NFB Shores Up Deals for Animation, Environmental Docs

TORONTO, October 19: The
National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has made a number of international sales on
its animated titles and environmental documentaries, and has reached a new
distribution deal with France’s Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA).

On the documentary front,
France’s new environmental TV cable and satellite network Ushuaïa TV acquired
the Weather Report, a co-production with Sienna Films; The Fight for
True Farming, a co-production with
Productions du Rapide-blanc; Toxic Trespass, a
co-production with If You Love Our Children; and Glacialis Productions’ Whale Mission: The Last Giants. Additionally, France’s La chaîne histoire picked
up the NFB/CBC co-production Dead in the Water and
the award-winning Arcadia Entertainment/NFB co-production Buried at Sea.

NFB’s animated productions
have also been sold throughout the world. Madame Tutli-Putli was
picked up by Canal + France, ARTE France, and Switzerland’s TSR. Canal + Spain
and TSR have also acquired Sleeping Betty, while YLE in Finland bought three shorts from the NFB’s
award-winning Talespinners children’s collection: Asthma Tech, The Girl Who Hated Books
and Jaime Lo, small
and shy.

Two new NFB acquisitions,
Statue of Liberty and The World's Largest Studio,
were picked up by Italy’s Rai Uno, while in the U.S., Sundance Channel picked
up a package of five NFB shorts along with the documentaries The Blonde Mystique and Weather Report.

In addition, INA and the
NFB have joined forces to distribute the ten-part series Mysteries of the Archives. The NFB has obtained the exclusive North American
distribution rights for the series.

The NFB has also struck a
new deal with Germany’s Framepool, which will enable the NFB, and its archives
of more than 4,000 hours, greater access to Germany and other markets.

Tom Perlmutter, government
film commissioner and NFB chairperson, commented: “At the NFB, we are working
to ensure that the digital future has room for artistic excellence and social
relevance. With an impressive track record in new media innovation and a vast
library of more than 13,000 productions, the NFB is a partner of choice for a
growing number of producers, broadcasters, distributors and content developers
around the globe.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski