"Canadian animation is heading in the direction in which it is perceived that Canadians minds are heading." - Marv Newland

For some, the 1990s are the new golden age of Canadian animation. Canadian production is booming. NELVANA and Cinar are among the world leaders in television animation output, and schools like Sheridan College (which recently received $12 million from the Ontario government to open a New Technology Center), Vancouver Film School, and Algonquin College are expanding to accommodate increased demand for enrollment. Teletoon, Canada's first animation specialty channel, went to air in September 1997, and Walt Disney has opened studios in Vancouver and Toronto.

However, for others the 1990s are viewed as the decade of the demise of Canadian animation. For them, such factors as huge cuts to Canada's fabled National Film Board of Canada (NFBC), and the terrible state of the Canadian independent animation scene, indicate a diminishedif not impoverishedindependent animation community.

Sheridan College recently received $12 million from the Ontario government to open a New Technology Center. Photo courtesy of Sheridan College.

The National Film Board Of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada remains the calling card for Canadian animation. "[M]any have benefited," noted Canadian animation legend, Frédéric Back, "from the inventiveness, liberty of creation, and technical progress [that Norman McLaren] inspired and favored." However a combination of budget cuts and lack of creative vision suggest that this "card" is an illusion built on past successes rather than current realities. "The NFB is no longer a serious player in arts and communication," said former NFB producer, Derek Lamb. "[The NFB is the creation] of a post-war, industrial age, managed by aging industrial mindsets, who will not, and cannot be expected to provide visionary, artistic leadership now or for the future." Nevertheless, Marilyn Cherenko (Emily Carr School of Design) notes that "`court art' like the NFB is still extremely valuable though guidelines for submitting projects have become increasingly lumbered with political agendas. [A]t its best the NFB has provided the opportunity for work requiring real investigation and experimentation, such as Two Sisters by Caroline Leaf, How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels by Craig Welch, and Strings by Wendy Tilby, to name obvious examples."

Ellen Besen, a former NFB animator and currently an instructor at Sheridan College, feels that the decline of the NFB goes beyond budget cuts and back to the early 1980s, when a bureaucrat named Doug McDonald, who had no animation background, was given control of the studio. During this time, Besen noted, the board desperately wanted a specialty channel and clamped down on the films to ensure that they were market-driven and followed a specific agenda. Furthermore, McDonald immediately altered the physical layout of the animation studio. "The NFB used to have this great open social area. When McDonald came in, it became his office. A windowless storage room became the new `social' rendezvous for animators. The whole atmosphere of the studio changed," said Besen, "Ideas used to be welcome. Dialogue existed between producers, executives, and filmmakers. Today, it is just producer-driven. They simply try to find a niche." The Rights from The Heart series, is perhaps the most explicit example of the embarrassing politically correct nature of the board today.

Of course, budget cuts have had a significant impact on the NFB and should not be overlooked. The cuts combined with the erasure of creative vision have turned the NFB from a stimulating, creative environment into what Besen deems "a formless, impossible labyrinth." Despite the harsh criticism of the NFB, it is essential that we not forget that the board was created to serve as a propaganda tool. Canada is fortunate that NFB founder, John Grierson, who animation critic, Marc Glassman deems "a closet effete," went out of his way to get Norman McLaren and allowed him complete artistic freedom in running the animation studio.