Content area
Full Text
Projecting Canada: Government Policy and Documentary Film at the National Film Board. By Zoë Druick. Montréal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008. 237 pp. ISBN 9780773532595.
Within the field of Canadian historical film studies-a terrain frequently on the periphery of scholarly interest-the National Film Board of Canada has nevertheless found itself the focus of a considerable amount of attention. Given that its undeniable presence seems permanently embedded in the cultural fabric of the nation, it should perhaps come as no surprise that as a topic of study, it boasts what is perhaps the most developed body of scholarly literature within this admittedly somewhat marginalized field. Zoë Druick's Projecting Canada: Government Policy and Documentary Film at the National Film Board represents the latest contribution to the ongoing dialogue regarding the NFB's status as a cultural institution in Canada, and it is a welcome and much-needed addition to this particular subfield.
Projecting Canada had its genesis in Druick's dissertation research at York University and has since been expanded, reworked, and refocused, benefiting from further archival research and additional theoretical perspectives. A crucial distinction from previous histories and analyses of the film board that Druick's work offers is her interest in Michel Foucault's concept of governmentality, which she argues is an entirely fitting framework for understanding the functionings of the NFB as a state-owned producer of documentary film. In this capacity, Projecting Canada is equally as relevant a contribution to the field of critical cultural policy studies, particularly the brand of analysis carved out by authors such as Tony Bennett, Toby...