Marie-Josee Saint-Pierre 
Women and Film Animation 
A Feminist Corpus at the National Film Board of Canada 1939-1989

The creations of female animation filmmakers are recognized all over the world while being, paradoxically, unknown to the general public. Women and Film Animation: A Feminist Corpus at the National Film Board of Canada 1939-1989 brings out of the shadows the work of true pioneers by presenting and analyzing, from a resolutely feminist perspective, the works they have conceived within the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

This institution has played an essential role in the emergence of animated cinema in Canada, but it is forgotten or ignored that a good part of this vast corpus is the work of women who have worked there not only as assistants but also as directors. These artists have contributed to changing the traditional representations of women in a unique way in both commercial and avant-garde animated cinema. The author accounts for their concerns, their creativity, and their many bright achievements. To do this, she relies on a wide range of critical works in social and cultural history of Canada, in feminist art history, and on multiple studies on animated cinema.

Key Features:

• Provides an interdisciplinary approach that combines concepts from feminist studies, film theory and visual arts for a nuanced analysis of the role of women in animated cinema


• Discusses historical and sociological background that sheds light on the condition of women


• Includes a profound analysis of the changes and continuities in the role of women in this industry over time, focusing on the National Film Board of Canada


• Features previously unreleased archival material and selected excerpts from reviews by the NFB’s programming committee, highlighting the impact of production circumstances of the works of specific women animators