On Film
Posts related to the movies available for free streaming on NFB.ca; basically, what you should be watching and why.
Women and Film: A Tribute to the Female Pioneers of the NFB
During the early 1940s, women occupied a marginal – if not non-existent – role in production at the National Film Board of Canada. At the time, the NFB was primarily engaged in producing propaganda films to counter Nazi ideology, and educational titles designed to interpret Canada to Canadians.
Founded...
Canadian Screen Awards | Watch 2 Nominated Animation Films for Free
Canada's newest entertainment prize, the Canadian Screen Awards, which honour the best in homegrown film, television and digital projects, are being broadcast this Sunday (3 March 2013) and 14 NFB projects (fourteen!) are nominated for a prize.
For those still confused about these new awards (we were), the Canadian...
International Women’s Day: Know Your History!
In honour of International Women's Day on March 8, we're pleased to present a week-long lineup of NFB films by and about women.
One of the things that makes me most proud to work here is our long-standing commitment to women. From Evelyn Lambart to Terre Nash to Alanis...
Star Power: Celebrities in NFB Films, Part 2
So, as we were saying last week in Part 1, the NFB has long been a hotbed of hot collaborations. From influential composers, to rock bands, to actors and sitar players, the Film Board has historically attracted loads of fun and famous people.
So here is, without any more...
Star Power: Celebrities in NFB Films, Part 1
Not to brag, or anything, but the NFB has a pretty serious track record in the working-with-huge-stars department. Over the years, many very well known actors, musicians, athletes and others have collaborated with us to make films for you to watch and enjoy. Sweet of them, no?
Regrettably, many...
Watch Kids’ Cartoons From Around the World
Because not everyone living and growing up in Canada is exactly the same, cartoons shouldn't all be exactly the same either. This, in essence, is the idea behind the Talespinners Collection, a series of short NFB animation from the early 2000s.
Created for children aged 5 to 9, the...
World Radio Day | Our Beloved CBC Circa 1949
In this wonderfully vintage doc, which hails back to a time when people still dressed nice for radio, host John Fisher (a.k.a. Mr. Canada), offers a review of all things CBC. The year is 1949. The CBC is 9 years old. Television is still but a twinkle in...
Glenn Gould: Two Portraits, One Musical Genius
On Sunday, February 10, pianist and composer Glenn Gould will be accorded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 55th annual Grammy Awards. To mark this important occasion, we have released, online, 2 documentary portraits of Mr. Gould produced by the National Film Board in 1959. I thought...
5 NFB Films Celebrating Canadian Lumberjacks
Despite the fact not too many people get paid to swing axes and fell trees these days (machines do that now), the mystique of the lumberjack is alive and well in today's popular imagination. In both fiction and fashion, not to mention women's hearts, woodsmen and their rugged...
Black Sugar | Modern-Day Slavery in the Dominican Republic
Some came voluntarily, chasing the dream of a salary; others were kidnapped near the Dominican border and brought by force. Regardless of trajectory, once Haitians lands in a batey, as camps for Haitian workers are called in the Dominican Republic, all are cursed to the same dolorous grind:...
Cold War Intrigue: Producer Gerry Flahive Discusses The Man Who Might Have Been
* This post was written by NFB producer Gerry Flahive
It’s not every day you make Emperor Hirohito’s brother laugh.
In the summer of 1997 I found myself, with director John Kramer, in Karuizawa, an upscale tourist town not far from Tokyo, on the grounds of the summer home of...
Sealskin Stop Motion: Co Hoedeman’s Inuit Legends
According to Wikipedia, prolific Dutch-Canadian animator Co Hoedeman was an unusually plucky young man. At 25, he immigrated to Canada with his then-wife, “on the chance that the National Film Board of Canada might hire him.”
(I don’t want to depress you, but kids: don’t try this at home.)
His...
