Two biographical films are showing on the last day of The International Festival of Films on Art at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec that should be of interest. The screening is on Sunday, March 29th and starts at 1:30 PM with Escape from Moominvalley, covering children's author and artist Tove Jansson, who also illustrated Tolkien's The Hobbit (second edition in Sweden, and later reused in the 1973 Finnish edition of The Hobbit as well).

If you plan on attending, please let me know!

For more general information, you can visit the Festival website directly. Links to the individual movies are below.

Escape from Moominvalley (58 min., Finnish with English subtitles)
Finland, Denmark, Sweden, 2014
Directed by Charlotte Airas
The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Finnish artist and author Tove Jansson (1914-2001), who earned worldwide fame for her Moomin books for children. Written in Swedish, these stories of imaginary animals, which she herself illustrated, went on to become the subject of comic strips and animated films. But they represent only one facet of the artist’s creativity. This film focuses on her prolific work as a visual artist, which she carried out at the same time as her writing. Jansson, in fact, regarded herself above all as a painter. This film profile delves into Jansson’s life outside of the Moomins, recounting her early years and search for artistic identity. She is today ranked among the leading visual artists of post-war Finland.



J.R.R Tolkien: des Mots, des mondes (55 min., French)
France, 2014
Directed by Simon Backès
The distinguished philologist J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy work The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). Inspired by Anglo-Saxon legends and Norse sagas, this novel had a profound impact on the cultural landscape of the 20th century, leading to a popular resurgence of fantasy literature. The book was a monumental—and partly unfinished—achievement, an unprecedented attempt to create, on his own, a coherent mythology for an entire country. Examining Tolkien’s diverse sources of inspiration, the film traces the genesis of the work in an attempt to understand how its influence and impact remain so strong forty years after his death.

Update: If you are up for watching it in French (no subtitles), J.R.R Tolkien: des Mots, des mondes is available on YouTube.