National Film Board of Canada Celebrates Canadian Excellence With 7 New Shorts for the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards
February 12, 2026 – Montreal – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
For the 18th year, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is bringing together filmmakers, producers, and creative teams from across the country to create short cinematic tributes to Canadian performing arts legends, as the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) gets set to honour seven new laureates.
The 2026 laureates are Susan Benson, James Cameron, Sylvain Émard, Daniel Lavoie, and Tonya Williams, all recipients of the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. They’re joined by Barbara Hannigan (National Arts Centre Award) and Sae Hoon (Stan) Chung (Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts).
This year’s films are directed by Jennifer Chiu, Dana Claxton, Tara Johns, Kevin McIntyre, and Yasmine Mathurin, and produced by Christine Aubé, Niki Little, Teri Snelgrove, and Robert Vroom at NFB production units across the country.
The finished films will premiere at the GGPAA Show on June 6, 2026, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and simultaneously online on NFB platforms and Apple TV. The films will also be available after June 6 on CBC Gem and ICI TOU.TV—giving all Canadians the opportunity to take part in this unique celebration of performing arts excellence.
“At a time when the country is looking for great homegrown stories and Canadians who lead and inspire, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards has given us another remarkable group of laureates to celebrate. The NFB is proud to have been part of the GGPAA since 2008, honouring these individuals in film portraits that are cinematic gems in their own right. The NFB’s growing GGPAA collection is a precious legacy we’re committed to sharing with all Canadians, now and in the years to come,” said Suzanne Guèvremont, Government Film Commissioner and NFB Chairperson.
To watch the NFB’s GGPAA films free online, visit: nfb.ca/channels/governor_generals_awards.
About the films
Three laureates will be honoured in short films directed by Kevin McIntyre and produced for the NFB by Christine Aubé:
Dancer, choreographer and teacher Sylvain Émard (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award);
Singer–songwriter, performer and poet Daniel Lavoie, O.C. (Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award);
Soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan, C.M. (National Arts Centre Award)
While music is Acadian artist Kevin McIntyre’s preferred outlet for creative expression, his rich and vibrant career also encompasses writing and design as well as film editing and directing. Kevin’s experience in creative production is wide-ranging: three solo albums, his role as a member of the band Salebarbes and several years as a camera operator, editor and producer with CBC/Radio-Canada Television in the Maritimes.
Set and costume designer and painter Susan Benson, C.M., is a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award laureate, profiled by Jennifer Chiu in a film produced by Teri Snelgrove.
Jennifer Chiu is a writer, director, producer and researcher living in Vancouver whose debut documentary feature, Clan of the Painted Lady, premiered in the fall of 2025. She has a decade of experience researching and developing series and feature documentaries for film and television. In 2022, she was nominated for the Barbara Sears Award for Best Editorial Research at the Canadian Screen Awards.
Filmmaker, explorer, inventor, and environmental entrepreneur James Cameron, C.C., a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award laureate, steps in front of the camera in a film tribute by Tara Johns, produced by Robert Vroom.
Tara Johns is an Alberta-born writer-director based in Montreal. Her debut short film, Killing Time, won the Best Canadian Short award at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. Her first feature, The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom, has garnered awards and acclaim. Tara is now in development on the feature film project Good Bones, with Palomar Films.
Screen actor and producer, arts executive and activist Tonya Williams, O.C., is a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award laureate and the focus of a short by Yasmine Mathurin, produced by Niki Little.
Yasmine Mathurin is a Haitian-Canadian filmmaker whose debut feature doc, One of Ours, won the Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs and earned three Canadian Screen Award nominations. The producer of acclaimed CBC podcasts like The Shadows and Tai Asks Why, Yasmine received the TIFF–CBC Films Screenwriter Award for her fiction debut, now in development.
Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts recipient Sae Hoon (Stan) Chung is celebrated by Dana Claxton in a film produced by Niki Little.
Dana Claxton is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota First Nations, located in Saskatchewan, who currently resides in Vancouver. An acclaimed multidisciplinary artist, Dana investigates Indigenous beauty, the body, and sociopolitical and spiritual themes in her work. Her honours include the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award and Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.
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