Animation
Norman McLaren founded the NFB's animation unit in 1942, and had George Dunning, René Jodoin, Wolf Koenig, Jean-Paul Ladouceur, Evelyn Lambart, Colin Low, Grant Munro, and Robert Verrall working there within a decade of its creation. Jodoin organised the NFB's French animated studio in 1966.
During Derek Lamb's leadership of the English animation studio produced multiple critical acclaimed works, including the Academy Award-winning Every Child. Lamb resigned in 1982, and was replaced by Doug McDonald, whose tenure was criticized by animators such as David Fine's statement that "Norman McLaren would be turning in his grave if he knew how the place was being run".
The NFB's computer animation program was suspended due to budget cuts although the NFB's French animated studio created Peter Foldes's Metadata in 1971, and the Hunger in 1973. The NFB returned to computer animation in the 1980s. The NFB licensed the SANDDE, a system that allows for hand-drawn animation in 3D spaces, from the IMAX Corporation; Subconscious Password (2013) was produced using this system.
As of 2012, the NFB is the only studio with an pinscreen animation screen.
McLaren used the stop motion technique of pixilation for Neighbours. The NFB released StopMo Studio, an app that allowed people to create their own stop motion films, in 2012. The 3D printing of sets and puppets for stop motion was first used by a NFB film in Bone Mother. The Girl Who Cried Pearls (2025) used hand-made puppets in contrast to the standard usage of 3D printing.
Children
Children were rarely featured in NFB films in the early 1940s due to a focus on documentaries related to military efforts. In 1943, Grierson increased film production aimed at children for the purpose of education. The Ti-Jeans series, first produced in the 1950s, was the most booked non-theatrical NFB film up until the 1990s. and Ti-Jean Goes Lumbering (1953) was the second most popular NFB title according to a 1960 survey.
Films about the socialization of children were produced by the NFB in the 1950s. Generational gaps and the sexual revolution were depicted in 1966 productions The Merry-Go-Round, The Game, and The Shattered Silence. NFB productions aimed at children mainly focused on the adults until the 1970s. Sexual Abuse of Children: A Time for Caring (1979) was the first NFB film to cover child sexual abuse and the amount of films covering child abuse grew in the 1980s.
Documentary
Cinéma vérité and Direct Cinema
In the post-war era, the NFB became a pioneer in new developments in documentary film. The NFB played a key role in both the cinéma vérité and direct cinema movements, working on technical innovations to make its 16 mm synchronized sound equipment more light-weight and portable—most notably the "Sprocketape" portable sound recorder invented for the film board by Ches Beachell in 1955. Influenced by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the NFB's Studio B production unit experimented with cinema verite in its 1958 Candid Eye series. Candid Eye along with such NFB French-language films as The Snowshoers (Les Raquetteurs) (1958) have been credited as helping to inspire the cinéma vérité documentary movement. Other key cinéma vérité films during this period included Lonely Boy (1961) and Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen (1965).[10]
Challenge for Change/Societé Nouvelle
Running from 1967 to 1980, Challenge for Change and its French-language equivalent Societé Nouvelle became a global model for the use of film and portable video technology to create community-based participatory documentary films to promote dialogue on local issues and promote social change.
Cinéma vérité and Direct Cinema
In the post-war era, the NFB became a pioneer in new developments in documentary film. The NFB played a key role in both the cinéma vérité and direct cinema movements, working on technical innovations to make its 16 mm synchronized sound equipment more light-weight and portable—most notably the "Sprocketape" portable sound recorder invented for the film board by Ches Beachell in 1955. Influenced by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the NFB's Studio B production unit experimented with cinema verite in its 1958 Candid Eye series. Candid Eye along with such NFB French-language films as The Snowshoers (Les Raquetteurs) (1958) have been credited as helping to inspire the cinéma vérité documentary movement. Other key cinéma vérité films during this period included Lonely Boy (1961) and Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen (1965).[10]
Challenge for Change/Societé Nouvelle
Running from 1967 to 1980, Challenge for Change and its French-language equivalent Societé Nouvelle became a global model for the use of film and portable video technology to create community-based participatory documentary films to promote dialogue on local issues and promote social change. Over two hundred such films were produced, including 27 films about Fogo Island, Newfoundland, directed by Colin Low and early NFB efforts in Indigenous filmmaking, such as Willie Dunn's The Battle of Crowfoot (1968).[10][11]
Indian Film Crew
The Indian Film Crew was an early effort in First Nations filmmaking at the NFB, through its Challenge for Change program, initially proposed by the associate director of the CYC, Jerry Gambill, according to Noel Starblanket. George Stoney was brought in as the first executive producer of Challenge for Change. It was jointly sponsored by the Company of Young Canadians and the Department of Indian Affairs. Barbara Wilson, Tom O’Connor, Noel Starblanket, Roy Daniels, Morris Isaac, Willie Dunn, and Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell were on Canada's first all-Indigenous production unit, making groundbreaking work that helped galvanize Indigenous movements across the continent.[12]
Indian Film Crew
The Indian Film Crew was an early effort in First Nations filmmaking at the NFB, through its Challenge for Change program, initially proposed by the associate director of the CYC, Jerry Gambill, according to Noel Starblanket. George Stoney was brought in as the first executive producer of Challenge for Change. It was jointly sponsored by the Company of Young Canadians and the Department of Indian Affairs. Barbara Wilson, Tom O’Connor, Noel Starblanket, Roy Daniels, Morris Isaac, Willie Dunn, and Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell were on Canada's first all-Indigenous production unit, making groundbreaking work that helped galvanize Indigenous movements across the continent.[12]
Giant-screen cinema
NFB documentarians played a key role in the development of the IMAX film format, following the NFB multi-screen experience In the Labyrinth, created for Expo 67 in Montreal. The film was the centrepiece of a $4.5 million pavilion, which attracted over 1.3 million visitors in 1967, and was co-directed by Roman Kroitor, Colin Low and Hugh O'Connor, and produced by Tom Daly and Kroitor. After Expo, Kroitor left the NFB to co-found what would become known as IMAX Corporation, with Graeme Ferguson and Robert Kerr. The NFB continued to be involved with IMAX breakthroughs at subsequent world's fairs, with NFB director Donald Brittain directing the first-ever IMAX film Tiger Child for Expo 70 in Osaka, and with the NFB producing the first full-colour IMAX-3D film Transitions for Expo 86 in Vancouver and the first 48 fps IMAX HD film Momentum for Seville Expo '92.[13]
Alternative drama
In the 1980s, the National Film Board also produced a number of "alternative drama" films, which combined documentary and narrative fiction filmmaking techniques.[14] Generally starring non-professional actors, these films used a documentary format to present a fictionalized story and were generally scripted by the filmmakers and the cast through a process of improvisation, and are thus classified as docufiction.[14]
The alternative drama films were The Masculine Mystique (1984), 90 Days (1985), Sitting in Limbo (1986), The Last Straw (1987), Train of Dreams (1987), Welcome to Canada (1989) and The Company of Strangers (1990).[14]
Interactive
Works
As of March 2013, the NFB devotes one quarter of its production budget to interactive media, including web documentaries.[15][16] The NFB is a pioneer in interactive web documentaries, helping to position Canada as a major player in digital storytelling, according to transmedia creator Anita Ondine Smith,[17] as well as Shari Frilot, programmer for Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier program for digital media.[18]
Welcome to Pine Point received two Webby Awards while Out My Window, an interactive project from the NFB's Highrise project, won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling and an International Digital Emmy Award.
Works
As of March 2013, the NFB devotes one quarter of its production budget to interactive media, including web documentaries.[15][16] The NFB is a pioneer in interactive web documentaries, helping to position Canada as a major player in digital storytelling, according to transmedia creator Anita Ondine Smith,[17] as well as Shari Frilot, programmer for Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier program for digital media.[18]
Welcome to Pine Point received two Webby Awards while Out My Window, an interactive project from the NFB's Highrise project, won the IDFA DocLab Award for Digital Storytelling and an International Digital Emmy Award.[19]
Rob McLaughlin
Virtual reality
The NFB is also recognized as a leader in virtual reality,[21] with works such as the Webby Award-winning The Unknown Photographer, Way to Go and Cardboard Crash.[22]
In January 2009, the NFB launched its online Screening Room, NFB.ca, offering Canadian and international web users the ability to stream hundreds of NFB films for free as well as embed links in blogs and social sites.[23][24] By mid-2013, the NFB's digital platforms had received approximately 41 million views.[25]
In October 2009, the NFB launched an iPhone application that was downloaded more than 170,000 times and led to more than 500,000 film views in the first four months.[26] In January 2010, the NFB added high-definition and 3D films to the over 1400 productions available for viewing online.[27] The NFB introduced a free iPad application in July 2010,[28]
Indigenous
On June 20, 2017, the NFB announced a three-year plan entitled "Redefining the NFB's Relationship with Indigenous Peoples" that commits the organization to hiring more Indigenous staff, designating 15% of its production spending for Indigenous works and offering cross-cultural training to all employees. The plan also sees the NFB building on its relationships with Canadian schools and organizations to create more educational materials about Indigenous peoples in Canada.[38][39]
One of the most notable filmmakers in the history of the NFB is Alanis Obomsawin, an Abenaki director who will be completing her 50th film with the NFB in 2017.[40]
Inuit film and animation
In November 2011, the NFB and partners including the Inuit Relations Secretariat and the Government of Nunavut introduced a DVD and online collection entitled Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories, makes over 100 NFB films by and about Inuit available in Inuktitut and other Inuit languages, as well as English and French.
Inuit film and animation
In November 2011, the NFB and partners including the Inuit Relations Secretariat and the Government of Nunavut introduced a DVD and online collection entitled Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories, makes over 100 NFB films by and about Inuit available in Inuktitut and other Inuit languages, as well as English and French.[41][42]
In November 2006, the National Film Board of Canada and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation announced the start of the Nunavut Animation Lab, offering animation training to Nunavut artists.[43] Films from the Nunavut Animation Lab include Alethea Arnaquq-Baril's 2010 digital animation short Lumaajuuq, winner of the Best Aboriginal Award at the Golden Sheaf Awards and named Best Canadian Short Drama at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.[44]
First Stories and Second Stories
In 2005, the NFB introduced its "First Stories" program for emerging Indigenous directors from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Twelve five-minute films were produced through the program, with four from each province. First Stories was followed by "Second Stories," in which three filmmakers from the previous program—Gerald Auger, Tessa Desnomie and Lorne Olson—were invited back to create 20 minute films.[45][46]
Wapikoni Mobile
The NFB was a founding partner in Wapikoni Mobile, a mobile film and media production unit for emerging First Nations filmmakers in Quebec.[47]
Photography
The Still Photography Division of the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau was transferred to the NFB on 8 August 1941; this occurred two months after the rest of the organization was absorbed into the NFB. The Still Photography Division of the Wartime Information Board was acquired by the NFB in 1943. Nicholas Morant, George Hunter, and Ronny Jaques were employed by the Still Photography Division during World War II.
In 1944, the Still Photography Division started charging a below-standard fee for reproductions. The Commercial and Press Photographers' Association of Canada accused the division of unfair competition due to this. In 1946, the NFB changed its policies to match the standard rate of $2.50 for newspapers and $5 for magazines.
The 1950 National Film Act included photography under the NFB's purview. Employment in the division fell by 20% from 1945 to 1946, and declined from 70 employees in 1945, to 22 by 1952. The division had to rely on freelancers. The division was placed under Technical Services in 1951. The photography division did not participate in the move to Saint-Laurent due to objections from the External Affairs, Trade and Commerce, the Travel Bureau, and other federal agencies that relied on it for promotional services.
Photography/Photographie: Canada 1967, featuring 149 photographs from 52 photographers was the first annual photography exhibition organized by the division. The $554,500 budget for Canada: A Year of the Land, a 260 image photobook produced by 76 photographers for the Canadian Centennial, was greater than the budget for the overall division. For Expo 67, the division produced the People Tree, a six-storey spherical structure, at the Canadian Pavilion. The $158,500 budget for the Call Them Canadians photobook was almost equal to the division's $172,876 budget for 1966.
Women
The NFB has been a leader in films by women, with the world's first publicly funded women's film's studio, Studio D, followed subsequently by its French-language equivalent, Studio des femmes.[48] Beginning on March 8, 2016, International Women's Day, the NFB began introducing a series of gender parity initiatives.
Studio D
In 1974, in conjunction with International Women's Year, the NFB created Studio D on the recommendation of long-time employee Kathleen Shannon. Shannon was designated as executive director of the new studio—the first government-funded film studio dedicated to women filmmakers in the world—which became one of the NFB's most celebrated filmmaking units, winning awards and breaking distribution records.[10][49][50]
Notable films produced by the studio include three Academy Award-winning documentaries
Studio D
In 1974, in conjunction with International Women's Year, the NFB created Studio D on the recommendation of long-time employee Kathleen Shannon. Shannon was designated as executive director of the new studio—the first government-funded film studio dedicated to women filmmakers in the world—which became one of the NFB's most celebrated filmmaking units, winning awards and breaking distribution records.[10][49][50]
Notable films produced by the studio include three Academy Award-winning documentaries I'll Find a Way (1977), If You Love This Planet (1982) and Flamenco at 5:15 (1983), as well as Not a Love Story (1982) and Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (1992). Studio D was shut down in 1996, amidst a sweeping set of federal government budget cuts, which impacted the NFB as a whole.[10]
As of March 8, 2016, researchers and librarians at the University of Calgary announced an archival project to preserve records of Studio D.
