Free NFB Shorts Online

Here’s an amazing site. In honor of their 65th anniversary, the National Film Board of Canada has posted on-line fifty of their most well known animated shorts. Quality versions of the films can be seen for free HERE. The films serve as a great primer to the NFB’s output and reflect the wide range of techniques and storytelling styles used by NFB artists over the years. Included are Norman McLaren classics like A CHAIRY TALE, BLINKITY BLANK and NEIGHBORS, Peter Foldes’ HUNGER, Caroline Leaf’s THE STREET, Richard Condie’s THE BIG SNIT, Cordell Barker’s THE CAT CAME BACK and Michèle Cournoyer’s THE HAT. Surprisingly, many of the NFB’s most well known artists are excluded from the line-up, including George Dunning, Kaj Pindal and Gerald Potterton, so it’s not a comprehensive overview, but still, if you’re looking for a good intro to the NFB’s work, I can’t think of a better place to start.

(Thanks, Warren Leonhardt)