A little history

René Jodoin’s pioneering use of computerization made him a visionary. As far back as the early 1970s, Pierre Moretti and Peter Foldès collaborated with Nestor Burtnyk and Merceli Wein, two experts at the National Research Council of Canada who were working on an experimental computer-assisted animation system. Two films dealing with metamorphosis were produced as a result of their group effort: Metadata (P. Foldès, 1970) and Hunger (P. Foldès, 1974).

Following that initial partnership, the NFB acquired the system Burtnyk and Wein had developed, thereby paving the way for the Computer Animation Centre that film producer Robert Forget would set up in the early 1980s. Daniel Langlois was part of the centre’s team until 1985, and then went on to found Softimage (in 1986), where he developed 3D computer animation software. The NFB’s interest in new technologies led to 3D films in Imax format with the SANDDE system, as well as to such avant-garde productions as Chris Landreth’s Ryan (2004).