NFB Tech Maestro Eloi Champagne on the Making of ‘Inkwo’

Eloi Champagne leads the development and implementation of the National Film Board of Canada’s tech strategies. He worked as the technical director at the English Animation Studio for about 12 years before becoming the head of technical direction and production technologies. With extensive expertise in visual effects and a broad network of contacts within the industry, he continuously innovates with the production teams by providing technological and creative solutions that help push storytelling boundaries.

This year at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver, Champagne will be taking part in a CG presentation on creating Amanda Strong’s Inkwo for When the Starving Return. We had the chance to learn more about his amazing career in a recent email interview.

Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about your position at NFB. How did you get involved with the National Film Board?

Eloi Champagne: I’m the Head of Technical Direction and Production Technology at the National Film Board of Canada. I oversee the technical side of all our productions — both in animation and documentary. I steer how we develop our tools, workflows, infrastructure, innovation strategy and R&D efforts on the production side. I also initiate partnerships and help shape the future of storytelling, its creation and delivery.

I joined the NFB as a Technical Director in the English Animation Studio. My background is in design, photography, typography and 3D animation — I studied Softimage back in the day. I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of creativity and technology, so the NFB, with its legacy of artistic innovation and experimentation, felt like the right place to bring those worlds together. It’s given me the chance to explore, collaborate and contribute in ways I never imagined. The journey has been truly inspiring.

How long have you been there, and what do you love best about what you do?

I’ve been at the NFB for over 14 years. What I love most is helping bridge the gap between artistic ambition and technical reality. Every project is different, and my role — my team’s role — is to find creative solutions to technical problems and technical solutions to creative problems.

What’s especially rewarding is working closely with artists, from the very early stages of development. Sometimes it means making tools they didn’t even know they needed! The variety keeps things interesting, and the pace of changing tech means that I’m always learning. Above all, I love that experimentation is part of our culture. Innovation is part of how we work, part of our creative DNA.

Which projects were you directly involved this past year, and can you tell us a bit about what you did on each of them?

A few recent projects immediately come to mind:

Inkwo for When the Starving Return (Spotted Fawn Productions/NFB), by Amanda Strong. It’s a stop-motion short set in a dystopian future, rooted in Indigenous storytelling. I served as technical director on the project, helping Amanda and her team integrate CG elements with hand-crafted puppetry and sets. We used digital doubles, lens distortion correction, an ACES pipeline for HDR finishing… It was a beautiful hybrid of traditional and digital techniques, and a great example of how new tools can serve powerful, culturally resonant storytelling.

Another project was Bread Will Walk, by Alex Boya, which just premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. It’s a surreal, visceral piece that unfolds in one long continuous shot. I helped support the early development with our team at the Animation Studio — especially finding the right “baking recipe” to match Alex’s raw, hand-drawn aesthetic. It was a deeply collaborative and unconventional production, full of creative detours and discoveries.

And Maybe Elephants, by Torill Kove, was another special project. It’s a more personal film based on her childhood, animated in her distinct minimalist style. I helped manage the technical pipeline across our Montreal team and our co-production partners in Norway. A lot of my work was ensuring smooth collaboration between the two teams. It’s a quieter film, emotionally rich and stylistically subtle.

And honestly, supporting our ever-evolving production pipeline at the NFB is a massive, ongoing project. It keeps me busy in the best way.

What do you find most exciting about the new technologies available to animation professionals in the industry today?

What excites me most is how interconnected the ecosystem of tools has become. We now have real-time game engines being used for animation and virtual production, volumetric tools like Gaussian splatting redefining how we capture and render 3D environments, etc.

We’ve been experimenting with hybrid techniques that combine traditional and digital processes in new ways. That kind of flexibility has unlocked creative workflows that would’ve been impossible just a few years ago. They give artists completely new ways to conceptualize and work. Tech has become part of how stories are shaped.

What are some of the biggest challenges of your job?

One of the biggest challenges is supporting multiple projects with different styles and techniques, all at different stages and with unique needs and timelines. It means a lot of juggling.

Knowing when to adopt a new tool — and when to hold back — is also tricky. We want to stay on the edge, but we also need pipelines that are stable and efficient. It’s a constant balancing act. Another challenge is making sure technology stays in service of the story. Filmmakers bring bold, personal visions, and my job is to help realize them — without letting the tools take over or get in the way. In the end, it’s as much about understanding people as it is about the tech.

Where do you stand vis a vis AI and its threats and possible opportunities?

I think AI offers useful and potentially transformative tools — but I’m very adamant that it must remain a tool, not the author. There are areas where it can free up time and open creative possibilities that can lead to better, maybe even more meaningful work.

I’m also concerned about the ethical and environmental implications of AI. I do think we need to be thoughtful and transparent in how we use it. In fact, we need transparency about how these systems are built, where their data comes from, and their impact on artists, society and the planet. At the NFB, we’re approaching AI with curiosity, but responsibly.

VR and AR were the big buzz words a few years ago. What is happening on that frontier and why aren’t we seeing more excitement in that area?

Yeah, the hype has quieted down a bit, but XR — including VR and MR — is still evolving. At the NFB, we did many great immersive and interactive storytelling experiences. Although we are not currently producing this type of work, we are still using XR tools for previsualization and story development and I am still closely following what’s happening in the industry through initiatives like the SODEC – Société de développement des entreprises culturelles, Grand Nord XR and other events.

What’s exciting is that XR still feels like uncharted waters. That gives creators space to invent new ways to tell stories. And when hardware becomes more accessible and the audience grows, I think we’ll see a resurgence.

What do you love about SIGGRAPH?

SIGGRAPH is where tech and imagination come together. I’ve been going there for years, and it’s always so inspiring. It’s a place where people genuinely care about pushing boundaries, and I always come back with fresh ideas, new tools and connections that continue to shape my work long after the event.

This year, presenting Inkwo with Amanda Strong at the Computer Animation Festival is a real highlight. I’m also excited to be part of Real-Time Live!, where we’ll be showcasing an innovative tool developed by researchers at the NVIDIA Spatial Intelligence Lab and the U of T — with a small contribution from our team at the NFB. It’s a great example of how creative and technical minds working together can open up new possibilities.

For anyone working at the intersection of storytelling and technology, SIGGRAPH is one of the most exciting places to be.

Learn more about Inkwo and the NFB’s other projects at nfb.ca. 

SIGGRAPH 2025 will be held August 10-14 in Vancouver. For full programming information and registration, visit s2025.siggraph.org.