The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has named Julie Roy their new director general, creation and innovation; she takes up her duties as of 20 May 2020. The announcement was made by government film commissioner and NFB chairperson, Claude Joli-Coeur.
Roy has 25 years of experience in film both as an executive producer and producer of the French Animation Studio with more than 50 productions to her credit. Her chief mandate will be to strengthen the NFB’s creative leadership, establishing an integrated programming vision to serve as a springboard for producers and executive producers to launch their documentary, animation, and interactive projects.
Roy is well-known in the production and programming worlds, regularly serving as a speaker, panelist and programmer for events and festivals in Canada and around the world. She has collaborated with many publications, with recent contributions including pieces on the NFB and women filmmakers.
Roy was also executive producer of Theodore Ushev’s Blind Vaysha, which was nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar in 2017. Roy’s broad production experience ranges from animated documentary Quiet Zone by Karl Lemieux and David Bryant (2015) and the upcoming web series Caresses magiques by Lori Malépart-Traversy (2021), to the interactive project Burquette by Francis Desharnais (2014) and the technical and formal experimentation of Matthew Rankin’s The Tesla World Light.