National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Overview

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB / Office national du film du Canada, ONF) is the Canadian federal public film producer and distributor, founded in 1939 by British documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The NFB operates under a mandate to create audiovisual content that interprets Canada and its diversity to Canadians and international audiences. It reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The NFB's 2025-26 planned spending is $73.3 million, divided across three areas: Audiovisual Programming and Production ($37.9 million, 52%), Content Accessibility and Audience Engagement ($23.0 million, 31%), and Internal Services ($12.4 million, 17%). The organization employs approximately 427 full-time equivalents across its core responsibilities.

In 2024-2025, the NFB produced 39 original works (including 7 co-productions), awarded nearly 2,400 contracts for audiovisual productions, and received 93 awards (56 in Canada, 37 abroad). 41% of works were directed by emerging filmmakers. The organization reinvested approximately $5 million into production following a restructuring that eliminated 80 positions and created around 30 new ones.

Awards and Recognition

The NFB has amassed over 7,000 awards throughout its 86-year history, including:

The NFB received an Honorary Academy Award in 1989 for "overall excellence in cinema" on its 50th anniversary. It has received more Academy Award nominations than any other film organization based outside of Hollywood. Its 38 nominations for animated shorts place it behind only Disney and MGM in that category. The most recent Oscar win was for Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski's "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" at the 98th Academy Awards (2025) for Best Animated Short Film.

Filmmaker Assistance Programs

The NFB operates two post-production assistance programs for independent Canadian filmmakers:

Filmmaker Assistance Program (FAP)

The FAP supports English-speaking independent filmmakers across Canada. The program reopened on January 30, 2025 with updated criteria after being paused from April to December 2024 for improvements based on filmmaker consultations.

Filmmakers based in Montreal, or able to travel there, can access the NFB's post-production facilities at its Ilot Balmoral headquarters. Filmmakers living more than 150 km from headquarters can apply for refunds of post-production expenditures for services provided by local companies in their home city. In 2025, 15 FAP projects were selected from across the country.

Aide au cinema independant du Canada (ACIC)

The ACIC is the parallel program for French-speaking independent filmmakers, created over 50 years ago. In 2025, 11 ACIC projects were selected. Both programs provide high-quality post-production services at low rates, delivered by NFB specialists at the Montreal headquarters. Applications for both programs can be submitted at any time.

Documentary and Animation Heritage

The NFB's documentary tradition helped establish the Direct Cinema movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the observational, location-based documentary approach that emerged in Montreal. NFB filmmakers including Michel Brault, Gilles Groulx, and Pierre Perrault developed lightweight synchronized sound filming methods that enabled intimate documentary observation, influencing cinema verite and international documentary practice.

NFB animation has been equally significant. Norman McLaren's experimental work, including drawing directly on film and creating animated sounds, established NFB animation as one of the world's most creatively ambitious programs. The NFB owned the Best Animated Short Film Oscar category from 1977 to 1979, winning three consecutive years with "The Sand Castle" (Co Hoedeman, 1977), "Special Delivery" (Eunice Macaulay and John Weldon, 1978), and "Every Child" (Eugene Fedorenko, 1979).

Bilingual and Indigenous Programs

The NFB operates in both English and French, producing films from both of Canada's official language communities. The French Program in Montreal has its own creative identity connected to Quebec's film culture. The English Program produces from regional centers in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, and Halifax, alongside the Montreal base.

The NFB's Indigenous Cinema program provides dedicated development, production, and distribution support for Indigenous stories told by Indigenous filmmakers. This program reflects decades of evolution in the NFB's relationship with Indigenous communities, shifting from an institution that historically told stories about Indigenous people toward one that supports Indigenous people telling their own stories.

Digital Distribution and Innovation

The NFB's digital platform at nfb.ca makes the bulk of its catalog freely available for streaming. The NFB produced over 14,000 productions throughout its history, with a significant portion accessible online. In 2024-2025, the NFB launched the NFB Innovation Lab to stimulate innovation across production, distribution, and conservation, with a commitment to share results with the broader industry.

The NFB also submitted a brief on the definition of Canadian content as part of the CRTC Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2024-288, arguing for the inclusion of cultural elements in the definition and emphasizing the role of documentary film in Canada's audiovisual ecosystem.

2025-2028 Strategic Plan

The NFB released its 2025-2028 Strategic Plan following consultations with filmmakers and employees. The plan addresses funding constraints that threaten the organization's ability to deliver its mandate, including the risk that the NFB cannot keep pace with rapid changes in the audiovisual industry. The plan focuses on gender-balanced, inclusive programming, amplifying Indigenous voices, and giving voice to the next generation of filmmakers. The NFB's production units across the country create works representing Canadian diversity and regional perspectives.

What Filmmakers Should Know

For Canadian documentary and animation filmmakers, the NFB is a primary co-production partner. NFB co-production brings both financing and institutional infrastructure: production support, post-production resources, and distribution through the NFB's own platform and international sales activity. The FAP and ACIC programs provide up to $15,000 for feature post-production and $7,500 for short post-production, with applications accepted year-round.

For international co-productions with Canadian documentary and animation components, NFB co-production provides financing and the organizational depth of one of the world's most experienced documentary and animation institutions. The NFB's 2025-26 production budget of $37.9 million and its 39 annual original productions indicate the scale of activity available to co-production partners.

For researchers and educators, the NFB's free streaming archive at nfb.ca provides access to over 14,000 productions spanning eight decades of Canadian and international filmmaking, including documentary, animation, and auteur works that have won over 7,000 awards.

See Also

For the Telefilm Canada feature film funding that complements the NFB's documentary and animation focus, see Telefilm Canada in this directory. For the Canadian writers and directors working within NFB productions, see Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) and Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) in this directory. For the Screen Composers Guild of Canada covering composers on NFB productions, see Screen Composers Guild of Canada in this directory. Use the Indie Film Budget Calculator to estimate co-production financing and post-production costs for Canadian and international projects.