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16 new projects in production at the National Film Board of Canada. Cross-country wave of bold new NFB storytelling.

PRESS RELEASE
27/10/2025

October 27, 2025 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) greenlit 16 productions and co-productions between January and September 2025.

Seven new feature-length documentary films, five short docs and series, and four new animated shorts are now underway at NFB production units across the country—reflecting a vibrant range of powerful and original Canadian storytelling.

For more information on these and other projects currently in the works, visit the NFB Production web page. 

Feature-length documentaries 

Après les étoiles
Directors: Guillaume Fournier and François Dubé
Co-producers: Guillaume Fournier and François Dubé (Les productions VF3); Mélanie Brière (NFB) | French Documentary Unit

  • Après les étoiles documents the journey of three iconic establishments in the provincial capital and their chefs, as they prepare for the historic arrival of the famous Michelin Guide in Quebec. Immersing ourselves in their world and observing their daily lives, we witness the evolution of a vibrant yet precarious restaurant industry—undergoing a profound transformation with the awarding of Michelin’s legendary stars.

La friteuse à voyager dans le temps

Directors: Alex Dorval and Renaud De Repentigny

Producer: Mélanie Brière | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • La friteuse à voyager dans le temps by Trois-Rivières filmmakers Alex Dorval and Renaud De Repentigny gets to the heart of Quebec’s identity by exploring the history of poutine through the stories of roadside restaurant workers, potato cultivators, cheese makers, artists, and poutine eaters from across Centre-du-Québec—the birthplace of this iconic dish. 

Last Run: Save Our Salmon
Directors: Jackie Olson and David Curtis
Co-producers: Andrew Connors, David Curtis and Jackie Olson (Sovereign Soil Film); Shirley Vercruysse (NFB) | Western Documentary Unit

  • In the wilds of Canada’s North, First Nations artist and community leader Jackie Olson and commercial fisher/filmmaker David Curtis are on a quest to save sustainably fished Yukon River wild salmon—as a local food and a cultural and spiritual icon. Faced with the dramatic collapse of both the Chinook and Chum salmon runs, they begin a journey to discover what’s causing this ecological travesty. 

Make This a River Again (working title)
Director: Kevin Settee
Producer: Alicia Smith | Central Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • This feature documentary connects the dots between conservation, colonial impact and ecological urgencies by highlighting Indigenous perspectives on the health of the Saskatchewan River Delta, through the experiences of families who live there. In the face of an unprecedented water crisis, the film extends an invitation for audiences to consider ways that Indigenous knowledge offers solutions moving forward.

Nakabingwit: First Comes Love
Director: Joella Cabalu
Producer: Teri Snelgrove | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • Repurposing the rom-com aesthetic in a documentary, Nakabingwit: First Comes Love reveals how three Filipinas and their white romantic partners navigate conversations about race. A rom-com documentary for a new generation, the film reveals the difficulties, nuances and opportunities for hope and growth in navigating conversations about race and love. 

Prisonniers du temps
Director: Georges Hannan
Producer: Christine Aubé | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • A simple question? Think again. Prisonniers du temps brings us face-to-face with heart-rending stories, and prisoners for whom every minute is an eternity. Woven from poignant accounts and striking images, the film confronts us with our relationship to the eternal mystery of time and our own mortality. 

Sticks & Rhinestones
Director: Rachel Bower
Producer: Liz Cowie | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • This eye-opening feature doc delves into the mysterious and ever-growing world of competitive baton twirling. We follow the rollercoaster ride that our Canadian baton twirlers experience as they compete to qualify at the International Competitions. 

Short docs and series 

Billy Gauthier
Director: Jennie Williams
Producer: Liz Cowie | Eastern Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • Billy Gauthier’s Inuit carvings are the canvas that provides a platform for his passion on environmental issues and Inuit culture. This short film provides intimate access to Billy’s world located along the remote shores of the Labrador coast. As he carves one of his largest works to date, the audience is immersed in his creative approach, and life on the expansive landscapes that make up his world.  

Le boucher furieux
Director: Guillaume Carlier
Producer: Marie-France Guerrette | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • In Calgary, a passionate young francophone butcher confronts tradition and culture shock as he challenges our relationship with meat and the ethics of eating. 

Fat Camp
Director: Layla Cameron
Producer: Teri Snelgrove | Western Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • Fat Camp is a documentary short about four fat friends on a camping trip. As we see images of the group at rest and play—together and in solitude—we hear them try to reconcile their feelings about the dominance of GLP-1 medications and what this cultural moment means for their relationships to their own bodies. 

Living Memory
Director: Evelyn Pakinewatik
Producer: Niki Little | Central Documentary Unit | 100% NFB

  • Living Memory is a four-part documentary series following filmmaker Evelyn Pakinewatik as they engage with four mentor artists and cultural knowledge carriers who have shaped their practice. Through land-based storytelling, harvesting and creative processes, this series explores how Anishinaabe art and knowledge from the Nipissing Watershed region in northern Ontario remain alive through relationships, reciprocity and the responsibility of carrying stories forward. 

Reines sur glace
Director: Yasmine Renaud
Producer: Marie-France Guerrette | French Documentary Unit | 100% NFB 

  • This documentary series by Franco-Yukonnais filmmaker Yasmine Renaud follows Yasmine and her women’s hockey team in Dawson City, where courage, ambition and camaraderie mingle in the icy darkness of the North. Their journey reveals the strength of communities, the evolution of women’s sport and the universal quest for belonging. 

Animated shorts 

Assurance, feu, vol, vandalisme
Director: Frédéric Collard (Fabiano Fabiani)
Producer: Jelena Popović | French Animation Unit | 100% NFB

  • An experimental film in the form of a walk through a disadvantaged neighbourhood. Like a character, the city reveals itself: the housing crisis, poverty and marginalization. In its exuberant and fragmented street-art aesthetic, a unique universe is imbued with pain through colours with raw jazz accents. 

Bastard
Director: Terril Calder
Producer: Jelena Popović | English Animation Unit | 100% NFB

  • Sir George Simpson, head of the Hudson’s Bay Company, brings from England a properly white wife, despite his love for Peggy Taylor, a Métis woman from Moose Factory. This act of political propaganda marks a shift in Canadian history, away from a fur-trade partnership with Indigenous people towards pure colonial dominance. 

Bisou sauvage
Director: Bahij Jaroudi
Producer: Maral Mohammadian | English Animation Unit | 100% NFB

  • As world tragedies pile up, a bored couple is looking for their next distraction. This explosive dark comedy is a blunt take on the privilege of boredom and the dissonance that is needed to pretend everything is okay. Lebanese-Canadian illustrator and animator Bahij Jaroudi compels us to recognize our own apathy in this relatable black-and-white animated short.

Born to Be Wild
Director: Mike Maryniuk
Producer: Maral Mohammadian | English Animation Unit | 100% NFB

  • A timid houseplant sits in its pot, inside the high-tech but sterile apartment of its Internet-junkie masters. Exuding malaise and outsiderdom, it gazes out the window at the suburban street beneath, observing the neighbours in their weed-whacking routine. It looks past this perpetual manicuring frenzy and experiences a vision of a different life, and a place of belonging. Born to Be Wild stars a neglected houseplant who builds up the courage to escape into the wilds, in a hybrid of live-action and stop-motion animation.

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Version française ici.

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    For more than 80 years, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has produced, distributed and preserved those stories, which now form a vast audiovisual collection—an important part of our cultural heritage that represents all Canadians.

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