The new National Film Board website

Here’s the site we’ve been working on at the NFB for the last while.

Basically, we’re putting a wealth of classic Canadian documentaries and animated films online for free. Films like The Logdriver’s Waltz, Cosmic Zoom, and Neighbours - and a whole slew of films I’m still discovering.

There’s a nice post on Metafilter that’s full of great suggestions on the site. Also Hugh McGuire suggests a few places to start.

They’re all there. They’re not in super-duper HD - but they are higher-quality-than-YouTube and quite suitable for full-screen viewing. We are testing the site, so it’s still in beta mode, but it’s quite functional.

As we’ve been uploading the films, tagging, and rewriting their descriptions for the Web, I haven’t had time to watch many of them. Only this week have I started watching what we have up there. And I’m really… moved by films I’m watching. There are films that make Canadian history riveting (Days of Whiskey Gap) and films that make Canadian art seem profound and mature (Bill Reid).

Oh and here’s my favourite film on the site so far. A gorgeous animated film from the ’60s called, Romance of Transportation in Canada. I first read about it in Cartoon Modern, Amid Amidi’s book about classic animation. Watch the whole thing here… for free.

What do you think of the site? What can we do to improve it?