MONTREAL – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has appointed Ravida Din as the new Director General of the NFB’s English Program. She will assume her duties on February 11, 2013.
“I have worked with Ravida for many years and have always been impressed by her fierce intelligence and passionate engagement with creators and the creative process,” said Tom Perlmutter. “Among the excellent candidates interviewed for the position, Ravida stood out for her strategic vision and her ability to understand the complex issues the NFB will be facing in the coming years. With her sensitivity and open-mindedness, she will make a sound contribution to the Management Committee and help shape the future of our institution.”
Everything the NFB does is a public act, says Din, and its commitment to engaging with audiences in Canada and abroad that is unwavering.
"As we move forward with the launch of a new Strategic Plan, I see nothing but tremendous opportunities in creating and distributing media that: profoundly impacts issues of social justice, influences that nexus of innovation, auteur voice and artistic excellence, and embraces the breathtaking pace of the digital revolution that will take us to new levels of social interaction. I am passionate about the NFB and it will be a great privilege, in my new role, to strive for creative ambitions that will be transformative," she adds.
As an executive producer and producer at the NFB since 2007, Ravida Din has an impressive list of credits, including such titles as Pink Ribbons, Inc. (Léa Pool), The Boxing Girls of Kabul (Ariel Nasr), Payback (Jennifer Baichwal), based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling book, and Up the Yangtze (Yung Chang), in co-production with EyeSteelFilm. She also served as head of the English Program’s Atlantic and Quebec Centres. It was therefore not surprising that in 2010 Playback magazine included her in its “10 to Watch” list of up-and-coming talent in the film and television industry.
In 2009, in collaboration with Studio XX, Din produced First Person Digital, an innovative training and production program for women exploring new approaches to storytelling. The program fostered emerging talent and sparked creative collaborations between filmmakers and multimedia artists. One of her latest productions, Status Quo? The unfinished business of feminism in Canada (Karen Cho), won the World Documentary Award at the Whistler Film Festival in British Columbia in December 2012 before beginning a tour of over 50 cities across Canada. (Photo credit: Michael Cooper).
