Challenge for Change: Activist Documentary at the National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board of Canada is one of the world's premier centres for documentary filmmaking and has consistently received attention and acclaim, both internationally and at home. One particularly influential area of the NFB's great body of works was the bilingual, activist documentary program Challenge for Change/Societe nouvelle, which ran from 1967 to 1980. The films produced within this program were among the first to use 16mm and portable video to enable audiences to confront broad issues of sexism, poverty, and marginalization in the hope of developing community, political awareness, and empowerment. Pioneering participatory, social change-oriented media, the program had a national and international impact on documentary film-making, yet this is the first comprehensive history and analysis of its work. The volume's contributors study dozens of films produced by the program, their themes, aesthetics, and politics, and evaluate their legacy and the program's place in Canadian, Quebecois, and world cinema. An informative and nuanced look at a cinematic movement, "Challenge for Change" reemphasizes not just the importance of the NFB and its programs but also the role documentaries can play in improving the world.