The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has greenlit 16 productions and co-productions over the past year, showcasing the richness and diversity of storytelling from across the country.
NFB projects now underway include feature-length documentaries, mid-length works, animated shorts and innovative digital series that explore contemporary Canadian realities through distinct and original creative voices.
Feature-length documentaries
The Crossing
Director: Aisling Chin-Yee
Producers: Nabil Mehchi, Frank Fiorito (Noble Television), Sami Tesfazghi (Rane Films) Rob Vroom (NFB) | Co-production
- The Crossing follows the journey of two young men who flee Ghana to escape persecution, only to find themselves on harrowing journeys across continents. Through a chance encounter, they embark on a final journey: crossing into Canada on foot through a deadly winter storm.
Prairie Chicken
Director: Sinakson Trevor Solway
Producer: Coty Savard | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Prairie Chicken searches for the cultural roots of the popular powwow dance style, the Prairie Chicken Dance. The film takes us to the heart of Blackfoot Country and to the ceremonial source of the Niitsitapi
The Whale Effect
Director: Duncan McDowall
Producer: Rob Vroom | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- The Whale Effect invites viewers to rediscover whales as overlooked allies in the climate crisis and learn how conservation is levelling up to reframe these majestic animals as agents in shaping the living systems we depend on.
You Don't Know Dick
Director: Adam Lordon
Producer: Liz Cowie | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Adam Lordon's feature film re-examines the ridiculously true story and complicated legacy of Richard Hatfield, New Brunswick's enigmatic longest-serving premier, from the rural Bible Belt to Studio 54 and a pot scandal involving Queen Elizabeth II.
Medium-length documentaries
Demain Depuis Diane
Director: Ariel St-Louis Lamoureux
Producer: Melanie Brière | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- In Yellowknife, Diane raises $1.5 million by recycling copper from a mine nearing closure. When the mine ends the partnership after seven years of collaboration, Diane sets out to convince other mining companies to support her cause.
Garolou
Director: Louise Lalonde
Producer: Christine Aubé | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Who were Garolou, really? This documentary uncovers the story of the legendary group that revolutionized Canadian music, as told by one of its own members, in this rare portrait of some of music's unsung heroes.
Making Lemonade
Director: Connie Edwards
Producer: Coty Savard | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- This film is an intimate story about one man's desire for meaning and purpose after a devastating diagnosis. We are offered rare, personal insight from Fred Keating, who is aware and willing to share what he is thinking and feeling as he travels through the stages of cognitive decline alongside his family, who are navigating this journey with him.
Short documentaries and series
The Garden Where the Flowers Grew
Director: Michelle Mason
Producer: Teri Snelgrove | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- As filmmaker Michelle Mason revisits the past, she discovers the real nature of justice paradigms that raise difficult questions about the difference between retribution, healing and the true meaning of justice.
God in a Roadside Ditch
Director: Karsten Wall
Producer: Alicia Smith | Central Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Set in the Interlake region of Manitoba, this 15-minute stylized nature film explores the short life of the adult mayfly and how light pollution and climate change affect its time on Earth.
Nooshafarin
Director: Leila Khalilzadeh
Producer: Rob Vroom | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Nooshafarin, the iconic Iranian-Canadian singer and actress, shares her story of resilience, survival and artistry in exile through the lens of an Iranian-Canadian diaspora filmmaker.
A Place to Call Home
Director: Katłı̨̀ą Lafferty
Producer: Chehala Leonard | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- A Place to Call Home explores the housing crisis in the Northwest Territories through the stories of Indigenous women in the community of N'dilo. This short documentary sheds light on the struggles they face due to displacement, inadequate and unaffordable housing, and the impacts of government policy on their rights.
Snow King: From Olympian to Narco
Director: Chelsea McMullan
Producers: Sean O'Neill (Visitor Media), Sherien Barsoum (NFB) | Co-production
- Snow King: From Olympian to Narco is a three-part documentary series tracing the extraordinary transformation of Ryan Wedding from snowboarding prodigy into one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives.
Sundance Harvest
Director: Aïcha Diop
Producers: Niki Little, Kate Vollum, Hannah Donegan | Central Documentary Unit | 100% NFB
- Twenty-nine-year-old urban/rural farmer Cheyenne Sundance sets out to find a radical and permanent solution to land access that could revolutionize small-scale agriculture. She just needs to get through this farming season first.
Animated shorts
Hostel la Vista
Director: Mochi Lin
Producer: Maral Mohammadian | English Animation Unit | 100% NFB
- A decrepit Mile-End hostel in Montreal transforms into a microcosm of modern-day alienation, connection, courage and survival.
Polka
Director: Michèle Lemieux
Producer: Mélanie Boudreau Blanchard, Christine Noël | French Animation Unit | 100% NFB
- An animated short film created using the legendary Alexeïeff-Parker pinscreen, Polka invites us on a journey into the raw materials of a painted work, prompting us to reflect on its physicality.
Les Villes Inconnues des Mères Disparues
Director: Theodore Ushev
Producer: Mélanie Boudreau Blanchard, Christine Noël | French Animation Unit | 100% NFB
- In a world where cities are named after the first mothers who settled there, a young adopted girl writes a postcard to her birth mother. She entrusts it to a postman, who sets out on an epic journey to find her.
