The Danish Poet's Oscar win last year represented the NFB's 12th Academy Award. Since its inception, the NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards. Except where noted, all images © National Film Board of Canada.

Oh, Canada... or in the case of the venerable National Film Board of Canada (NFB), auteur Canada!

Canada's NFB produces and distributes social-issue documentaries, auteur animation and digital content with a unique Canadian perspective. Since its founding in 1939, the NFB has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards -- including more than 90 Canadian Genie Awards. The NFB received its 12th Oscar for the 2006 animated short The Danish Poet (directed by Torill Kove and co-produced by Norway's Mikrofilm AS and the NFB).

"In the world of art and cinema anywhere in the world, when people think of Canada, they are often thinking of NFB animation," comments Tom Perlmutter, government film commissioner and chairperson of the NFB. "The impact that Canada has as a result of that -- the positive impression we leave about Canada -- is immeasurable."

In October, A.M.P.A.S. honored five great NFB women animators (l to r), Torill Kove, Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby, Caroline Leaf and Janet Perlman. Charles Solomon moderated the panel. © A.M.P.A.S.

"In October, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in L.A. honored five great NFB women animators," Perlmutter continues. "Caroline Leaf, Janet Perlman, Torill Kove, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis collectively delivered the Marc Davis lecture. For the audience there, it was magic to be in the presence of such remarkable animation talent."

The NFB, which will be 69 years young in 2008, persists in its ongoing mission to remain artistically and technologically innovative. While other corporate animated productions concentrate on box office performance, the NFB focuses on artistic vision -- and cultural bravery.

Theodore Ushev's Sou is an intriguing work that is creating new grammars for the very small screen.

"The kind of auteur animation that the NFB does is almost impossible to do in the private sector, because there is no financing or business model for such high-end creative work," Perlmutter says. "The results have been and continue to be astounding. The form is constantly being challenged and redefined. In that way, it has the same value as a great symphony or sculpture or painting. The NFB is like a Renaissance artist's atelier that produces a stream of work that is consistently fresh, surprising, and breathtaking."

"This is work that is not for an age, but for the ages," Perlmutter says. "This is work that over generations will attract and have an impact on audiences many times greater than any ephemeral Hollywood hit of the day."

Short and Sweet
Because the NFB animated films focus on the artist's vision, the works tend to be short. However, the NFB allows artists the opportunity to follow their natural areas of interest and expertise and to showcase their talents, as well as explore new ways of creating art through existing and emerging technologies.