Technology, now known as the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology...

  animated by Wolf Koenig

Wolf Koenig

Wolf Koenig is a Canadian film director, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the NFB.-Early life:...

 and Robert Verrall and narrated by Guy Glover. Eldon Rathburn

Eldon Rathburn

Eldon Davis Rathburn was a composer from the community of Queenstown, in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada....

 composed the film score. Tom Daly

Tom Daly (filmmaker)

Tom Daly was a Canadian film director and producer, who was the head of Studio B at the National Film Board of Canada in the 1950s and '60s...

 was producer, for the National Film Board of Canada

National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...

.

The film offers a humorous account of the history of transportation in Canada

Transportation in Canada

Canada is a developed country whose economy includes the extraction and export of raw materials from its large area. Because of this, it has a transportation system which includes more than of roads, 10 major international airports, 300 smaller airports, of functioning railway track, and more...

, looking at how Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's vast distances and obstacles were overcome, beginning with Canada's First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

. It also recounts the experiences of early pioneers, the construction of the Trans-Canada Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 and modern travel.

Influences

Part of the NFB's Canada Carries On

Canada Carries On

Canada Carries On was a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada, which ran from 1940 to 1959. The series was initially created as morale boosting propaganda films during World War II...

series, The Romance of Transportation in Canada marked the NFB’s first major foray into industrial animation, influenced not by the auteur style of NFB animation studio founder Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...

, but by the United Productions of America

United Productions of America

United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio of the 1940s through present day, beginning with industrial films and World War II training films. In the late 1940s, UPA produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, most notably the Mr. Magoo series. In...

 (UPA) style.

Canadian film critic Tom Waugh has also noted that the film's commentary -- written and narrated by McLaren's lover, Guy Glover -- features "a high camp

Camp (style)

Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...

 commentary" with "very queer

Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...

 inflections."

Awards

The Romance of Transportation in Canada received a special BAFTA Award, the Short Film Palme d'Or

Short Film Palme d'Or

The Short Film Palme d'Or is the highest prize given to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the same jury of the Cinéfondation....

 for animation at Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

, as well as an Academy Award for Animated Short Film

Academy Award for Animated Short Film

The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....

 nomination. It was the NFB's first film to be nominated for an Oscar in the animation category, at the 25th Academy Awards

25th Academy Awards

The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California and the NBC International Theatre in New York City....

. Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...

's pixilation

Pixilation

Pixilation is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet...

 film Neighbours

Neighbours (film)

Neighbours is a 1952 anti-war film by Scottish-Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren. Produced at the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal, the film uses the technique known as pixilation, an animation technique using live actors as stop-motion objects...

won an Academy Award the same year, and was nominated for another, but these were both in live-action categories.

External links

• Watch The Romance of Transportation in Canada at NFB.ca