This film board of Canada started in
1938, when tho Goverment of Canada invited John Grierson, a British documentary
film pioneer who coined the very term “documentary”, to study the state of the
government´s film production. After hat the Canadian Government Motion Picture
Bureau was created in September 1918 by an order in council as the Exhibits and
Publicity Bureau and was renamed with the name of today. This had been the
major Canadian film producer.
The report of Grierson was included in
The National Film Act of 1939, and this gave way to the creation of the
National Film Commission, it was then renamed “The National Film Board”.
In 1940 Canada was in war and the NFB
launched its Canada Carries On series of morale boosting theatrical shorts. This
led to the creation of The World in Action, which was more geared to
international audiences. In this period, other NFB films were issued as
newsreels, like The War Is Over (1945),intended for theatrical showings. These films
were based on current news of the time and spoke of issues of war or
contemporary culture of canada issues, because what was sought was the audience
feel identified with what they saw. 
90% of the
workers of the NFB spoke English and there was a little part of them were
French Canadian, this small group was in charge of French films but it was
headed by an English-speaking, The NFB wanted to retain the French talent. In
1956 the NFB headquarters was moved to Mostreal to increase the popularity in
the French population and that French cinema was more striking for French
people. In 1964, a separate French production branch was finally established,
with Bobet as one of its four initial executive producers. In the 1940s and
early 50s, the NFB achieved employing producers called "travelers"
who brought with them foreign films, to give more versatility to the cinema
that was taking place.
With the creation of the Canadian Film
Development Corporation in 1967, the mandate for the National Film Board was
refined. The National Film Board since that time was responsible for and responsible
for promoting the development of the film industry. In 1967 was the creation of
the Challenge for Change to community media project that would develop the use
of film and video as a tool for initiating social change.
The National Film Board produced several
educational films in partnership with Parks Canada during the 1960s and 1970s,
including Bill Schmalz's Bears and Man.
In 1970 the
NFB began a process of opening of new centres of production of the film in
cities across Canada, this was supported by the NFB producers, especially by
Rex Tasker, who was named executive producer of the studio
In 2006 the NFB marked the anniversary number 65 of its
animations Center, restoring the Norman McLaren classics and the release of DVD
Norman McLaren - The Master's Edition box. The NFB budget has since been cut
again. The six-storey John Grierson Building at its Montreal headquarters has
been unused for several years.
In October
2009, the NFB released a free app for Apple's iPhone that would allow users to
watch thousands of NFB films directly on their cell phones. In 2010, the NFB
released an iPad version of their app that streams NFB films, many in high
definition.
Beginning May 2, 2014, the NFB's 75th
anniversary was marked by such events as the release of a series of commemorative
stamps by Canada Post, and an NFB documentary about the film board's early
years, entitled Shameless Propaganda.
MAIN
ACTIVITIES
- Complement the activities od the
Government motion Picture Bureau.
- Make and distribute films designed to
help Canadians in all parts of Canada to understand the ways of living and the
problems of Canadians in other parts.
- Produce and distribute and to promote the
production and distribution of films designed to interpret Canada to Canadians
and other nations
- Be a world centre of
excellence in production of films and videos
- Be a
national training and research centre in the art and technique of film and
video
-
Provide
new perspectives on Canada and the world from Canadian points of view,
perspectives that are not provided by anyone else and that serve Canadian and
global audiences by an imaginative exploration of who we are and what we may be,
the will do this by creating, distributing and engaging audiences with
innovative and distinctive audiovisual works and immersive experiences that
will find their place in classrooms, communities, and cinemas, and on all the
platforms where audiences watch, exchange and network around creative content.
BIBLIOGRAPY:
http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/about-the-nfb/organization/mandate/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Film_Board_of_Canada#History
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/tbsc-fsco/sc-dsp.jsp?lang=eng&rc=4802
