The NFB at Îlot Balmoral: a hub of Canadian creativity in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles

Since 2019, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has been headquartered at Îlot Balmoral, a flagship building in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. Working closely with all the production units across the country—six in total, located in eight cities, i.e., St. John’s, Halifax, Moncton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, in addition to Montreal—the head office is a hub that brings creation, production and distribution activities, including audiovisual technical services, together under one roof. As the “eyes of Canada,” the public producer and distributor can uncover stories from every region of the nation and bring them to audiences throughout the country and around the world. These animated and documentary works are internationally acclaimed multiple award winners, attesting to the talent of Canadian filmmakers and artists. They’re also part of an evolving legacy that builds bridges and helps us to see, feel and understand the rich experiences of diverse Canadian communities.

Headquarters and Montreal production units at Îlot Balmoral

National Film Board of Canada
1501 De Bleury Street
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0H3
Accessible to people with reduced mobility

Place-des-Arts Metro

Contact us by phone from anywhere in Canada:
1-800-267-7710

Contact our production units:
Details and contact information

Open to the public: the NFB Space and the Alanis Obomsawin Theatre

Its large windows overlooking Place des Festivals—a key cultural hotspot in downtown Montreal—the NFB Space provides a place where the NFB, the general public and industry members can mix and mingle during special events. The state-of-the-art Alanis Obomsawin Theatre can also host selected screenings followed by lively discussions.

NFB expertise and a melting pot of ideas, all under one roof

In addition to showcasing local expertise and talent, the NFB’s new head office is a space that’s conducive to creation and in tune with the latest technologies and innovations, serving as a vital meeting point for artists, the public, key collaborators and our in-house experts.

You’ll find the following located on six of the Îlot Balmoral building’s 13 floors:

Production units where animation and documentaries can be created
Post-production rooms for mixing and editing
A lab for experimenting with new technologies
Archives
The teams in charge of festivals, national and international sales, marketing, communications, the education market, technical and legal services and online distribution, all working closely with the NFB’s six production units across the country
The state-of-the-art Alanis Obomsawin Theatre, with 134 seats and four places for people who use a wheelchair, which can accommodate screenings, master classes and other presentations, in addition to serving the NFB’s production needs
The NFB Space, a direct channel to creation where projects can be showcased, a space where people can meet and exchange ideas, and a range of activities related to festivals and other events can be programmed

As for the NFB’s conservation rooms (a.k.a. “the vaults”) and digitization facilities, they were moved to a new building in the Saint-Laurent borough in the fall of 2019.

An iconic building by architects Provencher_Roy

The building received 2009 LEED Gold NC certification and is a property of the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM). Designed by late architect Eugenio Carelli from Provencher Roy, this 13-storey building contains 26,000 square metres of rental space; the NFB’s new headquarters comprises six out of its 13 floors, for a total of 9,800 square metres. The city block gets its name from Balmoral Street, which borders the eastern side of the building.

The lobby, which has entrances on both the east and west sides and connects De Bleury Street with Place des Festivals, was designed as a space pedestrians can freely walk through and was inspired by the route they were taking from Place des Arts Metro to Place des Festivals before construction of the building began.

The NFB Space, a public venue dedicated to exploration, encounters between people and the exchange of ideas, whose immense windows overlook Place des Festivals, can also be accessed through the lobby. A large staircase leads from the main floor to the mezzanine, where the Alanis Obomsawin Theatre is located.

Workers remove the logo at the NFB’s Montreal headquarters in Saint-Laurent on April 24, 2019. Photo by Charles Mercier for the NFB.

Attached to the wall is the exterior logo from the NFB’s former headquarters at 3155 Côte-de-Liesse, serving as a link between past and present.

Îlot Balmoral has become a landmark in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles—a building designed to embody innovation, creativity, and the vitality of the city itself.

The history of NFB headquarters – 1956 and 1939

1956: A new home at 3155 Côte-de-Liesse Road

A unique filmmaking complex—the only one of its kind in Canada

The NFB decided to move its Ottawa headquarters to a new space in Montreal to help the organization fulfil its mandate and attract new talent, in particular more francophone directors from Quebec. Moving the head office from Ottawa to Montreal would also give the organization more creative freedom.

The new NFB would be housed in a setting unlike any other in Canada: a fully integrated, world-class film studio—the only one of its kind north of Hollywood—built to the highest industry standards. A facility whose mission was:

… to render a complete motion picture service from the original concept of the film through script, music, animation, editing, photography, sound, laboratory reproductions (both black-and-white and colour), and film distribution through the world. Further, in view of the impact of television and the rapidly changing techniques of theatre exhibition and film production, the facilities had to be flexible.

The Montreal Move, 1955–1956 NFB Annual Report

The move in 1956

In 1956, the move from Ottawa to Montreal was a mammoth undertaking that involved the transfer of 3,000,000 lbs of equipment and other material in 87 van loads. Transporting the equipment alone required more than 92,000 linear feet of lumber, 2,150 carboard boxes and 200 typewriter cases! In the span of a few weeks, more than 400 employees and their families moved to Montreal.

A Classified Heritage Building

The entire complex has been listed as a Classified Federal Heritage Building since 1998, in recognition of the role it played in developing Canadian cinema and bringing talented filmmakers together under one roof—and becoming, in the process, the heart of creative and technical innovation in Canadian film, serving as a driver for the industry as a whole, and developing an international reputation. The main building is named for animation master Norman McLaren. The heritage designation does not apply to Building F (the John Grierson Building, since closed).

1939: Early days in Ottawa

The NFB was founded in Ottawa in 1939 by John Grierson, with a mandate to produce and distribute films designed to interpret Canada to Canadians and to other nations. The Film Board first occupied a converted lumber mill at 25 John Street, in addition to nine other buildings.

Employees in these buildings had to deal with many technical and health-related challenges, including dust, dirt and the absence of a proper heating and cooling system.

But none of that stood in the way of the NFB filmmakers as they crafted documentaries that sought to rally Canadians for the war effort, telling the stories of sacrifices made by soldiers on the front lines and civilians on the home front. The end of the Second World War marked the start of a new era for Canada—and a new set of needs and challenges for the NFB.

Contact the NFB publicist to obtain high-resolution images for printing.

Media Relations

Magalie Boutin
Head of Media Relations, NFB
C.: 514-233-8646
m.boutin@nfb.ca | @NFB_Magalie

About the NFB

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.

To tell these stories, the NFB works with filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds, from across the country. It harnesses their creativity to produce relevant and groundbreaking content for curious, engaged and diverse audiences. The NFB also collaborates with industry experts to foster innovation in every aspect of storytelling, from formats to distribution models.

Every year, another 50 or so powerful new animated and documentary films are added to the NFB’s extensive collection of more than 14,000 titles, half of which are available to watch for free on nfb.ca.

Through its mandate, its stature and its productions, the NFB contributes to Canada’s cultural identity and is helping to build the Canada of tomorrow.