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. Its <NFB.ca> Screening Room features over 2,100 productions online, including high-definition and 3D films. The NFB also puts the experience of cinema into the hands of Canadians everywhere through its acclaimed mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android platforms, as well as a pre-loaded app in the new BlackBerry PlayBook.

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.

The NFB will continue to extend the work it has done in the last few years in developing lowcost, highly effective programs that fill the gap between the film and training schools and first professional production experience. Short film programs like Momentum (documentary) and Hothouse (animation) have pioneered an integration of master classes and full professional production to train the next generation of artists and artisans. Such programs have allowed for innovative ways of involving underserved communities. First Stories, Second Stories, Wapikoni mobile and the Nunavut Animation Lab, for instance, have nurtured emerging filmmakers in Aboriginal communities. And they have done so in partnership with a range of other institutions, including provincial agencies, broadcasters and independent production companies.These programs are among the very best in the world. They respond to a specific need-allowing new artists to develop their voice in a professional milieu.

These programs are constantly being nurtured, revitalized and adapted to new technologies. We are extending their reach more broadly into all regions of the country. In particular, we are exploring the use of technology to extend the reach of such programs into more physically remote areas of the country. We are creating a nationwide database of this pool of emerging talent. We are putting in place programs to develop career paths for the most promising of the new talent. We are solidifying current partners and exploring new partners, for example Telcos, for emerging filmmaker programs for mobile shorts or cross-platform content. We are branding and trademarking these programs and we are looking at exporting the brand into the international marketplace to enrich the experience for new Canadian creators.

To reach Canadians on the platforms of their choice, we’ve embraced a variety of channels: digital delivery for web-based streaming, compressed digital files for mobile devices, DVD, e-cinema, and more. We’re harnessing new technologies and reinventing how media is created and shared, while making our vast archives more accessible than ever.

In January 2009, in celebration of our 70th anniversary, we launched our online Screening Room, featuring hundreds of new and classic NFB productions.

< NFB.ca > is a unique destination where Canadians - and lovers of animation and documentary films everywhere - can watch and share NFB works online, as never before. It provides Canadians in every region with 24/7 access to an ever-growing selection of auteur animation, social issue documentaries, alternative drama, classics and more.

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, the Toronto Mediatheque and the Montreal CineRobotheque, 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.

The NFB is the steward of a historically and culturally significant collection of thirteen thousand productions, as well as five hundred thousand still images, an extensive sound library and almost six thousand teacher guides - with more works being added each year.

This publicly owned collection is one that we're committed to digitizing, to make our work available to Canadians as never before while preserving it for future generations.

The NFB has reallocated resources to meet the demands of digitization, offering content across a range of digital formats (see table). We have launched a new web destination for stock footage professionals. We have also developed a unique DVDon- demand service, making over five thousand more productions available in this format. These digitized assets yield significant economic benefits, enabling the NFB to betterleverage our brand visibility while exploiting the "long tail" economics of productions that appeal to a wide range of niche markets.

Through digitization, the NFB is transforming a heritage collection into a vital cultural and economic asset for all Canadians.