NFB and TIFF select five next-gen filmmakers for their boundary-pushing {RE}DEFINED initiative. The NFB and TIFF Next Wave announce short documentary projects offering fresh perspectives on Canada during a time of change.

November 24, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Following a nationwide call that drew over 240 submissions, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) have selected five short documentary projects for {RE}DEFINED, a new initiative for Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers aged 30 and under.

Launched in September during TIFF’s 50th edition, {RE}DEFINED will team filmmakers with NFB producers to create short documentaries of 10 minutes or less. These works will showcase the diverse perspectives of a new generation—revealing what inspires and motivates younger Canadians—and push the boundaries of non-fiction storytelling. {RE}DEFINED projects will reimagine Canadian and Indigenous identity at a pivotal time in the life of this country, offering new ways of seeing who we are and who we’re becoming.

Creators will benefit from a production team, a fully financed budget, marketing and publicity teams, distribution and mentorship from the NFB. The {RE}DEFINED docs will premiere at TIFF 2026 before a worldwide digital release across NFB platforms.

This initiative is part of TIFF Next Wave, the heartbeat of programming for young audiences, celebrating the power in young people seeing themselves and their communities represented on screen. The annual TIFF Next Wave Film Festival and its year-round, monthly programming bring young audiences and creators together to explore new voices and perspectives in cinema. The festival is curated by TIFF’s Next Wave Committee, a group of 12 teen film enthusiasts from across the Greater Toronto Area.

The five {RE}DEFINED projects are:

Butter Chicken to Go by Prajj | Produced by Kate Vollum with the Central Documentary Unit in Toronto

• Butter Chicken to Go follows South Asian delivery drivers during Toronto’s dinner rush in the dead of winter. Shot at the height of anti-Indian sentiment in Canada, the film examines what it means to have your presence be both essential and contested.
• Prajj is a Toronto-based writer, director and artist whose work blends bold genre storytelling with an experimental, DIY spirit. His films have screened at TIFF Next Wave, the Reel Asian Film Festival, Toronto Youth Shorts and more. Alongside filmmaking, Prajj creates installation work, video art and zines, building a practice that’s playful, genre-bending and formally inventive.

Là où nos fleurs poussent by Maxime Kornachuk | Produced by Jelena Popović with the French Animation Unit in Montreal

• Là où nos fleurs poussent gives voice to Métis of all ages seeking to reconnect with a culture that’s been marked by efforts to silence and erase it. The film uses stop-motion-animated beads as well as rotoscoping to depict personal stories as seeds of a larger, shared identity that’s coming back to life.
• Maxime Kornachuk is a 23-year-old Red River Métis animator and a graduate of the Multimedia Communications program at Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg. His culture is central to his life and practice and has inspired stop-motion explorations that pay tribute to the rich tradition of Métis beadwork, first seen in the student film Our Beaded Flowers (2024). Also trained in dance, Maxime has drawn on that discipline to create rotoscoped animation, setting up a poetic dialogue between the human body in motion and animated objects.

pâkwêsikan sâkihtin: Bannock Is Love by Tyra Delver | Produced by Chehala Leonard with the Western Documentary Unit in Edmonton

• pâkwêsikan sâkihtin: Bannock Is Love explores the topic of food sovereignty through the tradition of making bannock. The film centres on the ways that cultural traditions nourish not only the body, but the soul and spirit of a people.
• Tyra Delver is a Two-Spirited artist, photographer and filmmaker from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 territory, Alberta, who weaves her lived experiences into evocative visual storytelling. Her work offers intimate glimpses into the dreamscapes of a young Native creative, shaped by imagination and personal truth. Influenced by many Indigenous artists yet deeply rooted in her own upbringing, Tyra continues to learn about and share her heritage through every piece she creates.

Restaurant Kids by Sylvia Mok | Produced by Liz Cowie with the Eastern Documentary Unit in Halifax

• Restaurant Kids offers a glimpse into a small but tight-knit community of Chinese restaurateurs in Halifax and the second generation of kids who were raised with a restaurant as their second home.
• Sylvia Mok is a writer/director who aims to tell stories that are bold, heartfelt, ambitious and downright fun. Hailing from Halifax and now based in Toronto, Sylvia makes films that include marginalized voices and seldom-seen perspectives, all while maintaining a sense of humour in every story.

Vite! Vite! Vite! by Gabrielle Côté | Produced by Christine Aubé with the French Documentary Unit in Moncton

• Vite! Vite! Vite! is an experimental documentary in which real-life imagery morphs into surreal tableaux that illustrate two visions of urban existence in Northern countries. In one, cars, money, time and individualism rule. In the other, sharing, leisure and inclusivity are encouraged. The contrast between these two societies leads the viewer to contemplate how city planning shapes our lives in communities.
• Gabrielle Côté is a Montreal-based emerging filmmaker who uses collages of images as a tool for social observation. Her films reveal her fascination with urbanism and community life, showing how cityscapes shape our lifestyles.

Quotes

“Canada is overflowing with talent. With over 240 {RE}DEFINED submissions, we feel extremely privileged to have glimpsed how the next generation of filmmakers approach their work as creators. Their creativity, the care for their communities and how they situate themselves within the broader Canadian context gives me great hope for the future of storytelling in this country, and for the future of Canadian culture,” said John Christou, Executive Producer of {RE}DEFINED and Director of Operations at the NFB.

“With today’s announcement of the selected {RE}DEFINED filmmakers, we’re celebrating the fresh and dynamic perspectives of five young creators emerging across the country,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “What distinguishes these projects is the diversity of approach spanning style, identity and geography. Each filmmaker is pushing documentary storytelling in bold new directions, and we’re proud to champion their voices as part of TIFF and the NFB’s shared commitment to nurturing the next generation of Canadian talent.”

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Associated Links

{RE}DEFINED - nfb.ca/redefined

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