The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) have selected five projects for the first cohort of the {re}defined documentary initiative.

First announced in August ahead of TIFF’s 50th edition, the program teams selected filmmakers aged 30 and under, paired with experienced NFB producers, to create short documentaries of 10 minutes or less exploring diverse perspectives on Canadian and Indigenous identity.

The five filmmakers who comprise the initiative’s first cohort where selected from more than 240 submissions, according to a release.

Moving from east to west, Halifax-raised and Toronto-based writer-director Sylvia Mok will be working with producer Liz Cowie at the NFB’s Eastern Documentary Unit in Halifax on her project Restaurant Kids. The short observes a small, tight-knit community of Chinese restaurateurs in Halifax, and the second generation of kids who were raised with a restaurant as their second home.

Montreal-based filmmaker Gabrielle Côté’s Vite! Vite! Vite! is an experimental documentary in which real-life imagery morphs into surreal tableaux that illustrate two visions of urban existence in Northern countries. The project will be produced by Christine Aubé with the French Documentary Unit in Moncton, N.B.

Red River Métis animator Maxime Kornachuk is taking part in the initiative with his project Là où nos fleurs poussent (Where Our Flowers Grow), which uses stop-motion-animated beads and rotoscoping to depict personal stories from Métis of all ages. Jelena Popović will produce the project with the French Animation Unit in Montreal.

Toronto-based writer, director and artist Prajj is working with Kate Vollum and the Central Documentary Unit in Toronto on Butter Chicken to Go, which follows South Asian delivery drivers during Toronto’s dinner rush in the dead of winter.

Rounding out the first {re}defined is Tyra Delver, an artist, photographer and filmmaker from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 territory, Alberta. She will be working with Chehala Leonard and the Western Documentary Unit in Edmonton on her project pâkwêsikan sâkihtin: Bannock is Love, which explores the topic of food sovereignty through the tradition of making bannock.

The participants will receive the benefits of a full production team, a fully financed budget, marketing and publicity teams and mentorship from the NFB. The completed projects will premiere at TIFF 2026, ahead of a worldwide digital release on NFB platforms.

Pictured top (L-R): Sylvia Mok, Gabrielle Côté, Maxime Kornachuk

Pictured bottom (L-R): Prajj, Tyra Delver

Images courtesy of the NFB