The National Film Board (NFB) has announced the closure of its Vancouver and Montreal interactive studios as it reinvests in production.
The move will result in the loss of 14 full-time positions, however NFB says a half-dozen new jobs will be created.
Founded in 2009, NFB Commissioner Suzanne Guèvremont said in a release, that the Crown agency would have to at least double the interactive studios’ current budgets in order to properly fulfill their mandate, focused on producing experimental interactive and immersive media, including games and works of virtual and augmented reality.
“Instead, we’ve chosen to reinvest in production and innovation, to explore new initiatives that will serve production as well as distribution and audience engagement,” said Guèvremont. “This is innovation in the service of Canadian stories—from idea to screen.”
As a result of the studio closures, $3.5 million will be reinvested – $1.5 million in additional funding for documentary and animation production and $2 million for innovation initiatives aimed at improving production and distribution methods and increasing audience engagement.
The new national initiatives will be co-led by NFB Executive Producers Louis-Richard Tremblay and Rob McLaughlin, under the leadership of Richard Cormier, the current Director General of Creation, Distribution and Marketing and Chief Programming Officer.
Cormier said the organization will be “advancing innovation in a cross-organizational manner, throughout all of the NFB’s branches.”
“We will connect with the needs of all branches within the NFB, to try new things, adapt and, ultimately, benefit from the most promising ideas as they emerge,” said Cormier. “The Canadian audiovisual sector is in a period of reflection as the government holds conversations on its modernization, so innovation is not a choice but a necessity. For many years, our various partners across the country have asked for significant additional reinvestment in documentary and animation production.”
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