MONTREAL – The National Film Board of Canada says that it is one year ahead of schedule on its pledge to spend at least 15% of its production funding on Indigenous works.
Announced in June 2017, the NFB’s three-year Indigenous Action Plan contains 33 commitments in the main areas of production, distribution, organizational transformation and industry leadership.
The organization said that production is underway or recently completed on 40 works by Indigenous creators from across Canada, including Tasha Hubbard’s award-winning feature doc nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, the first Indigenous film to open Hot Docs and currently in theatres across Canada; Michelle Latimer’s feature doc The Inconvenient Indian; and upcoming productions such as Kim O’Bomsawin’s Nin, Auass, Alanis Obomsawin’s Jordan’s Principle, and Angelina McLeod’s short doc series Freedom Road.
In related news, the NFB added that it has renewed its three-year co-operation and collaboration agreement with the Quebec English-language Production Council (QEPC) and the English Language Arts Network (ELAN) designed to help strengthen Quebec’s English-language audiovisual sector and culture.
First signed in 2015, it’s still the first such agreement between a public cultural institution and the official-language minority groups in Quebec – and part of a broader commitment by the NFB to English and French linguistic-minority communities across Canada.
