When was the National Film Board founded?

The National Film Board of Canada was founded on May 2, 1939 by the federal National Film Act under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal government. The NFB's inaugural Government Film Commissioner was John Grierson, the Scottish documentary pioneer, who served from October 1939 to August 1945. The NFB has produced about 13,000 films over more than 80 years, has won 12 Academy Awards, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential national film institutions in the world. The NFB's English headquarters is in Montreal (where the NFB has been based since 1956), with production studios across Canada.

The NFB was founded amid Canadian concerns about film industry domination by Hollywood. By the late 1930s about 90 per cent of films shown in Canadian theatres were American. The federal government wanted a Canadian institution that could produce documentary, educational, and cultural films reflecting Canadian perspectives. The Liberal government appointed Grierson on the recommendation of British and American film policy experts. Grierson's documentary approach (a term he had coined in 1926 to describe non-fiction film) emphasised social purpose, public education, and creative interpretation of reality.

The Second World War transformed the NFB into a major federal institution. The NFB produced about 500 films during the war, including the Canada Carries On series (1940 to 1959, monthly newsreels) and the World in Action series (1942 to 1945). The NFB's wartime work earned its first Academy Award (Best Documentary Short, 'Churchill's Island', 1941). Other NFB Academy Awards have included 'Neighbours' (Norman McLaren, 1952), 'The Drag' (1965), 'Special Delivery' (1978), 'If You Love This Planet' (1982), and 'Bob's Birthday' (1995). The NFB has earned 75 Academy Award nominations in total.

Major NFB pioneers and figures include Norman McLaren (1914 to 1987, Scottish-born animator who pioneered abstract animation techniques and won the 1952 Academy Award), Arthur Lipsett, Stan Vanderbeek, John and Faith Hubley, Caroline Leaf, Studio D (the world's first publicly funded feminist film studio, 1974 to 1996, producing 'Not a Love Story' and other works), the Studio One French-language unit, the Aboriginal Studio, and many others. The NFB's animation studio is particularly distinguished. The NFB's approach to film distribution has innovated repeatedly: 16mm non-theatrical distribution to schools and community groups (1940s onward), the NFB's online streaming platform (launched 2009, providing free access to about 4,000 NFB films), and interactive web documentaries from the 2010s. The NFB continues to operate as a Crown corporation accountable to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.