The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI; originally Canadian Screen Institute, CSI) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The organization describes itself as "Serving content creators across Canada to tell unforgettable stories through industry-informed training and mentoring."

Established in 1986 and originally functioning as part of the University of Alberta, the National Screen Institute is Canada's oldest nationally recognized film and television training school. In 2008, the institute launched the NSI Online Short Film Festival as a year-round online short-film festival for films that are "100% Canadian."

In 1984, Canadian filmmakers met in Edmonton, Alberta, at "Symposium 84 – Local Heroes", held during the first Local Heroes Film Festival, which showcased independent Canadian short films and features from around the world. The following year, discussions on strategies resulted in DramaLab, a hands-on development program for producers, directors, and writers to learn the film industry and develop their skills. One of the 1985 artistic directors was filmmaker Allan King, who recognized that the DramaLab program filled a void—at that time there were no filmmaking courses being offered in Canadian universities or technical schools.

Aiming to meet a need for film and television training outside large metropolitan centres, the Canadian Screen Institute (CSI) was formed on April 7, 1986, adopting both DramaLab and Local Heroes as its two flagship programs. By the end of that year, CSI changed its name to the National Screen Institute. Originating as part of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the institute began with an annual operating budget of C$360,000 a year, one-third of which was provided by the Alberta government.

In 1990, NSI's Board of Directors introduced another program evolved from DramaLab called NSI Drama Prize, in which filmmaker participants would work to build their skills in a format that combined production incentives, mentorship and professional development workshops.

In 1997, the institute began NSI Features First, a professional development program for writers, directors and producers working on their first or second feature film. Teams met with top-level experts throughout the program and received a cash award towards the final development and packaging of their feature film projects.

In 1998, NSI opened a second office in Winnipeg. The next year, NSI introduced a second Local Heroes Festival to Winnipeg that screened exclusively-Canadian films. In spring 2001, NSI consolidated its operations in Winnipeg, transferring the Edmonton Local Heroes Film Festival to Edmonton International Film Festival Society, as well as refocusing and renaming the Winnipeg Local Heroes Festival to NSI Film Exchange Canadian Film Festival. The festival was eventually retired in 2007.

NSI Global Marketing was introduced in 2001 to prepare producers to take their projects to the international marketplace. NSI Totally Television began in 2002 providing customized, hands-on training for Canadian producer/writer teams to develop story ideas into polished packages to present to buyers in the global marketplace.