Some of the most decorated Canadian films of the year run under 10 minutes, and the best of them now cost nothing to see. Matea Radic’s Paradaïz, an animated short from the National Film Board of Canada that has been selected by more than 63 festivals and collected 12 honours, is free to stream on NFB.ca and the NFB’s YouTube channel as of 9 November.
It is the kind of film that usually disappears after its festival run. Instead, it arrives in living rooms at the moment awards voters start paying attention to shorts.
A childhood, redrawn
Radic, a Sarajevo-born artist based in Winnipeg, wrote, directed and animated the film, her debut short. Paradaïz runs nine minutes and 28 seconds and is autobiographical: Radic mixes hand-drawn animation with archival images and family photographs as she searches for a version of home she can barely remember. The world she draws is absurd and quietly menacing, a place where houses have holes, tomatoes are ticking time bombs and snails roam the streets looking for safety.
National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The tone is wry rather than mournful, which is what lifts it. Dark humour and nostalgia do the work that a more conventional memoir would hand to narration.
“Paradaïz is the journey of returning back to my younger self and setting her free,” Radic said.
Jelena Popović produced for the NFB, with Robert McLaughlin and Christine Noël as executive producers. Tyler Fitzmaurice composed the music and sound design, and the score draws on traditional Bosnian songs.
The festival record, and the Oscar angle
The film’s top prizes include the Golden Dove for best short animated film in the international competition at DOK Leipzig in 2025, best animated short at the Warsaw Film Festival the same year, and the Golden Horseman at Filmfest Dresden in 2026. In Montreal, it took the Guy L. Coté Grand Prize for best animated film at the Sommets du cinéma d’animation.
The two 2025 wins matter beyond the trophy shelf. The NFB notes that DOK Leipzig and the Warsaw Film Festival are qualifying festivals for the 99th Academy Awards, which puts Paradaïz in the conversation for the animated short category. The NFB has history there: Noël produced The Girl Who Cried Pearls, which won the Oscar for best animated short at the 98th Academy Awards.
The free release also widens the film’s audience well past the festival circuit. From 10 November, Vimeo is featuring it as a Staff Pick.
It joins a busy season for NFB work on screens and in festivals, from Carol Nguyen’s documentary at IDFA to the Canadian titles in the Whistler Film Festival lineup. For more no-cost options, see our guide to free and legal places to stream in Canada.
Where to watch
- Paradaïz: NFB.ca and the NFB’s YouTube channel, free, Canada, US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, streaming now (since 9 November)
- Paradaïz: Vimeo Staff Picks, featured from 10 November
- Paradaïz: ARTE in France and Germany; the film is not available on NFB platforms in France, Germany, Hungary or Lithuania
Sources
Before you go
