NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA WINS TWO WEBBY AWARDS

Montreal, May 1, 2012 – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has added to its track record of innovation in interactive productions with two more Webby Awards—the Internet’s highest honour— announced today.

Vincent Morisset’s “film for computer” BLA BLA , produced by Hugues Sweeney for the NFB, received a Webby Award for Netart in the Websites category. From May 17 to June 3, 2012, the NFB will be showcasing BLA BLA as part of the first International Digital Arts Biennial and Parcours numérique in Montréal’s Quartier des spectacles, presented in co-operation with Mutek and Elektra. The open-air installation will be set up at the exit of the Saint-Laurent Metro station. BLA BLA is currently being featured in an installation at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris that ends on May 6.

God’s Lake Narrows won a Webby Award for Best Use of Photography in the Websites category. God’s Lake Narrows is created and written by Kevin Lee Burton and Alicia Smith, and produced by Alicia Smith and the NFB Digital Studio.

The 16th Annual Webby Awards will take place on Monday, May 21 and will be live streamed on http://www.webbyawards.com.

The NFB has now received six Webby Awards in just five years, joining last year’s double-Webby winner, Welcome to Pine Point, as well as Waterlife Interactive (2010) and Filmmaker-in-Residence (2008).

The NFB’s Digital Studio creates pioneering, world-renowned interactive works from its English-language unit based in Vancouver and its French-language unit in Montreal. The chief technologists and executive producers are Loc Dao, based in Vancouver, and Hugues Sweeney, in Montreal.