I‘ve paid lip service to the National Film Board in the past. Producers of great cinema, the Canadian institution has been making waves with recent en devours into the digital age by moving huge chunks of their archive onto the web and making them freely available to the general public. The move isn’t too surprising considering the films are funded by tax dollars but a huge achievement in digital rights and distribution. Trailblazer all the way, the NFB has taken the next step and made the films available to a population that lives largely off their mobile devices.

Released earlier this week, the NFB’s iPhone and iTouch application is listed as one of the top 20 free applications in the iTunes App Store and for good reason. I downloaded the application earlier in the week and started playing around with it and it’s nothing but goodness. The application gives your mobile device full access to the archive, featuring hundreds (if not thousands) of digitized shorts and full length documentaries. If you’re not connected to the web on a regular basis, the application is still a winner in that it lets you download the film in question for a 24 hour period. I loaded three movies onto my iTouch and watched 2 of them on my commute to work this morning. For free. How completely awesome is that?

With an ever growing archive (material is added weekly) the NFB has finally become completely accessible to the public. Sure is a fantastic way of celebrating 70 years.

The app is one to check out. You can download it here.