Canada's public film producer and distributor, the National Film Board of Canada creates social-issue documentaries, auteur animation, alternative drama and digital content that provide the world with a unique Canadian perspective. The NFB is expanding the vocabulary of 21st-century cinema and breaking new ground in form and content through community filmmaking projects, cross-platform media, programs for emerging filmmakers, stereoscopic animation – and more. It works in collaboration with creative filmmakers, digital media creators and co-producers in every region of Canada, with Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities, as well as partners around the world.

NFB productions are accessible to Canadians in both official languages, in every region. Our new online Screening Room provides free, instant access to NFB productions for Canadians wherever they live. Our works are also featured on television, in theatres, at public libraries and at the NFB’s mediatheques in Canada’s two largest cities, as well as at community-based screenings across the country. Millions of Canadian students benefit from our productions each year; the National Film Board has been a trusted supplier to schools for generations.

The NFB is recognized the world over as one of the great cultural laboratories for innovation. Our artists and artisans continue to lead the way with advances in form and content in documentary, animation and cross-platform media, and to pioneer developments in digital and stereoscopic animation.

Since the NFB's founding in 1939, it has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. The NFB's new website features over 1,600 productions online, and its iPhone app has become one of the most popular and talked about downloads. Visit NFB.ca today and start watching.

The NFB is recognized the world over as one of the great cultural laboratories for innovation. Our artists and artisans continue to lead the way with advances in form and content in documentary, animation and cross-platform media, and to pioneer developments in digital and stereoscopic animation.

To ensure that it remains a source of innovation and excellence for decades to come, the NFB has developed a strategic plan based around five key goals:

1. Creative leadership and programming excellence in social issue documentary, community-engaged media and auteur animation.

2. Wide accessibility and democratic engagement that will make the works of the NFB readily and widely accessible to Canadian and international audiences across a range of platforms and promote a broad, socially inclusive discourse.

3. A digital transformation that will serve as the foundation for the NFB to deliver on its mandate well into the future, in programming, distribution, new business development, outreach and the preservation of Canada's audiovisual heritage.

4. Organizational renewal that will make the NFB a model for creative organizations in the 21st century, delivering value to Canadians through environmentally responsible, flexible and efficient structures and work processes.

5. Firm financing that will put the NFB on a sound financial footing, from which to deliver on its mandate.

Today, the NFB is working to develop the next generation of Canadian media pioneers, leading the way in the new digital landscape as we have in documentary and animation cinema for 70 years. This commitment to emerging filmmakers is part of a broader mission to put media-making skills into the hands of Canadians from all walks of life and give a voice to under-represented communities across the country. What we do benefits all Canadians. The NFB was founded by Parliament in 1939 to build a homegrown Canadian film industry. Today, we work with creative media makers and private-sector partners in every region. We provide a unique environment in which breakthroughs are born and develop creative and technological innovations as Canada positions itself to compete in the global creative economy.

At the NFB, we use cinema to explore vital social issues.

Our productions take stands on issues of global importance: the environment, human rights, international conflict, health care, and more. They give a voice to the underrepresented. They celebrate diversity and build bridges between cultures, while advancing the role of women in cinema.

They make a positive difference in people’s lives.

The NFB is a leader in developing and distributing timely, quality educational media. We’re an important partner in the development of minority language communities across Canada. We work with persons with disabilities to give them the skills they need to tell their own stories. And we’re a world leader in creating award-winning media for and by Aboriginal peoples.

When documentary pioneer John Grierson founded the NFB, Canada did not yet have a cinema industry to call its own – so Grierson and his team set out to train one. Today, as Canada’s filmmakers rank among the world’s best, the NFB continues to nurture emerging directors.

We do that through a wide range of special programs for new talent, many from culturally diverse and Aboriginal communities, developing original and distinctive voices across the country. We champion auteur animation, distinct documentaries and innovative forays into hybrid forms and alternative drama.

Even a first-time film can make a big-time impact. For proof, look no further than Hubert Davis’s Hardwood, co-produced by the NFB and Hardwood Pictures – his directorial debut and an Academy Award® nominee.

Today, approximately one-half of all NFB productions and co-productions are by emerging filmmakers. That’s a track record we’re proud of and committed to continuing

The digital revolution is here and the NFB is taking a leadership role. We’re working to define a new language for cross-platform and interactive media. Creating new ways of telling stories – along with new programs, production and distribution models, and modes of creation.

We’ve led the way in bringing the high-definition experience to signature documentary features and series. We’re creating innovative, stereoscopic animation with SANDDE^TM, a revolutionary digital hand-drawing technology from Imax Corporation. And we’re working to bring e-cinema to Canadian communities.

All the while, we remain true to our commitment to social relevance and artistic innovation – and to making sure they have a place in the digital future

The NFB connects with communities at grassroots level like no other filmmaking organization.

In the 1960s and 1970s, we led the way with Challenge for Change, a pioneering community engagement program. Today, there’s a new wave of trailblazing projects including our acclaimed Filmmaker-in-Residence program.

In the heart of Canada’s two largest cities, public access centres provide Canadians with an interactive hands-on cinema experience, while across the Web, we’re creating virtual online communities and platforms for social engagement and media creation.

The NFB also brings Canada’s film excellence to the global community, through international co-productions, partnerships with major festivals and markets, and a series of groundbreaking cooperation agreements with governments and organizations worldwide.

With more than 12,000 productions, the NFB collection represents a major cultural treasure for Canada – one we’re committed to preserving and sharing with all Canadians.

At the NFB’s digital vaults, we are adapting new digital technologies to preserve this priceless audiovisual legacy for generations to come.

We’re also using our expertise to make more of these classic works available to all: with DVD box sets featuring the works of NFB master filmmakers, including the landmark collection Norman McLaren – The Master’s Edition; new collections-based digital productions; a growing collection of free digitized films on the NFB Web site – and more.

We’re also harnessing the commercial potential of NFB archives as never before, through our online Stockshots library as well as alliances with top international archives.