NFB - Start watching

NFB.ca is the National Film Board of Canada’s online Screening Room. We have nearly 1500 films, clips and trailers online, free for personal use and on a subscription basis for schools and institutions.

Our collection includes documentaries, animations, experimental films and fiction. We showcase films that take a stand on issues of global importance that matter to Canadians – stories about the environment, human rights, international conflict, the arts and more.  

We also have a selection of animated films for both adults and children from talented filmmakers such as Cordell Barker, Chris Landreth, Ryan Larkin, Richard Condie, Ishu Patel, Caroline Leaf, and many, many more.

You’ll discover new releases, old favourites and Canadian classics along with works from many of Canada’s legendary directors. We have films for all ages, in both French and English. You can watch films in Standard Definition, High Definition and even 3D.

New to the NFB? Start watching here with our selection of films designed to introduce you to our collection. You can also check out our Playlists – collections of films grouped together by subject matter or theme and put together by film experts and media personalities.

We are committed to making our vast collection accessible to all Canadians. Now, you can also watch films on your iPhone, iPad or on your personalized homepages, such as iGoogle or Netvibes.

Our Mission

Our mission is to make these films accessible to all Canadians. If you have any problems viewing the videos, please let us know here.

We’re adding new content every week, so to stay on top of everything subscribe to our weekly newsletter , our RSS feed, or follow us on Twitter. You can also check out our blog, a space where we talk about NFB news and film culture in general.

Profiles

You can now personalize your NFB.ca experience by creating a profile. Having a profile enables you to comment on films and build your own playlists.

Funding

This project was facilitated by Canadian Culture Online, which has been helping us digitize our film collection since 2001. Canadian Culture Online is part of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s strategy to encourage a uniquely Canadian presence on the Internet.

Technology

NFB.ca was written in Python within the Django environment, PyAMF, Apache and MySQL. The application is hosted on an Ubuntu Linux server. We are using the Pyro video player developed by Turbulent Media

Encoding

Films are encoded in MPEG 4 H.264 at 56k, 415k and 1000k.

Help us improve

We’d love to hear what you think about our website. Please help us by sending your comments and/or technical problems here.

Stay in touch

We’re constantly updating the site with new content. Stay current by:

-->