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| Incendies is one of the major Canadian films now available on the NFB's VOD. |
Canadian film gets a huge boost
today with the major expansion of the National Film Board of Canada’s VOD streaming services. In addition to the crop of 3000-odd shorts
and docs freely available at nfb.ca, the NFB now offers two new VOD channels
bringing the finest in Canadian independent cinema and independent
documentaries alike. The new Canadian channel marks a partnership with the
newly launched Canada Screens effort
from First Weekend Club, which
brings the best in Canadian film directly into homes across the country. The
new Canadian channel offers some Canada’s strongest contemporary dramas
including some of the decade’s best Canuck flicks like Incendies, Barney’s Version,
and Mommy, just to name a few of the films hand-picked by guest curators including Atom Egoyan, Robert Lantos, and Sarah Polley. (Stories We Tell has been there for a
while given its NFB parentage.) Canuck classics like Naked Lunch are now available, as are hidden gem indies like Gary Burns' Waydowntown. Canadian docs are also well-represented with
some of the best recent Canuck non-fiction like Julia Kwan’s Everything Will Be and Canadian Screen
Award winner Super Duper Alice Cooper. There's a lot worth exploring, especially for the upcoming 'Canadian Film Day' on April 29!
On the doc front, nfb.ca now
offers a range of Canadian and international films in partnership with Cinema Excentris. Titles up for
grabs include Pina, Love, Marilyn, Kung Fu Elliot, The Missing
Picture, and Exit Through the Gift
Shop, while dramas including recent hits like Boyhood and Force Majeure are there too.
This effort to give Canadian
films a wider reach is much appreciated, and I look forward to seeing it grow
in the months ahead. Maybe it’s time this blog had a VOD series?
