In a world where digital content grows exponentially and data formats become obsolete overnight, few organizations face the stakes that the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) does.
Founded in 1939, the NFB is a globally respected public producer and distributor of socially relevant documentaries, animated films, and experimental cinema. Their work tells the story of Canada—its people, its cultures, and its history. But how do you protect a national memory that spans more than 85 years?
The answer: you own the archive. And for the NFB, that meant choosing a technology partner that didn’t just understand backup—it understood preservation.
In 2009, the NFB launched a national digitization strategy with a bold goal: never have to do it again.
Branded by the Canadian government as “We Open Our Vaults to the Public,” the initiative sought to make decades of films accessible to all Canadians—online, on demand, and in master-grade quality.
But this wasn’t just about scanning old film reels. It was about:
From the start, NFB made it clear: this wasn’t a backup project—it was an archive mandate.
That’s why they selected Miria by Atempo, not just for its flexible data movement and storage capabilities, but for something more fundamental: Atempo understood the difference between backup and archive.
Open Format Compatibility: No proprietary lock-in. Everything had to be standards-based and portable.
API Access: NFB built its own internal interface used by 350+ staff—enabled entirely through Miria’s API.
Searchable Metadata: Assets aren’t just stored; they’re organized, described, and retrievable.
Collaborative Development: NFB worked hand-in-hand with Atempo to develop features like TAR support, object-level metadata, endpoint protection, and more.
In 2019, a ransomware attack hit NFB. Thanks to Miria’s cold storage and backup strategy, no ransom was paid, and no data was lost. Full recovery was completed within two weeks.
That same year, the NFB rolled out Miria endpoints and LINA workstation protection to strengthen its frontline defenses. Security wasn’t just a bonus—it was part of the architecture.
Today, Miria powers a national ecosystem that includes:
This unified infrastructure allows for:
(From Left to Right, Joël Brun, Steve Hall, Candice Desormeaux, Mathieu Sheey, Jimmy Fournier)
The NFB story isn’t just about saving footage—it’s about preserving truth. It’s about respecting creators, honoring history, and ensuring that generations to come can access the stories that shaped Canada.
Miria enables a living archive: one that supports daily production, integrates with metadata tools, and evolves with the mission of the NFB.
It’s not just about protecting assets.
It’s about protecting memory.
As the NFB prepares for its next evolution, new initiatives are on the horizon:
The National Film Board of Canada has done more than digitize its archive—they’ve defined what it means to truly own one. With Miria by Atempo, they’ve built a resilient, intelligent infrastructure that safeguards not only petabytes of data, but the cultural identity of a nation.
Their journey proves that archives aren’t dusty vaults—they’re dynamic engines of creativity, collaboration, and public service. And with the right partner, the archive doesn’t just protect history—it fuels the future.
Because at the NFB, the archive isn’t where stories end.
It’s where they begin again.
Ready to own your archive? 👉 Book a Discovery Call to learn more about archiving with Atempo Miria.