Budget cutbacks and a 1996 restructuring have led some in the animation community to question the future role of the National Film Board in independent, auteur-driven animation production.

However, the executive directors of the nfb’s Animation, Children Interactive program – ACI West’s Svend-Erik Eriksen and David Verrall at ACI East – report they are embarking on an innovative slate of new projects as well as flagging that four of their recent productions will screen at the upcoming Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Working with a ’98/99 production budget of $5.2 million for English-language projects and $2.1 million on the French side, aci has more than 100 animated films in production.

On the development slate at ACI East is a half-hour animated/live-action kids’ series called The Talespinner’s Club. Short stories from visible minority writers will be adapted into animated segments to be produced by the nfb and outside directors. The project will allow the directors to work with a wide array of animation, says Verrall.

Verrall is negotiating with Toronto company The Film Works to coproduce the youth-targeted 13-part series. The show will feature a cast of young people dealing with ethical or social dilemmas and the animated short stories will serve as parables, offering advice as to how to deal with them.

The budget is projected at $350,000 per episode. Sugith Varughese is developing the series bible and will direct. Tamara Lynch is producing for the nfb. Attaching a broadcaster is the next step.

The nfb and Imax are finalizing an arrangement to bring Imax’s new animation system sandde (Stereo Animation Drawing Device) into the ACI East studio. The digital technology enables animators to draw in 3D stereoscopic space freehand, and the studio anticipates bringing in artists to experiment with the new technology. The system is worth roughly $70,000.

A $1-million Internet initiative, The History of Canada, is in development as a joint venture between the English- and French-language aci studios. The goal of the project is to make history exciting and accessible as well as showcase different perspectives on Canada’s past, says Verrall. Animated segments will be included.

Production on the Internet site is expected to begin in December and the site should be up and running within a year. Pierre Lapointe and Therese Descary are producing the history site.

Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square, the personal story of director Shui Bowang’s experiences growing up in China, has just wrapped production. The half-hour film combines animation with Bowang’s paintings and photographs. The nfb is currently exploring broadcast opportunities.

Snow Cat, a $675,000 half-hour directed and coproduced by Sheldon Cohen (The Sweater), is in post. Aimed at young viewers, the film deals with loss and grief and has been bought by Teletoon.

Two 90-second animated short films directed by Diane Obomsawin are in production as part of an Understanding the Law series, which will shed light on some of the basic legal principles Canadians need to know. Verrall is looking at the potential of broadcasting the shorts on television.

Three new videos are being produced by Marcy Page to add to the award-winning educational series ShowPeace, which explores conflict resolution. The first two completed titles are When The Dust Settles and Dinner For Two which were made with the support of Unicef and Justice Canada.

This year will see the launch of the interactive cd-rom Has Anybody Seen My Umbrella?, directed by James Churchill and produced by Tamara Lynch. The cd-rom is a take-off on the traditional Cinderella story and has components to help first-time readers improve their reading skills.

Canada 3D, a 60-second stereoscopic tour of Canadian history, is being released this fall as a digital movie. It is from director George Geertsen and producers Marcy Page and Michael Fukishama.

Eriksen’s upcoming projects from Western Canada filmmakers include the 10-minute animated film Strange Invaders from director Cordell Barker, whose previous animated film The Cat Came Back was nominated for an Academy Award. His latest project is being produced in Winnipeg for $320,000 using cel animation.

Strange Invaders is a humorous tale of a childless couple who are surprised by the arrival of a small, odd-looking baby. As they raise the child it becomes apparent to everyone, except the couple, that the kid is actually an alien.

Production will wrap in late spring ’99, and Eriksen says beyond a festival play, he is discussing the possibility of Famous Players picking up the short to screen before features. aci also compiles its animated shorts into animation programs which are sold to broadcasters worldwide and to the public.

Production is underway in Edmonton on Beth Portman’s Fair Phyllis, a 10-minute cartoon set in the 1700s about a shepherdess balancing the demands of her flock of lambs with a lover who doesn’t understand her busy life. The $320,000 project is being produced using cg images to create a sketch style pencil-and-crayon look.

Calgary-based Wayne Traudt is working on the six-minute art film Body Rhythm, in which movements of the human body are showcased using sketching techniques.

Recent nfb productions screening at the Ottawa festival are Diane Chartrand’s Deathtrap, Tali’s Under The Weather, Stephen Arthur’s Transfigured and, in competition, Louise Johnson’s When The Dust Settles.

As well, there will be a screening of five nfb films as part of a Paul Driessen retrospective – End of the World in Four Seasons (1995), Air (1992), The Same Old Story (1981), An Old Box (1975) and Cat’s Cradle (1974).