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National Film Board of Canada puts its archives online, free

Cory Doctorow at 2:30 pm Thu, Jan 22, 2009

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Andrew sez, "The National film Board of Canada (NFB) has opened up its vault - more than 700 films, clips and trailers are now available on the film board's new website launched today. From entertaining shorts and cartoons, to deeply moving or disturbing documentaries - they're all there for free, with more being added every week."

Hell yes. This is how public money should be spent. And yes, they have The Big Snit, my all-time favorite NFB short.

Films : All - NFB (Thanks, Andrew!)

Previously:
  • Canadian Nat'l Film Board puts 50 classic shorts online - Boing Boing

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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  • Kabur Naj

    Sweeeeet! (Can a CBC Radio archive be far behind? Pretty please?)

    Cory (and other fans of early film comedies) take note: The Railrodder, which is listed in Matt’s (@#30) list of upcoming releases for February, was one of Buster Keaton’s final movies and hearkened back to his silent film days. The film is distinctly Canadian in that it features Keaton riding the CP rail tracks straight across Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

    As for what else I’ll be looking out for, there’s really so much to list:
    –> Any animations by: Richard Condie, Cordell Barker, Torill Kove, Ryan Larkin, etc.
    –> Other bits of animated Canadiana: The Hockey Sweater, Blackfly, Log-driver’s Waltz, etc.
    –> The cheesy films that I remember seeing in school: Hinterland Who’s Who, The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes, Tara’s Mulch Garden, etc.

    But what I’m really looking forward to is finding gems among all the other films that I’ve never seen before.

  • teknocholer

    Damn, Takuan, I was just about to say Blackfly, since Paul567 beat me to Log Driver’s Waltz. Is there no Wade Hemsworth left for me to spread the word about? Anyway, good work, NFB. My tax dollars were never better spent.

  • Takuan

    Paddle to the Sea

  • bazzargh

    Oh, nice. This is much better than their old site (which had just the animation archives up in a non-streaming quicktime format IIRC)

    Anyway my pick:
    http://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly/

  • minTphresh

    rilly?this is where ‘Paddle to the sea” comes frum? wow! i wonder if they have the “blaze glory” shorts…those were the ones with stop-motion guys on motorcycles/horses that seem invisible. hilarity ensued. and didn’t they do the animated ” radical ideas threaten societies and then become societies which are threatened by radical ideas….” cartoon. pure awesomesauce!

  • Lis Riba

    Unfortunately, I don’t see one of my favorites: “What on Earth!” by Les Drew and Kaj Pindal.

    This Oscar-nominated 1966 animated short is credited to the National Film Board of Mars, a ‘documentary’ explaining what scientists have been able to glean from their first glimpses of life on the third planet.

    Anyone else have fond memories of this short?

  • obscurica

    I sure would like to see “Ride For Your Life” get released.

    It features some unique music by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, not available anywhere else. It’s not an amazing film, but the music is worth hearing.

    Here’s more info on the Mother’s recording engagement:
    http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/videography/Ride_For_Your_Life.html

  • Takuan

    well, they have about 700 online now, there are 14,000 on file, email them with your picks. Maybe they will listen.

  • gentlevillage

    This is wonderful. I haven’t seen “The Big Snit” in over fifteen years. My favorite childhood cartoons were some NFB animation shorts from a VHS my dad bought on a family trip to Vancouver when I was a little guy.
    Good job, Canada!
    Good job, boingboing!

  • paperfingers

    Update: The Railrodder starring Buster Keaton (which was mentioned above) is now online:

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/railrodder/

  • erindipity

    YAY!!

  • sinclair_mckay

    When “Not a Love Story” makes it up then the archive will be complete. I predict that the archive will never be complete.

  • Daemon

    It’s all about Canada’s other national anthem: http://www.nfb.ca/film/log_drivers_waltz/

  • bazzargh

    Lis Riba: Over on twitter, @thenfb say they have 14000 films in the archive, the 700 up so far are just the start, and they’ll be adding more each week. You could ask them if its coming?

  • z7q2

    Hope they get this one up soon:

    http://www3.nfb.ca/collection/films/fiche/index.php?id=10659

    This predates (and inspired) the Ken Burns effect. The images used in the film were taken on glass plates, and were recovered from a greenhouse in the Yukon that were using them as windows.

  • marley88

    I love The Big Snit. It’s so great to be able to watch all our favorite Canadian shorts online. Lots of good shorts still coming from Canada today… One example is the animated short contest going on at http://www.superu.ca

  • virginia cynic

    try nahanni if you think that you have ever worked hard or taken a tough wilderness trip/hike canoe etc
    just 18 mins

  • Anonymous

    @2:

    Boards of Canada has its archives put online, free

    (NB: only long out-of-print/never-issued stuff on that torrent, as far as I can tell. Nobody’s getting paid, nobody’s getting ripped off either)

  • Bevin

    So many of my family’s sayings come from The Big Snit! I am so happy to see my favourites online! I haven’t seen many of these since childhood!

    (Please excuse the overuse of exclamation points. I have just finished laughing ’til I cried while watching The Big Snit for the first time in years.)

  • farrellmcgovern

    Unfortunately, as was pointed out to me…Canada’s NFB has simply become a repository for past glory. Once one of the most innovative film and animation studio in the world, now only provides us with these timeless, but old classics.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that this stuff is now available like this, but I do mourn the death of the initiative that created these wonderful film and animation classics.

    ttyl
    Farrell

  • jansolnicka

    thank you very much for the link. there are wonderful vids on that site.

  • spike55151

    My vote is for “HIGH STEEL”:

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/high_steel/

    ….and what a delightfully distracting post! I could /did/ spend hours there! WELL DONE!

  • takeshi

    Many of David Cronenberg’s early films were sponsored by the NFB. I really hope that Rabid ends up here, as it’s one of his creepiest efforts.

  • Takuan

    OK, here’s an easy-to-become timeless waiting for a documentarist with minimal funds: Tomslake, Canada.
    A tiny community torn by bombings, police stupidity, corporate greed, life and death, bribery,neighbor against neighbor, death of the hinterland, environmental rape – a metaphor for the planet. Go on, tell me I’m wrong.

  • btb

    HOLY SHIT
    Pas De Deux (http://www.nfb.ca/film/pas_de_deux_en/) is more trippy, more amazing, and more beautiful than I remembered. Have a glass or two of wine, turn out the lights and put this one on.

  • paperfingers

    Hey I’ve been working on the site with the NFB web team here for the last year or so.

    Here’s a list of the upcoming films for the next few months. They are mostly determined by rights, etc.

    Thanks for the shout-out, Cory, and all the great comments, everyone!

    Matt

  • Takuan

    see?
    http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/01/17/bc-pipeline-community-suspicion.html

  • gr00veNU

    this totally makes up for us having a completely useless parliament…

  • Ugly Canuck

    So when will the US Library of Congress/AMPAS make their old stuff free to view on the web?

  • dragonfrog

    Your choice of The Big Snit as the illustrative example is clearly the correct one.

  • mbobich

    Time to make my own Boards of Canada album.
    If ya don’t know who that is, lookemup.

  • mkultra

    CARROST

  • Crispinus211

    Caroline Leaf!

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/The_Street/

    Awesome!

  • elk

    PSYCHED to hear such a nod to the big snit. I favorite since I first saw it during an animation festival back in the 90s.

    “you’re always SHAKING your eyes!”

  • TJ S

    I don’t mean to harm you, and I won’t.

    The End

  • Anonymous

    Wow, I completely forgot about this!
    Awesome!

  • btb

    This is great!

    I’d like to especially call attention to Norman McLaren’s masterpiece, Begone Dull Care – a 1949 animation McLaren made by painting directly onto the film, music by Oscar Petersen Trio.

  • arkizzle

    Brilliant!

    Way to show the way NFB!

  • Panpan

    Like others here, my favorite is Pas de Deux http://www.nfb.ca/film/pas_de_deux_en/

    It’s one of the most beautiful things I ever saw.

  • movalator

    For me it was always ‘The Sweater’

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/sweater/

  • Takuan

    The Ballad of Crowfoot

  • madwyn

    Does anyone know where I could view Blaze Glory? (Yup). I thought this film was hillarious and also Opening Speech? We used to rent a film projector and a screen at the local library and watched the alot of these films growing up. We had a riot viewing these. I would love my kids too see them.

  • Chris Spurgeon

    In my family that ecstatic hand gesture that the guy makes when he realizes it’s 2 o’clock and therefore time for “Sawing For Teens” is THE de-facto signal we all make when we’re thrilled by something geeky. Wonderful!

  • Alys

    This is fantastic!
    As a kid, some of my favourite memories of elementary school were when the teacher would put a reel of film on the projector and we’d watch a cartoon from the NFB. I’m pretty sure I saw The Sweater at least once a year (usually around playoff season), and the Log Driver’s Waltz used to show up on TV on a pretty regular basis.

  • Loony

    WTF! I can’t even smoke during a total nuclear war?

    Those anti-smoking nazis have gone to far!

    How is it that I’ve gone through over 40 years without having seen “The Big Snit” until now?

  • pauldrye

    STOP! SAWING! THE FURNITURE!

  • peter_van

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/Hunger/

    That one is a trip. Also, awesome.

  • Anonymous

    Okay, “The Big Snit” is truly classic, but where’s “Bob’s Birthday”? Between this and “Bob and Margaret” not being released properly on DVD, I’m seriously bummed. Hopefully soon they will show again!

  • Takuan

    QUIT SHAKING YOUR EYES!

  • eustace

    If we are sharing the ones we have enjoyed, than I shall stick to the Truth.

  • Uncle_Max

    Nuclear war – take cover under a refrigerator.

    Was this how Lucas came up with that brilliant escape for Indiana Jones?

  • paul567

    The Log Driver’s Waltz FTMFW!
    http://www.nfb.ca/film/log_drivers_waltz/

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/the-cat-came-back/

  • isopraxis

    If you haven’t seen Murray Siple’s Carts of Darkness you’re missing out on something that may change your perspective of shopping carts forever.

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/pas_de_deux_en/

  • Avi Solomon

    Wow=
    http://www.nfb.ca/film/Universe/

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/Getting_Started/

  • changescat

    AAACK! I am so happy about this news. It’s awesome to see everyone listing their faves. Actually, the extent to which I quote “The Big Snit” and “Getting Started” in daily life is surprisingly a lot.

  • Anonymous

    Its wonderful that all of these films are now freely available on the net now; I can remember watching a lot of these, (along with the “short circuitz” clips that used to played on YTV) during my childhood.

    If you like the Big Snit, check out “Mindscape”, “The Sand Castle”, or “Blackfly”. Great Stuff.

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/juke_bar_en/

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly/

  • Takuan

    http://www.nfb.ca/film/hot_stuff/

  • dragonfrog

    BTB – thanks for pointing out Begone Dull Care! If music videos were like this, I might actually watch them from time to time.

    I’d love to see that one in a higher fidelity format – there were parts where it felt like all I was seeing were compression artifacts.

  • Agobard

    The Sweater!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sweater