Mandate
To provide the film, television and interactive media industries with a training centre that will enable various areas of expertise to be updated and perfected.

Intent
To help creative talent get integrated into the milieu and to support professional progress by contributing to the development of skills, aptitudes and knowledge.

Vision
To propose training programs based on practice, teamwork, creative development and an understanding of the realities of various professions.

L'Institut national de l'image et du son is a professional training center specialized in film, television and interactive media initiated through the efforts of the audiovisual community. It has been active since January, 1996.

INIS enables student designers, screenwriters, authors, directors and producers of audiovisual and multimedia content to learn their profession by working in teams on projects that respect established professional standards. Based on practice and creativity, INIS pedagogy has been adapted to the needs and to the realities of the milieu.

Place for higher learning, INIS also supports active professionals who want to advance, master new tools and develop new areas of expertise.

The only francophone centre of its kind in the country, INIS promotes national and international exchanges, and cultural diversity in audiovisual training. INIS is a member of the Centre international de liaison des écoles de cinéma et de télévision (CILECT) and the Association des écoles supérieures d'art de Montréal (ADÉSAM).

Fifteen Years of Creativity
Since 1996, INIS has produced over 200 short films in various styles and genres, about 60 dramatic episodes, a theatrically released feature film, about 30 interactive-media prototypes and more than 20 documentary portraits made in the context of international exchanges with other film and television schools.

These productions were made by the several hundred students who have attended INIS since its inception. These are the key works along a path that has led many of them to work in their chosen field, many in key positions.

In the past 10 years, INIS has contributed to developing the film, television and interactive-media industries by training a competent, creative labour force that enriches more seasoned professionals with effervescent new ideas and talent.

Necessary Training
To ensure the proper functioning and growth of production here and meet the challenge of integrating digital technology into audiovisual and multimedia processes, the industry counts on the availability of competent, emerging artists and technicians, and continual higher education on the part of active professionals.

The current context of globalization, marked as it is by increased competition and the rapid streaming of ideas from one country to another, obliges professionals here and elsewhere to manifest their strengths and expertise more than ever before.
INIS works in close collaboration with various influential parties in the film, television and interactive media milieux so its study programs correspond effectively to the industry's priorities and needs.

With professional competence and creative development as its primary objectives, INIS has developed intensive programs that differ from those offered by most other institutions of higher learning. Every year, nearly 1,000 professionals collaborate in INIS's training activities, and in the productions that result.

These projects are produced under professional conditions with students performing the key functions of designer-screenwriter, screenwriter, author, director or producer, while others functions are filled by experienced professionals. This student-professional interaction encourages the exchange and transmission of knowledge in a practical context, and is the basis of the training INIS offers.

Emerging Professionals
INIS is relevant to individuals who, with a background in various areas of training, wish to enrich their expertise by taking an intensive program.

Working Professionals
INIS is also relevant to active professionals who wish to improve in certain area in order to rise in the ranks, familiarize themselves with new practices and recent technologies, or switch to a field that corresponds more closely to their aspirations.

To consolidate the expertise of professionals, INIS training programs are divided into three main categories:

Regular Training Programs
These intensive 5-month programs are the heart of INIS's activities. They presently cover three disciplines : film, television and interactive media, to which documentary and feature-film writing will be added in the near future. These courses are meant for people who have decided on a career in one such discipline as a designer, screenwriter, author, director or producer. The material in all programs is always in perfect sync with the reality of the professional world, and is based on practices and teamwork. This approach stimulates the creativity, critical sense and know-how of new talent.

Complementary Training Programs
These programs vary in length and take the form of practical studies conducted with greater autonomy, where the goals, supervision and resources serve to develop new aptitudes, encourage the creative personality and strengthen the skills gained in regular training. The projects produced in these Complementary training programs are to be developed and sustained by teams of INIS graduates.

Continuing Professional Training
These custom-made training services are intended for professionals and businesses. The courses are adapted to their specific needs and upgrading requirements. Examples are: screenwriting analysis-assessment, project-development support, or supervision in creating or consolidating small businesses. Some training, developed at the demand of companies, professional associations or public institutions, responds to particular goals.

Film
The Film program is divided into three streams: screenwriting, directing and producing. Students approach various aspects of fiction-film production in the context of courses that apply to their discipline or to all three. This formula encourages the development of skills specific to each profession while stimulating teamwork and the sharing of ideas and points of view.

This program will give rise to many productions, including complete shorts for which the functions of screenwriter, director and producer are assumed by trios of students. The length of the program, offered annually, is about 5 months.

Television
As in the Film program, the Television program is divided into three streams: writing, directing and producing. Professional training and supervision is essentially dedicated to creating a television drama and various practical exercises.

Grouped in three's, student writers, directors and producers are immersed in the world of television, their goal being to bring a TV series of several episodes to screen. This program, offered annually, is about 5 months long.

Interactive Media
The consolidation of the interactive-media industry has highlighted the importance of a better organization of human resources. Increased demand for original, organized and screen-written content has now made individuals, who can take charge of the creation and the management of interactive projects, indispensable.

The interactive-media program is built on the streams of designer, director and producer. Both training modules revolve around the development of expertise and collaboration rather than on technological know-how. This program, offered annually, is about five months long.

Documentary
The documentary program, currently in development, advances the training of screenwriters, directors and producers. It is a place where various genres of documentary coexist and enrich each other, giving rise to the development of aptitudes and of original vision in the ongoing search for and treatment of subjects and themes.

Feature-Film Writing
In a milieu where many feel a calling but few succeed, and in order to increase their chances, it is normal for young writers to seek support for their artistic and professional development. The feature-film writing program, currently in development, offers the necessary instruction for developing a dramatic script, from synopsis to final draft.

Upon completing regular training, students may apply for one of the supplementary training programs. They will be able to pursue training in their discipline by working on a personal project (short dramatic film or documentary, TV pilot, interactive prototype) or on a Portraits croisés documentary (international film school exchange program). INIS is also proposing a feature-film-production program. Using INIS's own trio formula, projects must be developed and defended by a team where the key positions of screenwriter, director and producer are filled by INIS graduates.

As a center for professional training in film, television and interactive media, INIS plays an active role in developing an original and coherent line of thinking on the place of creative talent in the consolidation of the industry.

To share this vision, INIS ensures it is well represented in various arenas of discussion, exchange and decision-making. It also aims to publish reference books on the practice of various professions under the auspices of Les Editions INIS.

INIS also organizes occasional informational activities to promote awareness of its mandate, approach and impact on target clienteles.

Finally, INIS aims to distribute productions arising from its programs at various events and festivals here and abroad. Such distribution helps establish and reinforce Québec's fine reputation in the fields of audiovisual and multimedia production, and raises overall international awareness of Québec through film, television and interactive media.

INIS follows a unique public-private partnership model. More than a strictly fiscal operation, this balance of public and private contributions is a decisive factor in the philosophy animating INIS.

INIS's operating budget is thus equally divided between government subsidies and the contribution of services and financial support by various acting parties in the industry. Through such support, the private sector shows its appreciation of INIS's contribution to the development of film, television and interactive media in Quebec and Canada.

In addition to various ministries, institutions and corporations, individuals, actors, professionals and technicians generously collaborate in producing works in the context of INIS training programs.