Ann Marie Fleming’s Window Horses is a beautifully narrated and colourfully animated story of a young girl’s journey toward self-discovery. After being invited to a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, by a mysterious figure, Rosie Ming faces challenges and discoveries that ultimately lead to her self-realization. Unaware of the reasons behind her father’s disappearance, she has her perspective and conscience awakened by her experiences and the information she uncovers.
The first feature-length animation from the NFB to be selected for the festival since Pierre Hébert’s La plante humaine, the film features a rich colour palette sure to tantalize the audience. At times, it gives way to guest-animated sequences in which poetic illustration and artistic expression convey the spiritedness of living freely. Window Horses uses poetry, music and illustration to celebrate the value of accepting cultures, opening one’s mind and tapping into unknown aspects of the self as a form of self-transformation and spiritual transcendence. The superb voice cast includes festival veterans Don McKellar, Sandra Oh and Ellen Page.
