To See or Not to See

To See or Not to See
Directed by	Břetislav Pojar
Written by	Břetislav Pojar
Produced by	Robert Verrall Wolf Koenig
Starring	Severn Darden (voice)
Edited by	Maurice Blackburn (sound and music) Břetislav Pojar (sound and music)
Music by	Genevieve Martin
Production company	National Film Board of Canada
Running time	14 min, 31 seconds
Country	Canada
Languages	English, French

To See or Not to See (French: Psychocratie) is a 1969 Canadian animated short film, directed by Břetislav Pojar for the National Film Board of Canada.^[1]

An exploration of fear, the film centres on a scientist who develops a pair of glasses that allows the wearer to see reality instead of subjective perception, thus making fear less onerous and easier to overcome.^[2]

To See or Not to See amusingly reflects on the habit of looking before one leaps. What Pojar shows us is the little person inside each of us, the cautious character we all know, who acts to keep us out of trouble but also keeps us in a state of defeat. Is there a cure for this reluctance to face up to life in the raw? The film shows that there is.^[3]

Awards[edit]

Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin: Golden Bear for Best Short Film, 1969
Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago: Certificate of Merit, 1969
International Cinematography Congress, Colour Film Week, Barcelona: Diploma of Honour, 1969
22nd Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Film of the Year, 1970
22nd Canadian Film Awards, Toronto: Best Animated Film, 1970
International Film Festival in Guadalajara, Guadalajara: Award for Animation, 1971
American Film and Video Festival, New York: Blue Ribbon, 1971
SODRE International Festival of Documentary and Experimental Films, Montevideo: First Prize, Experimental, 1971^[4]

References[edit]

^ La Revue du cinéma, image et son. Ligue française de l'enseignement et de l'éducation permanente, 1978. p. 20.
^ "TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE". Cinémathèque québécoise.
^ "To See or Not to See". nfb.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
^ "Canadian Film Awards". The Canadian Encyclopedia, October 1, 2007.

External links[edit]

To See or Not to See at IMDb
Watch To See or Not to See on the NFB website
To See or Not to See on YouTube

v t e Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture
Canadian Film Awards 1949–1975: Film of the Year	The Loon's Necklace (1949) Newfoundland Scene (1952) Tit-Coq (1953) The Seasons (1954) The Stratford Adventure (1955) City of Gold (1958) Universe (1961) Lonely Boy (1963) Pour la suite du monde (1964) The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam (1966) Warrendale (1967) A Place to Stand (1968) The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (1969) To See or Not to See (1970) The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) Les Ordres (1975)
Canadian Film Awards 1964–1978: Feature Film	À tout prendre (1964) The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1965) Astataïon, ou Le Festin des morts (1966) Warrendale (1967) The Ernie Game (1968) No Award (1969) Goin' Down the Road (1970) Mon oncle Antoine (1971) Wedding in White (1972) Slipstream (1973) No Award (1974) Les Ordres (1975) Lies My Father Told Me (1976) J.A. Martin photographe (1977) The Silent Partner (1978)
Genie Awards 1980–2011	The Changeling (1980) Les Bons débarras (1981) Ticket to Heaven (1982) The Grey Fox (1983) The Terry Fox Story (1984) The Bay Boy (1985) My American Cousin (1986) Le Déclin de l'empire américain (1987) Un Zoo la nuit (1988) Dead Ringers (1989) Jésus de Montréal (1990) Black Robe (1991) Naked Lunch (1992) Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) Exotica (1994) Le Confessionnal (1995) Lilies (1996) The Sweet Hereafter (1997) The Red Violin (1998) Sunshine (1999) Maelström (2000) Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) Ararat (2002) Les Invasions barbares (2003) Les Triplettes de Belleville (2004) C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) Away from Her (2007) Passchendaele (2008) Polytechnique (2009) Incendies (2010) Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
Canadian Screen Awards 2012–present	Rebelle (2012) Gabrielle (2013) Mommy (2014) Room (2015) Juste la fin du monde (2016) Maudie (2017) Une colonie (2018) Antigone (2019) Beans (2020) Scarborough (2021) Brother (2022)

v t e Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short and Best Theatrical Short
Theatrical Short (1949–1996)	Who Will Teach Your Child? (1949) North Shore (1950) After Prison, What? (1951) Opera School (1952) L'Homme aux oiseaux (1953) Farewell Oak Street (1954) High Tide in Newfoundland¹ (1955) Gold (1956) The Sceptre and the Mace (1958) Money Minters, The Quest and The Tall Country (1959) Royal River (1960) Universe (1961) Morning on the Lièvre (1962) Nahanni (1963) Anniversary (1964) Do Not Fold, Staple, Spindle or Mutilate and Ça n'est pas le temps des romans (1968) Vertige and At Home (1969) A Matter of Fat and Blake (1970) Don't Knock the Ox (1971) This Is a Photograph (1972) Goodbye Sousa (1973) Along These Lines (1975) Cooperage (1976) Spartree (1977) L'Affaire Bronswik (1978) Nails (1980) The Strongest Man in the World (1981) Zea (1982) Elvis Gratton (1983) Ted Baryluk's Grocery (1984) Charade (1985) George and Rosemary (1988) Saeed (1991) Arrowhead (1994) Les fleurs magiques (1995) The Home for Blind Women (1996)
Live Action Short (1986–present)	The Edit (1986) I Need a Man Like You to Make My Dreams Come True (1987) The Mysterious Moon Men of Canada (1989) In Search of the Last Good Man (1990) Battle of the Bulge (1992) The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore (1993) The Hangman's Bride (1997) When Ponds Freeze Over (1998) Moving Day (1999) Le P'tit Varius (2000) The Heart of the World (2001) I Shout Love (2002) Noël Blank (2003) Capacité 11 personnes (2004) Milo 55160 (2005) Le rouge au sol (2006) Après tout (2007) Next Floor (2008) Danse Macabre (2009) Savage (2010) Doubles with Slight Pepper (2011) Throat Song (2012) Noah (2013) Hole (2014) She Stoops to Conquer (2015) Mutants (2016) Fluffy (2017) Fauve (2018) Pick (2019) Black Bodies (2020) Girls Shouldn't Walk Alone at Night (2021) Simo (2022)
Animated Short (1968–present)	Un enfant...un pays¹ (1968) Walking (1969) To See or Not to See (1970) Evolution (1971) Dans la vie... (1972) The Family That Dwelt Apart (1973) The Owl Who Married a Goose (1975) The Street (1976) Spinnolio (1977) Afterlife (1978) Every Child (1980) The Big Snit (1986) Get a Job (1987) The Cat Came Back (1989) Juke-Bar (1990) Strings (1992) Pearl's Diner (1993) La vieille dame et les pigeons (1997) Bingo (1998) When the Day Breaks (1999) Village of Idiots (2000) The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg (2001) The Hungry Squid (2002) Falling in Love Again (2003) Ryan (2004) cNote (2005) The Danish Poet (2006) Madame Tutli-Putli (2007) Isabelle au bois dormant (2008) Runaway (2009) Lipsett Diaries (2010) Romance (2011) Paula (2012) Subconscious Password (2013) Me and My Moulton (2014) The Ballad of Immortal Joe (2015) Blind Vaysha (2016) The Tesla World Light (2017) Animal Behaviour (2018) Giant Bear (2019) Hot Flash (2020) Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice (2021) The Flying Sailor (2022)
¹ These two films were given honorable mentions rather than officially winning the award, but are included here as no other winner was named above them.