How to Be at Home

Directed by Andrea Dorfman

Canada, 2020 (animation, 5 minutes, colour, English)

Also known as "À la maison"

Image: © National Film Board of Canada

Video (National Film Board of Canada)
Video (National Film Board of Canada) [French]

Film Description:
"Lean into loneliness—and know you're not alone in it. Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman reunites with poet Tanya Davis to craft tender and profound animation on the theme of isolation, providing a wise and soaringly lyrical sequel to their viral hit How to Be Alone."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Produced by:	Annette Clarke
Animation:	Andrea Dorfman
Film Editing:	Andrea Dorfman
Music:	Tanya Davis, Daniel Ledwell
Production Company:	National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada
Additional Credits:	Poem Writing and Performance / Poème - écriture et interprétation : Tanya Davis

(sources)

Quote by the Director

"I wanted to work in acrylics, but supply and shipping were disrupted by the pandemic and I couldn't get animation paper [for How to Be at Home]—but I had lots of books. I love animated projects that use books (especially The Opposites Game by Lisa LaBracio) and I was curious. Also, the motif of a book—of reading, an activity we might turn to while isolated at home—lent itself well to the theme of the poem. The books, themselves, were another story. I wanted old books that had yellowing pages. I found several books in my boyfriend's mother's basement and the rest came from a friend who works at a second-hand bookstore. I used around 15 books in total."
-- Andrea Dorfman (source)

Quote about How to Be at Home

"The nearly five-minute film [How to Be at Home] has become the breakout star of The Curve, a collection of short films commissioned by the National Film Board to capture life in Canada during COVID-19. It has been viewed more than 55,000 times since it was released in September [2020]. The topics of the 20 short films in the series so far span everything from cycling through the empty streets of Vancouver to a young man's coming out to his family. 'Every artist had carte blanche to make a piece of art,' says Julie Roy, director-general of creation and innovation at the NFB. Filmmakers were given two directives: Whatever they made, it had to be in some way about life during the pandemic, and they had to follow local health guidelines while making their films."
-- Dave McGinn (source)

Bibliography for How to Be at Home

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Animation Magazine. "Short-form magic." Animation Magazine, vol. 35, no. 6, June-July 2021.
McGinn, Dave. "NFB's new breakout short embraces loneliness." Globe and Mail, October 20, 2020.

Web Sites about How to Be at Home

National Film Board of Canada. "NFB -- How to Be at Home." National Film Board of Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/our-collection/?idfilm=71928.
Office national du film du Canada. "ONF -- À la maison." Office national du film du Canada. http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/fr/notre-collection/?idfilm=72095. [in French]