NFB x TIFF
Capture our moment. Share your story.
5 filmmakers. 5 short films. Produced, financed and distributed by the NFB. Premiering at TIFF 2026.
{RE}DEFINED is an opportunity to shape the national conversation. To explore what it means to be Canadian or Indigenous today. We were looking for 5 snapshots of life, in this time and place, from your local perspective, experience and point of view.
We wanted storytellers who are listening deeply to the current moment, challenging assumptions and offering new ways of seeing who we are and who we are becoming. The goal:
- 5 short films
- Made by filmmakers 30 and under;
- Exploring new forms, formats and approaches to documentary;
- In celebration of 50 years of Canadian cinema at TIFF;
- From idea to world premiere in under a year.
We are so excited to share the filmmakers and stories that answered the call:
Prajj is a Toronto-based writer, director and artist whose work blends bold genre storytelling with an experimental, DIY spirit. Their films have screened at TIFF Next Wave, the Reel Asian Film Festival, Toronto Youth Shorts and more. Alongside filmmaking, Prajj creates installation work, video art and zines, building a practice that’s playful, genre-bending and formally inventive.
Butter Chicken to Go follows South Asian delivery drivers during Toronto’s dinner rush in the dead of winter. Shot at the height of anti-Indian sentiment in Canada, the film examines what it means to have your presence be both essential and contested.
Sylvia Mok is a writer/director who aims to tell stories that are bold, heartfelt, ambitious and downright fun. Hailing from Halifax and now based in Toronto, Sylvia makes films that include marginalized voices and seldom-seen perspectives, all while maintaining a sense of humour in every story.
Restaurant Kids offers a glimpse into a small but tight-knit community of Chinese restaurateurs in Halifax and the second generation of kids who were raised with a restaurant as their second home.
Tyra Delver is a Cree Two-Spirited artist, photographer and filmmaker from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta who weaves her lived experiences into evocative visual storytelling. Her work offers intimate glimpses into the dreamscapes of a young Native creative, shaped by imagination and personal truth. Influenced by many Indigenous artists yet deeply rooted in her own upbringing, Tyra continues to learn about and share her heritage through every piece she creates.
pâkwêsikan sâkihtin: Bannock Is Love explores the topic of food sovereignty through the tradition of making bannock. The film centres on the ways that cultural traditions nourish not only the body, but the soul and spirit of a people.
Gabrielle Côté is a Montreal-based emerging filmmaker who uses collages of images as a tool for social observation. Her films reveal her fascination with urbanism and community life, showing how cityscapes shape our lifestyles.
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. In one, cars, money, time and individualism rule. In the other, sharing, leisure and inclusivity are encouraged. The contrast between these two societies leads the viewer to contemplate how city planning shapes our lives in communities.
Maxime Kornachuk is a 23-year-old Red River Métis animator and a graduate of the Multimedia Communications program at Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg. His culture is central to his life and practice and has inspired stop-motion explorations that pay tribute to the rich tradition of Métis beadwork, first seen in the student film Our Beaded Flowers (2024). Also trained in dance, Maxime has drawn on that discipline to create rotoscoped animation, setting up a poetic dialogue between the human body in motion and animated objects.
Là où nos fleurs poussent gives voice to Métis of all ages seeking to reconnect with a culture that’s been marked by efforts to silence and erase it. The film uses stop-motion-animated beads as well as rotoscoping to depict personal stories as seeds of a larger, shared identity that’s coming back to life.
THE BACKSTORY
The stories we were looking for
We were looking for 5 filmmakers, ages 30 and under, to create an original short film about what it means to be Canadian or Indigenous today. From where you are. From your perspective.
We want to be inspired and surprised—narratively, visually and formally. Give us something new.
We were looking for projects from storytellers who are listening deeply to the current moment, challenging assumptions and offering new ways of seeing who we are, who we are becoming and how our stories can shape the future.
We want regional, cultural, ethnic, political, gender and sexual diversity, and representation from coast to coast to coast. We want this collection of films to explore Canadian and Indigenous identity not as a single story, but as a rich, layered conversation.
Eligible genres
We are looking for new forms, formats and approaches to what is traditionally called documentary. In this moment of social media, new technologies and the blurring lines between reality and the imagined, we want to explore what’s fresh and next.
Length
Maximum 10 minutes. Short is sweet.
Language
We will be selecting 3 English projects and 2 French projects.
FAQ
Each film will have a budget of between $150K and $250K, to be finalized based on the scale, scope and parameters of the production plan as determined by the NFB
and the filmmaker. The budget will be a mix of cash, post-production services and NFB services. All filmmakers will be paid and contracted for their services via the NFB’s standard guild agreements (DGC, WGC, ARRQ, SARTEC, etc.).
Selected filmmakers will make up a cohort. Before starting production, we will bring all the selected filmmakers to Montreal for a week of orientation, creative meetings, collaboration and community building. This will take place in either December or January.
All filmmakers will be expected to attend the TIFF world premiere of their film in September 2026.
In between, filmmakers may be asked to participate in panels, discussions and/or TIFF Next Wave events. These appearances will be scheduled based on your availability, and the production plan for the films will be prioritized.
The NFB will pay for all associated travel costs, as required.
We want to give space to the next generation of filmmakers and allow their voices to carry our stories. Filmmakers should be 30 and under at the time of the application, and we trust you to submit accordingly. And if you have a birthday while we’re in production, that’s okay (it’s even quite sweet!).
Content:
We’re looking for spark and diversity to guide our selections. We want projects that push the envelope, that are bold and innovative, and that honour the vastness and diversity of this place. In evaluating this, we consider the subject you’re exploring and the visual and narrative approach. What is the strength of the story you’re telling? Who are you, and why are you the right person to tell this story? How will it make an impact?
Feasibility:
We will consider feasibility and evaluate whether the film can start and be completed by the July 2026 deadline. Can we deliver on the visual and narrative approach within the established budget? Have you confirmed your availability and capacity to dedicate most of your year to making this film? Do you understand and embrace what it means to collaborate with the NFB and the team? The NFB is a producer and distributor, not a funder (though your film will be fully funded), and we want to make sure we have a shared understanding of what that means.
Audience engagement:
We want projects that are going to connect with new audiences. Why does your subject hold relevance, and how will your approach and story best engage your target audience and have an impact?
Experience:
We welcome a wide range of filmmaker experience, but you need to be able to demonstrate your capacity to deliver on your proposal. What experience sets you up for success on this project? Can you demonstrate that via past work?
The filmmaker and the NFB production team will collaborate on the selection and hiring of key creatives who maximize the chances of delivering the best possible film. We’ll work together on this.
The main collaborators at the NFB will be their producers. NFB producers will be part of the selection process, to ensure there’s a good fit between the producer and the filmmaker. You’ll also work with a line producer, administrator, senior production coordinator, a marketing team, a publicist and various other internal specialists. The entire initiative is being overseen by an executive producer. And each filmmaker will have the opportunity to work with a mentor, if desired.
The films will premiere at TIFF in 2026.
The films will online at nfb.ca after their premiere at TIFF in September.