The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) greenlit 16 productions and coproductions between January and June 2023, including nine feature-length documentary films and seven animated shorts.

Among the documentary projects in production are a profile of trans soul singer Jackie Shane, a personal exploration of fear, and a film looking at food insecurity among the Inuit.

The projects are all currently underway at studios across the country.

Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story is directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee and is coproduced by Amanda Burt of Banger Films and Justine Pimlott of the NFB. The doc tells the story of the pioneering soul singer and Black trans trailblazer.

Also in production is 7 Beats Per Minute from director Yuqi Kang and coproducers Ina Fichman of Intuitive Pictures and Sherien Barsoum of the NFB. The cinéma vérité doc follows freediver Jessea Lu on her journey to become a world champion.

Nechako comes from writer-director Lyana Patrick and coproducers Jessica Hallenbeck and Tyler Hagen of Nechako Films and the NFB’s Teri Snelgrove. The doc explores two communities forming an unlikely alliance to rebuild their Nations following the damming of the Nechako River and a looming court decision.

The Nest, directed by Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh and produced by Justine Pimlott and Alicia Smith, tells the story of a daughter returning to her childhood home after a life-altering accident that leaves her aging mother disabled.

From co-directors Catherine Martin and Amber Bernard and producer Rohan Fernando comes Netukulimk, which explores the foundational belief that “everything is connected to the land, water and all life forces” through the L’nu, who continue to hunt, fish and gather accordingly.

Nirilauqta is directed by Malaya Qaunirq Chapman and Marie-Hélène Cousineau and produced by Ariel Nasr, and questions why food insecurity among Inuit is the highest of any Indigenous population in Canada, and seven times higher than that of the average Canadian household.

La peur, une comédie by director Christine Chevarie-Lessard and producer Pierre-Mathieu Fortin takes a humorous look at fear using the filmmaker’s own anxieties as the starting point to explore how it affects our lives individually and collectively.

The doc Sinew is directed by Melaw Nakehk’o and Lesley Johnson and produced by Coty Savard out of the NFB’s North West Studio. It explores the disappearance of barren-ground caribou in the Northwest Territories while considering the role of Indigenous knowledge in caribou conservation.

And rounding out the new docs is Sleepless from director Arshia Shakibaeian and producer Ariel Nasr, about suicide hotline agents working in Quebec to fill the gaps in the network of mental health support.

On the animated shorts front, the NFB greenlit Bread Will Walk, directed by Alex Boya and produced by Jelena Popović; Les gens dans l’armoire from director Dahee Jeong and coproduced by Jeong for Between the Pictures and Christine Noël for the NFB; Imprint, directed by Duncan Major and produced by Maral Mohammadian; Paradajz, from director Matea Radic and producer Jelena Popović; Parandeh, by director Ehsan Gharib and producer Maral Mohammadian; Piluk, from directors Elisapie Isaac and Marc Séguin and producer Marc Bertrand; and Something Over There, directed by Arash Akhgari and produced by Jelena Popović.

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