Annual Report T R L REPO A NNU 20 1 2 A 201 3 TABLE 03 Governance OF CONTENTS 04 Management 01 Message from 05 Summary of the NFB Activities 02 Awards Received 06 Financial Statements Annex I NFB Across Canada Annex II Productions Annex III Independent Film Projects Supported by ACIC and FAP Photos from French Program productions are featured in the French-language version of this annual report at http://onf-nfb.gc.ca/rapports-annuels. © 2013 National Film Board of Canada ©Published 2013 National by: Film Board of Canada Corporate Communications PublishedP.O. Box 6100,by: Station Centre-ville CorporateMontreal, CommunicationsQuebec H3C 3H5 P.O. Box 6100, Station Centre-ville Montreal,Phone:© 2012 514-283-2469 NationalQuebec H3CFilm Board3H5 of Canada Fax: 514-496-4372 Phone:Internet:Published 514-283-2469 onf-nfb.gc.ca by: Fax:Corporate 514-496-4372 Communications Internet:ISBN:P.O. Box 0-7722-1272-4 onf-nfb.gc.ca 6100, Station Centre-ville Montreal, Quebec H3C 3H5 4th quarter 2013 ISBN: 0-7722-1272-4 4thPhone: quarter 514-283-2469 2013 GraphicFax: 514-496-4372 design: Oblik Communication-design GraphicInternet: design: ONF-NFB.gc.ca Oblik Communication-design ISBN: 0-7722-1271-6 4th quarter 2012 Cover: Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley Graphic design: Folio et Garetti Cover: Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley Cover: Soldier Brother Printed in Canada/100% recycled paper Printed in Canada/100% recycled paper Printed in Canada/100% recycled paper 2012–2013 NFB Annual Report 2012–2013 93 Independent film projects IN NUMBERS supported by the NFB (FAP and ACIC) 76 Original NFB films and 135 co-productions Awards 8 491 New productions on Interactive websites NFB.ca/ONF.ca 83 33,721 Digital documents supporting DVD units (and other products) interactive works sold in Canada * 7,957 2 Public installations Public and private screenings at the NFB mediatheques (Montreal and Toronto) and other community screenings 3 Applications for tablets 6,126 Television broadcasts in Canada * The NFB mediatheques were closed on September 1, 2012, and the public screening program was expanded. 4 68,023 AUDIENCES Visits to NFB mediatheques (Montreal and Toronto) 8,952 28,848,176 Participants in workshops held in Total estimated Canadian audience Canada, outside of the mediatheques 3,658,340 1,718,741 Views on NFB.ca and ONF.ca Views at public screenings of NFB films (including theatrical views) 308,390 Views of interactive productions 742,832 NFB.ca/ Online partner views (YouTube, Dailymotion) ONF.ca 9,707,000 Television views 6,351,028 4,245,890 Global visits Institutional views (health and social services, public libraries, etc.) 8,369,622 6,756,835 Views in the educational sector Global views 20,386 Home video views 5 2012–2013 NFB Annual Report 01 MESSAGE FROM THE NFB As we look back on the 2012–2013 fiscal sustainable local initiatives for emerging year, we also look back on the final artists, as well as workshops, community chapter of a 2008–2013 Strategic Plan screenings and more. And we’ve worked that proposed a sweeping transformation tirelessly to reduce administrative of the National Film Board of Canada—a overhead, devoting more resources to change in the way we create works and creation and accessibility. connect with Canadians. ENGAGED WHERE THE FUTURE OF This plan was an act of faith in our CANADA IS TAKING FORM capacity for innovation, challenging us We were able to accomplish all this to lead the way in this new digital age with because, five years ago, we asked productions that alter how visual content ourselves one fundamental question: is experienced, and that place Canada at Why should there be a National the forefront of digital media innovation. Film Board of Canada? With most It was this vision for the NFB that led Canadians able to access a multitude of us to create a groundbreaking online programming choices, with Canada home Screening Room and a family of to a well-established private film sector, acclaimed apps, which have provided what is the role, the relevance, of a public Canadian and international audiences with institution like the NFB? a new way to share the experience of This question has pushed us to reinvent cinema, forging a one-to-one relationship ourselves; to reach out to and connect between the NFB and the public. with Canadians; to find new ways to NFB digital artists and artisans have tell their stories and serve their needs; explored exciting new modes of and to become a centre for world-class storytelling in trailblazing interactive innovation in film and interactive media. productions, works that engage users in It guided the creation of our 2008–2013 the creation of meaningful experiences, Strategic Plan and pushes us farther, now, while the NFB has rededicated itself to as we enter a new five-year plan that being a creative laboratory for cutting- will see us embracing ongoing change, edge filmmaking, in documentary, creating works that stretch the imaginative animation, 3D stereoscopy and more. limits of both artist and audience. We committed ourselves to digitizing our AUTHENTIC NEW VOICES IN entire collection, in order to make NFB DOCUMENTARY CINEMA works accessible as never before, and In 2012–2013, the NFB produced a slate pursued this goal diligently, year after of documentary films that captured some year, with limited funds but unlimited of the film world’s highest honours, creativity—in the process earning an garnering critical and popular acclaim, and international reputation for innovation. building on our tradition of excellence in We’ve worked with communities and non-fiction film. partners across this land to build 6 These films gave a voice to new filmmaker’s daughter, Alphée, continues and authentic experiences, born of to defy medical expectations, despite communities struggling to be heard, or, suffering from a rare genetic disorder. in some cases, simply survive. These This moving, highly personal film played powerful and inspiring expressions of in cinemas across Quebec following its the spirit and imagination also embodied world premiere at Montreal’s Festival the NFB conviction that form is content, du nouveau cinéma and has received and that our role as a pioneer and leader Canadian and international honours, is to explore new terrain in non-fiction including the Special Jury Prize for storytelling. Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs and the Prix du public at the Visions Perhaps no single film from this past year du Réel festival in Nyon, Switzerland. represents this commitment to innovative storytelling better than Sarah Polley’s 2012–2013 was also a noteworthy year critically acclaimed hit Stories We Tell for NFB documentaries that focused (Les Histoires qu’on raconte). Sarah had on the lives and concerns of Aboriginal approached us back in 2008 because peoples, with two groundbreaking works she was looking for an opportunity to in particular. go beyond her comfort zone and try The Eagle Vision/eOne Television/NFB something new, with only a basic idea co-produced We Were Children blends about exploring how families remember heart-wrenching accounts from residential their histories. She began development school survivors Lyna Hart and Glen of Stories We Tell at the NFB, working Anaquod with dramatic storytelling to with Ontario Centre producer Anita Lee, reveal the personal impact of a national then joined our CFC/NFB Documentary tragedy. The origins of this film go as far Program—a unique laboratory for back as 2007, when executive producer documentary development—where she Lisa Meeches and producer Kyle Irving could continue to experiment. began interviewing residential school The result was a new kind of survivors. Working with director Tim documentary, an inspired, genre-twisting Wolochatiuk, they eventually settled film that has become one of the most on two courageous individuals whose celebrated Canadian films in recent experiences represent the stories of history. Winner of the Ted Rogers Best some 150,000 children. Feature Length Documentary Award at The NFB is working closely with the the inaugural Canadian Screen Awards, Truth and Reconciliation Commission named best Canadian film as well as of Canada to use this film as a means best documentary by the Toronto Film of advancing the healing process at Critics Association, and chosen as one community screenings and national of Canada’s Top Ten feature films of the gatherings in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal year by TIFF, Stories We Tell passed the and across the country. We Were $1 million mark in North American box Children premiered nationally on APTN office as of June 2013, and was distributed on March 19 and was released online theatrically in Canada by Mongrel Media at NFB.ca. We also created a study and in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions. guide, in collaboration with the Legacy Our role as a producer of innovative non- of Hope Foundation, and professional fiction films was also embodied in Hugo development workshops, to assist Latulippe’s acclaimed Alphée des étoiles Canada’s educators in sensitively and (Alphée of the Stars), co-produced with responsibly integrating this film and this Esperamos Films, which explores how the issue into curricula. 7 2012–2013 NFB Annual Report Message from the NFB In The People of the Kattawapiskak Other acclaimed films showcased the River, legendary NFB filmmaker Alanis NFB’s leadership in original non-fiction Obomsawin went behind the headlines to features, exploring a diverse range of explore the housing crisis inside the Cree characters and stories. community of Attawapiskat in Northern Co-produced by EyeSteelFilm and Ontario, which became the focal point for the NFB, Yung Chang’s The Fruit a larger debate on the living conditions Hunters, winner of the Grand Prix at the and rights of First Nations people 30th International Environmental Film across Canada.