Business screen magazine (1944)

The Story of Canada's National Film Board In the pictures: (left) G. S. BAGLEY (center) Chief of Art Department, (right) DONALD BUCHANAN (center) Chief of Displays Division, National Film Board of Canada. ( Continued from the previous page) ( 1 ) that there exist Internationales based on a common interest in a specific subject: (2) that there is more seating accommodation outside the theatres than inside them. The bright lure of the movie theatre is that of entertainment and vicarious wishfulfilment. The drawing card for the non-theatrical audience is usually that of seeing a subject in which they are interested, articulated on the screen. It may be factory instruction or military training, labormanagement relations or art appreciation, housing or community orchestras. The film has the power to leap barriers of race, religion or background, appealing directly to a common interest. If you make a film on stamp collecting — say the history of the Antigua Penny Puce — it will appeal to stamp collectors all over the world, irrespective of where the film was made. At the same time it will place the country that made the film squarely before those interested in stamp collecting. There are internationales of stamp collectors, engineers, biologists, social scientists and artists no less than Internationales of a political hue. It is to these that the nontheatrical film largely appeals. And it can readily be seen that the potential audience is enormous. It may at first sight seem unlikely that there is more seating accommodation outside the theatres than in. But a 16mm non-inflammable sound film 30 minutes in length can be packed into a small can barely a foot in diameter and weighing less than two pounds. There is almost no limit to the places where such a film can be shown. National Film Board nontheatrical films, for example, are shown in rural community halls, in service clubs, in factories, in trade union halls, in churches, schools, universities, to adult education groups, to scientists' conventions and to servicemen in camps, ships and airfields both in Canada and overseas. They do not conflict with the theatrical entertainment film. They appeal to specialized groups and are broadly concerned with education for citizenship. * • * The Film Board's non-theatrical work began with the formation in 1942 of the Rural Circuits. Originally numbering thirty, these circuits have since grown to almost a hundred. Each month, approximately 250,000 rural people in every province "Okay-So it's Colossal! But what's it going to COST me?" (Have you been uondering. too? We've prepared some hitereiting material on film production facts. Just ask for \our copy of "Film Costs".) BURTON HOLMES FILMS, INC. 7510 N. Ashland Avenue, Chicago 26, Illinois ROGers Park 50sr. of Canada see a program of films for farmers. Some of them had never seen a film before. Many of them come in from ten miles around in sub zero weather to visit the show. What they see is a balanced program: a film on a definite agricultural problem, which may range from weed control to how to form a Credit Union; a film which sets their own effort in perspective against the Canadian and the international scene (usually a Canada Carries On or World In Action revised, six months after theatrical release, for the slower paced needs of a rural audience); a singsong as an ice breaker; and a cartoon — usually with a purpose. The field representative at these showings is much more than a projectionist. He must be able to answer questions on film content and lead a discussion afterwards. Out of these programs have come a series of citizens' forums, sometimes run in conjunction with such bodies as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Association for .\dult Education and Canadian Council for Education and Citizenship. More than 4,000 of these forums have been initiated during the past two years, and the influence of the grass roots, via the Rural Circuits, on the composition of Film Board programs, has been considerable. The Board's Industrial Service shows to over 250,000 industrial workers each month, in 1,400 war plants throughout Can.ada. The shows are staged in the plant, on company time, through the co-operation of labor and management. The projector is set up right in among the machinery bays, and the workers see a half hour program of industrial incentive films, films on accident pre . vention, cartoons, or labor-man.igement films. More interesting, because it is more open for adult educational work, is the Trades Union Circuit, which shows a film program to about 40,000 Trades Unionists per month. (Continued on Page Ttventy-Six) 24 BUSINESS SCREEN MAGAZINE