The old National Film Board of Canada headquarters in Montreal, with its smokestack and beige brick facade, was the very image of a film factory. Until it moved to its new offices in 2019, the NFB had the distinctly nondescript aesthetic of a mid-century institutional building, a simple utilitarian look that contrasted sharply with the imaginations let loose within. Set up in 1939 to produce and distribute original Canadian film content, it kick-started numerous careers, stimulated the development of entire sectors of the industry (notably in animation), and served as an incubator for new and emerging technologies. Perhaps most importantly, the NFB has faithfully served the nation by telling our stories, to ourselves and people around the world, for over eight decades.
That might be careening to an end. The NFB eliminated fifty-five jobs in early April, representing about 14 percent of its workforce. Two interactive studios were shuttered earlier this year, and even more jobs were lost last fall when the film board closed regional studios in Edmonton, Halifax, and Winnipeg. These cuts come after decades of austerity budgets. NFB commissioner Claude Joli-Coeur had admitted in a CBC article in 2019 that the film board was operating on far lower budgets than it had in the past. According to a 2022 report by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the NFB has been underfunded for twenty years at least.
