''Blackfly'' is a 1991 Canadian animated short from Christopher Hinton, produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

and based on " The Black Fly Song" by

Wade Hemsworth Albert Wade Hemsworth (October 23, 1916 – January 19, 2002) was a Canadian folk singer and songwriter.Alan Hustak, "Canadian composer dies at 85". ''Calgary Herald'', January 20, 2002. Although he was not a prolific composer, having writt ...

. It was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

for Best Animated Short. The song is performed in the film by Hemsworth with back-up vocals from

Kate & Anna McGarrigle Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) and Anna McGarrigle (born December 4, 1944) were a duo of Canadian singer-songwriters (and sisters) from Quebec, who performed until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010. Music ca ...

Synopsis

Wade Hemsworth's popular song, written in 1949 while he was working in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...

, is used as the source material for this delightful cartoon from the NFB. A young man goes to work for a survey crew in what is now

Little Abitibi Provincial Park Little Abitibi Provincial Park is a non-operating provincial park north of Cochrane, Ontario. It holds a network of small lakes which run into the Little Abitibi River. The Little Abitibi River runs about up into the Abitibi Canyon, where the ...

and encounters blackflies everywhere he goes. Over and over again, he encounters those pesky little bloodsuckers. He even goes to the moon, only to be swarmed there as well. His only recourse is to leave the North, vowing never to return.

References

External links

* (requires

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

) * * 1991 animated films 1991 films Films directed by Christopher Hinton National Film Board of Canada animated short films Animated musical films Films based on songs Animated films about insects Films set in Northern Ontario 1991 short films Canadian animated short films Quebec films Canadian musical films Films about flies 1990s Canadian films {{1990s-short-animation-film-stub