Telefilm Canada Appoints NFB’s Julie Roy As Executive Director And CEO

Longtime Canadian film industry veteran Julie Roy has been appointed as executive director and CEO of the federal financing and promotional organization Telefilm Canada.

This looks like great news for Canada’s animation community. Roy is an animation producer with more than 50 credits on her resume. She previously served as head of the National Film Board (NFB) of Canada’s French Animation Studio and as interim head of the NFB’s English Animation Studio. She has been the director general and programming chief officer of creation, distribution, and marketing at the Film Board since 2020, and is currently a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Appointment details:

• Roy will take up her new position on April 3 and serve a five-year term in the role. She replaces former executive director and CEO Christa Dickenson, who left Telefilm in September of last year.
• Roy is French-English bilingual and is a longtime advocate for the importance of diversity and inclusion on and behind the screen.
• Her credits include Franck Dion’s Annecy-winning The Head Vanishes, Theodore Ushev’s Oscar-nominated Blind Vaysha, Michèle Lemieux’s Here and the Great Elsewhere, and Claude Cloutier’s Carface.
• In a release, Roy said: “I’m honored to be appointed to lead Telefilm Canada. The country’s digital landscape is in a state of change and the challenges ahead are significant and exciting. There are opportunities ahead of us. We must seize them in order to increase the influence of our talent and our industry. In this context, Telefilm Canada’s mission will be more relevant than ever. I will undertake my mandate by relying on the skills of our teams and the mobilization of our industry partners.”
• Robert Spickler, chair of Telefilm’s board of directors, added: “On behalf of the members of Telefilm’s board of directors, I welcome Ms. Roy who will lead an institution that has been dedicated to the success of the audiovisual industry for over 50 years. Ms. Roy is a proven bilingual leader who is well-versed of the current challenges facing the audiovisual industry. As an ardent advocate of equity, diversity, and inclusion on both sides of the camera, she will continue the work already begun by Telefilm and its partners to achieve an inclusive and representative industry.”