Cordell Barker (born 1956) is a

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animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

, director and screenwriter based in

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. He began animating in his late teens after taking on an apprenticeship at Kenn Perkins Animation. A two-time Academy Award nominee, Barker is an animation filmmaker with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

(NFB).

National Film Board of Canada

Earlier in his career, Barker did animation work on fellow Winnipeg animator Brad Caslor's NFB short, '' Get a Job''. He then went on to direct his own NFB animated shorts, at the NFB's Winnipeg studio. His best known NFB shorts are '' The Cat Came Back'' (1988) and '' Strange Invaders'' (2002), both of which received

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nominations. He completed his third film for the NFB, ''Runaway'', in 2009. ''Runaway'' was named best animated film at the 30th Genie Awards. ''Strange Invaders'', ''The Cat Came Back'' and ''Runaway'' were included in the Animation Show of Shows. In April 2010, he was hired as a creative consultant by the NFB to oversee its animation projects from the

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and

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''If I Was God...''

Barker's fourth film with the NFB is ''If I Was God...'', a

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about a 12-year-old boy speculating on what he would do if he was God. The film is inspired by Barker's experiences as a 12-year-old in grade seven, dissecting and experimenting on a frog in biology class, and sensing the approaching power of adulthood after having left the confines of elementary school. Barker intends to experiment with a variety of animation techniques in this film, use

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

puppets along with

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...

and other forms. The film is divided into episodes, with each sequence triggered by mental associations of typical grade seven classroom objects, such as science posters, dioramas and papier-mâché volcanoes. The director had initially contemplated also using CGI animation but abandoned the idea out of a desire to achieve an “organic hand-made feel” for the film. Barker was committed to completing the film with a much shorter production schedule than his previous works, which averaged “a disturbing and embarrassing 8½ years per film.” In November 2015, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that ''If I Was God...'' was one of 10 films—and two NFB productions—

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ed for a possible Oscar nomination, however the film didn't receive a nomination.

Short films

* '' The Cat Came Back'' (1988) * '' Strange Invaders'' (2001) * '' Runaway'' (2009) * ''If I Was God...'' (2015) * ''Good Luck to You All'' (2025)

Commercial work

He has also worked on commercial campaigns for entities such as

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, Benylin,

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

, Lors, Nike, and the

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and ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

''.

References

External links

*
Film Reference Library biographyWatch Cordell Barker's films online''Animation G-man: Cordell Barker'', Barker's blog entry at NFB.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Cordell 1956 births Artists from Winnipeg Canadian animated film directors Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Animated Short Film directors from Winnipeg Living people National Film Board of Canada people Manitoba Liberal Party candidates in Manitoba provincial elections