NFB topper Tom Perlmutter enjoys breaking the rules when it comes to cinema. And while the NFB won’t be diving into production of feature films or docs any time soon, there is some wiggle room to back pertinent projects that wouldn’t otherwise get made. Writer Marc Glassman gets a glimmer of the NFB’s future on these timely topics

The NFB and feature films

The NFB has returned to making narrative films in English, and has ‘started that with our alternative drama projects. But we can’t do much of it. What we can make are low-budget films, working with non-professional actors and emerging talents,’ says Perlmutter.

Queried about how Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth fits that category, Perlmutter adds: ‘Well, Deepa came to us and said, ‘I want to make this film and no one wants to fund it.’ She had a 10-page outline – not even a script. It was about spousal abuse in the South Asian community, grounded in the social issues that are bread and butter for the Film Board. It’s exactly the sort of thing we should be doing: supporting one of our great artists in a way that makes sense for us. We said, ‘Let’s work together on it.’

‘We have also just finished shooting a coproduction [Act of Dishonour] with Nelofer Pazira [the Afghani-Canadian who starred in Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s drama Kandahar and co-directed the doc Return to Kandahar with Paul Jay].’

When asked what has happened to the board’s experiment with creating a chain of digital cinemas, Perlmutter explains, ‘It’s been done in l’Acadie [a French area in New Brunswick.] But to continue, it needs more funding. We’ve also worked with the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris and we’re looking at something in Newfoundland where there’s interest. We don’t have the resources to fund [digital cinemas] ourselves. To have a national network of these cinemas would be a boon to Canadian film; it would give them a much greater theatrical life. If you can build audiences through a commercial release, it ensures a film’s ongoing visibility.’

The NFB and docs

Perlmutter also considers the NFB’s niche role in getting feature-length docs to the big screen: ‘Part of [the NFB’s] future will be defined by what we’ve been talking about in terms of process, pushing boundaries. There isn’t any process in place to allow feature docs to be developed for cinema. It all starts from television, which, of course, will still be important for financing. But who’s pushing the grammar of cinema instead of taking television and blowing it up for the big screen? We’re instrumental in pushing that.’