Skip to main content
The Flying Sailor film image, co-directors Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

The Flying Sailor

Based on the true events of the Halifax Explosion in 1917, a sailor soars above the blast towards the great unknown.

 

Supported by

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Directors
Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

No Dialogue

Film Contact
Content Warning

Violence

PG
8 min

Featured in:

N'xaxaitkw film image

VIFF Short Forum: Program 6

Cinematic form is given to life’s big mysteries: luck and fate, love and loss, and the spiritual supernatural.

 

More Info

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Oscar® Shorts 2025: Animation

90 min

Magic candies, first kisses, and three brothers seeking hair transplants... the animated shorts package is a treasure trove of delights.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Chez Jolie Coiffure

Dir. Rosine Mbakam
70 min

Having immigrated to Belgium from Cameroon, Sabine manages Chez Jolie Coiffure. Her salon patrons, many of them undocumented immigrants, are not only be made to feel beautiful but can also escape the daily difficulties and harsh realities of their lives.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

No Other Land

Dir. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham & Rachel Szor
96 min

Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Mami Wata + Drexciya

Dir. C.J. "Fiery" Obasi
119 min

Fiery Obasi's tremendous, dreamy fable, shot in inky, lustrous black and white, is an elemental tale of magic, devotion, and generational unease set in a traditional Nigerian village.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Nickel Boys

Dir. RaMell Ross
140 min

To tell the story of two friends serving time at a brutal racist Florida reform school, director RaMell Ross puts us inside their heads. It's a radical masterstroke in a powerful film, nominated for Best Picture.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Atlantics

Dir. Mati Diop
106 min

In Dakar, Ada loves Souleiman but has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada's wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. It seems Souleiman has returned.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

David Christensen

Producer

David Christensen

Screenwriter

Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby

ANIM

Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby, William J Dyer

Editor

Serge Verreault

Original Music

Luigi Allemano

Directors

Amanda Forbis headshot, The Flying Sailor co-director

Amanda Forbis

Amanda Forbis studied film, video, and animation at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. In 1995, Wendy Tilby invited her to Montreal to co-direct When the Day Breaks (1999). It received numerous honours, including the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes, an Academy Award nomination, and the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films, and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. In 2011, they followed up with Wild Life, which was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Wendy Tilby headshot, The Flying Sailor co-director

Wendy Tilby

Wendy Tilby’s first film, Strings (1991), won many international awards, including a Genie Award and first prize at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, in addition to being nominated for an Academy Award. Tilby then joined forces with Amanda Forbis to direct When the Day Breaks (1999). It received numerous honours, including the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes, an Academy Award nomination, and the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films, and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival. In 2011, they followed up with Wild Life, which was also nominated for an Academy Award.