In the past, the National Film Board was an extraordinary place, today it’s in the process of disappearing.

That is the view of award-winning Quebec writer and filmmaker Jacques Godbout, one of a number of reputed Canadian filmmakers participating in an online video campaign to convince the federal government to beef up funding to the NFB, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Godbout believes the demise of the NFB is another example of how, in Canada, we ‘excel at self-destruction and shooting ourselves in the foot.’

Billed in the French-language press as S.O.S. ONF (S.O.S. NFB), the videos feature impassioned pleas by Roger Frappier (Dédé, à travers les brumes), Alanis Obamsawin (Is the Crown at War with Us?) and Benoît Pilon (The Necessities of Life).

The campaign was organized by the Canadian Union of Public Service Employees, which represents many NFB employees including producers and technicians. The union maintains the NFB no longer has the money it needs to fulfill its mandate. From just over $81 million in 1994/95, the NFB’s budget was down to $67 million in 2007/08.

‘So many professionals have left. We no longer have in-house directors,’ says Serge Gaspard Gaudreau, president of CUPE Local 4835.

Gaudreau says the union decided it was ‘time to protest’ because the Canadian public doesn’t understand how important the NFB is. ‘They hear about us during the Oscars, but we want people to know that we are still here and we are still making great films, but we need to preserve our expertise for future generations.’

The protest videos are found at: www.cupe.ca