The National Film Board (NFB) is restructuring its studios and placing all of its French-language documentary production in the country in Montreal under the direction of executive producer Nathalie Cloutier.
It is now overseen by the Documentary Film Studio in Quebec, Francophonie, and Acadian, and thus the French-language production loses the only executive producer outside of Quebec, Denis McCready, who held the position in Toronto.
At the same time, NFB will begin hiring new Francophone producers, including one from Ontario and western Canada and one in Quebec. Producer Christine Obe will remain in Moncton in her place.
During this time, the position of editor at the Interactive Studio in Montreal, which Valerie Darvaux has until now occupies, was also abolished.
In an interview, NFB Executive Director of Creativity and Innovation, Julie Roy, explained that this latter position opened when the interactive studio was established in 2009 and that work done since then will make it possible to transfer these tasks to the self-employed.
“We always have limited resources to deal with it. For me, the idea was to reduce the layer of executives and reduce the number of executive producers, at the level of the creative and innovation department, which I run, namely the ten studios of the French program and the English program. There is a change that has also been made to the English program , and not only on the French language program. »
Julie Roy stresses that this restructuring, which eliminates many of the positions it creates, will also give NFB the opportunity to increase its representation of diversity among producers. On the English side, an Aboriginal product, Niki Little, has just been named.
NFB also has a “Diversity and Inclusion Plan,” continues M.me Roy. Take every opportunity to find a range of producers that matches Canadian diversity and demographics. So, I need to create these spaces to go and recruit.”
“The physical entity of the Toronto office is still there,” she explains. But the product or product we will choose [pour l’Ontario et l’ouest du Canada]I can’t tell you where it is. Because our goal is to find a candidate from the French-speaking minorities. »
“The main documentary studio in Quebec will have four producers, two for Francophonie outside Quebec, and two for Quebec, so the ratio is equal,” she adds.
Alongside the Alliance of Francophone Producers of Canada, director Carole Anne Bellon has expressed concerns about the fact that Francophone producers outside Quebec will now be served by an executive producer based in Montreal. Mme Bailon indicates that it will consult its members on the matter.
The Independent Directors’ Front in Canada, which also brings together directors outside Quebec, was still, Friday, assessing the effects of the restructuring. “It is difficult for us to comment on the restructuring of NFB because we are currently evaluating the different effects of merging studios on French-language creation and production outside Quebec,” said General Manager Jean-Francois Dube.
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