April 30, 2014 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada
Starting May 2, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will mark its 75th anniversary with an array of free activities, online and across Canada.
Called A History of Looking Forward, these anniversary-year events reflect the legacy and creativity of today's NFB—a 12-time Academy Award-winning pioneer in film and digital media that has been at the forefront of advances in audiovisual media since 1939, producing and distributing groundbreaking documentary, animation and interactive works that tell Canada's stories and explore issues in ways no other organization can.
Activities
• Starting May 2, the NFB's online Screening Room, NFB.ca, will feature a web page dedicated to the NFB's 75th anniversary, featuring new content each week. On May 19, the NFB will launch its new 75th-anniversary website, Making Movie History: A Portrait in 61 Parts, offering an anecdotal portrait of the NFB's place in Canadian cinema, told through the stories of some of its artists, rebels and dreamers.
• Also launching May 2, Canada Post is issuing a series of five permanent domestic-rate stamps, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NFB, featuring Norman McLaren's Oscar winner Neighbours (1952); The Railrodder (1965), a cross-Canada tour starring Buster Keaton in one of his final roles; Claude Jutra's Mon oncle Antoine (1971), selected by critics as the greatest Canadian film of all time; Log Driver's Waltz (1979), featuring a beloved Canadian folk song performed by Kate and Anna McGarrigle; and Flamenco at 5:15 (1983), an Oscar-winning look inside the National Ballet School of Canada. These films and their stamps will be featured online at NFB.ca.
• On May 3, the DOXA Documentary Film Festival in Vancouver will feature the world premiere of Shameless Propaganda, a new NFB film by Winnipeg's Robert Lower, who uses NFB images and film clips from 1939 to 1945 to recreate the picture of Canada they gave us―and looks in it for the Canada we know today. Shameless Propaganda will also be presented in Winnipeg (May 20) have its world broadcast premiere on documentary on May 13 at 9 p.m. ET, followed by a launch online at NFB.ca and on DVD, May 14.
• NFB anniversary events in Canadian cities will include immersive installations that bring Canada's past back to life in interactive works by NFB digital pioneers. Claude Jutra's groundbreaking 1966 skateboarding film, The Devil's Toy, has inspired the interactive web experience The Devil's Toy Redux, allowing users to navigate through the evolution of skate culture across the globe. For the NFB's 75th, The Devil's Toy Redux has also been reimagined as an interactive installation, running May 8 to June 20 at Place des Arts in Montreal, followed by dates in other cities. Available as a free app for iPad and iPhone, a website and an interactive projection-mapped installation, Circa 1948 allows Canadians to literally step into the Vancouver of the past, in this multi-platform project by Stan Douglas and the NFB Digital Studio in Vancouver. The installation component of Circa 1948 will be open in Canadian cities following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
• From June 4, 2014, to August 23, 2015, the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City will host Frame x Frame: Animated Film at the NFB, a major exhibition celebrating Oscar-winning NFB animation creators, featuring films, artifacts and hands-on animation workshops, as well an app to continue the experience off-site.
• The NFB will offer 75th-anniversary public screenings in Canadian communities during the spring and fall of 2014, in public libraries as well as community and cultural centres, with popular animated and documentary films featured in three programs. There'll also be open door events at the NFB's headquarters in Montreal in the fall, with a behind-the-scenes look at its renowned animation studios and film vault, screenings, workshops, and more.
• Newly restored versions of four pioneering NFB 3D films will be screened in Canada, following their unveiling at the Edinburgh International Film Festival as part of the McLaren 2014 program: Now Is the Time and Around Is Around by Norman McLaren, produced by the NFB in 1951; as well as O Canada, directed by Evelyn Lambart, and Twirligig, directed and animated by Gretta Ekman and produced by McLaren, both made in 1952.
Quick Facts
• The NFB is founded in 1939 by documentary pioneer John Grierson in accordance with the recommendations of the National Film Act, laying the foundation for a homegrown film industry.
• In 1941, Norman McLaren joins the NFB to open its animation studio and pioneer breakthroughs across a range of animation techniques.
• The first Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject goes to the NFB, for Churchill's Island, beginning a string of successes that would see the NFB win 12 Oscars―and garner 72 nominations, more than any film organization in the world outside Hollywood.
• In 1964, the NFB establishes its French production branch, reinforcing the NFB's leadership role in francophone filmmaking and helping to build a distinct national cinema in Quebec.
• The NFB's immersive multiscreen experience In the Labyrinth creates a sensation at Expo 67 in Montreal, leading to the invention of the giant-screen IMAX format.
• In the 1980s, Winnipeg takes the global stage as a centre of animation excellence, with such classics as Richard Condie's The Big Snit and Cordell Barker's The Cat Came Back.
• In 1993, Alanis Obomsawin's documentary film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is named Best Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival.
• In 2009, the NFB launches its online Screening Room and establishes digital production studios in Vancouver and Montreal that have produced such acclaimed works as Welcome to Pine Point, Bear 71 and the interactive animation BLA BLA.
• In 2012, Sarah Polley completes Stories We Tell, one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful Canadian documentaries of all time.
• As the NFB marks its 75th anniversary, NFB.ca and partner platforms have surpassed 50 million viewings, with NFB interactive productions and digital platforms winning over 100 awards, including 7 Webbys.
Quotes
1. “I wish to congratulate the National Film Board of Canada on contributing to the cultural life of our country for the last 75 years. Highly acclaimed through thousands of awards, the NFB has become a world-renowned institution, which all Canadians should be truly proud of. The NFB is increasingly recognized as a pioneer in digital media productions, leveraging new technologies to deliver Canadian content in more engaging and interactive ways.”
—Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
2. Our 75th anniversary offers Canadians opportunities to connect with the NFB, as we invite audiences to live, or re-live, rewarding experiences through the major works that shaped our past and continue to shape our present. This is also an opportunity to celebrate the work of all our employees, both current and former, not to mention the achievements of our many creators and artisans and their contribution to the success of this unique organization, which now boasts a collection of more than 13,000 works that have chronicled our stories—and our history.
—Claude Joli-Coeur, the Acting Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson
3. “The National Film Board of Canada has explored a remarkable breadth of the Canadian experience through some of the most acclaimed films ever produced in this country. We are very pleased to present these new commemoratives in conjunction with the anniversary celebrations.”
—Deepak Chopra, Canada Post President and CEO
Promotional material
For downloadable hi-res images, go to <onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/press-room/photo-gallery/>.
Associated Links
nfb.ca/75 (Online as of May 2, 2014)
https://www.nfb.ca/film/nfb_75th_anniversary_trailer/
http://thedevilstoy.com/?lg=en
http://circa1948.nfb.ca/
https://www.nfb.ca/interactive/
Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec : http://www.mcq.org/index_en.html
Canada Post : https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/default.jsf
Keep connected
Screening Room Online : NFB.ca
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/nfb.ca
Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenfb
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Media Relations
Pat Dillon
NFB Publicist
Cell: 514-206-1750
E-mail: p.a.dillon@nfb.ca
Twitter: @PatDoftheNFB
Lily Robert
Director, Corporate Communications, NFB
Tel.: 514-283-3838
Cell: 514-296-8261
E-mail: l.robert@nfb.ca
About the NFB
Beginning May 2, 2014, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) marks 75 years of innovation and leadership in social-issue documentaries, auteur animation, and most recently, groundbreaking interactive works. The NFB has produced over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 7 Webbys, 9 Canadian Screen Awards, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. To access acclaimed NFB content, visit NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
