1. Media Space

  2. Press Kit

The NFB Collection Conservation Rooms

The National Film Board, caretaker of an accessible, living audiovisual heritage that belongs to all Canadians

The NFB: A world leader in conservation, restoration and digitization


A great diversity of conserved items


Carefully archived duplicate media assets


Digitization and restoration at the NFB: The key to increased accessibility


Technical details: The NFB’s new conservation and digitization rooms


A little history

Images


Conservation room for magnetic sound. Photo by Marie-France Rousseau for the NFB.

Left to right: guillotine splicer, 16-mm film synchronizer and 35-mm film synchronizer. Photo by Marie-France Rousseau for the NFB.

Tape recorder used for ¼-inch magnetic sound transfer. Photo by Marie-France Rousseau for the NFB.

Worktable for lab technicians inspecting and preparing film elements. Photo by Marie-France Rousseau for the NFB.

Still from the film Churchill’s Island (1941), by Stuart Legg. © National Film Board of Canada. All rights reserved.

Barbara Ulrich and Claude Godbout in a scene from Gilles Groulx’s film The Cat in the Bag (1964). © National Film Board of Canada. All rights reserved.

An exterior view of the building specially designed to house the NFB’s conservation, restoration and digitization rooms on Cousens Street in Montreal. Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

An NFB conservation technician demonstrating how to use a synchronizer to synchronize a reel of 16mm footage with its corresponding magnetic sound reel. Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

An editing bench with several reels of film leader and other equipment (splicers and synchronizers). Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

Various formats of videocassettes used in different eras, stored in the NFB Conservation Rooms. Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

Film cans specially designed for conservation of the NFB collection and now used by archivists worldwide. Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

Arriscan XT digitizer used for 16mm, super 16mm and 35mm film elements (images). Photo by Maryse Boyce for the NFB (2023).

Media Relations

  • 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.