NFB, NHK Announce New Collaboration

TOKYO, October 28: The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and
Japan’s NHK have signed a new agreement to collaborate on future projects,
extending a pact first signed in 2003.

The alliance between the NFB and NHK will include the co-development
of flagship projects, including high-definition productions. The two public
organizations will work together to explore themes of common interest in
environmental and social issues.

Canada’s Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson Tom Perlmutter said the agreement “represents something
radically new in the world of international co-productions and partnerships. We
are moving away from a traditional co-production model to one where we come
together to establish a creative laboratory that can take the programming risks
that are not possible in the normal course of business. We are extending the
NFB model of prototyping and testing new ways of creation, often with new
technologies, into the international sphere. And there is no better partner
than NHK, one of the world’s great public institutions, committed, like the
NFB, to innovation and delivering value to its citizens. We only have to look
at their pioneering work that has brought high definition to the whole world.
The benefits of this partnership will be felt by our industry and our
respective citizens.”

Shigeo Fukuchi, the president of NHK, added: “With NFB’s substantial initiatives towards community outreach
and their vision and strategy for cross media, as well as their creativity in
programming, NHK is happy to be able to partner with such a dignified
organization to learn and share ideas. We have enjoyed the exchange of ideas
and information and the wonderful creative outcome that we have built with NFB,
and we look forward to see what will come from our new collaboration.”

—By Mansha Daswani