MONTREAL – Karine Turcot sat calmly on the St. Denis St. roadbed as a grey RAV4 slowly inched closer and closer.

In this tense game of chicken between motorist and protester, the SUV eventually backed off.

"I was thinking, 'I just have to stay calm,' if I had panicked, things might have got out of hand," she said minutes after the front bumper had retreated.

Turcot was one of an estimated 200 people who staged a sit-in outside the screening rooms of the National Film Board during lunchtime on Tuesday.

This latest in a series of near-daily protests in the city was to denounce the recent federal budget that slashed funding to the NFB by $6.7 million. Seventythree full-and part-time jobs will be lost, and screening centres in Montreal and Toronto will be closed in September 2013.

Police had thought the protesters would keep to the sidewalk, but when they abruptly took to the street a little past noon, cars and trucks were stuck between Emery St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd., and a cacophony of horns ensued.

Eventually, one lane was cleared to get the cars out, and police detoured traffic from St. Denis at Ontario St.

For Turcot, the choice of taking part in the demo was personal: she's a frequent visitor to the St. Denis facility, bringing her 8-year-old daughter to see animated movies.

"Everything she knows about movies, she knows from the NFB," Turcot said.

An estimated 28,000 people visit the place every year, where more than 10,000 NFB shorts and documentaries are available, free, for viewing.

Université de Montréal film student Hubert Sabino was one of the protest organizers who hastily mounted a Facebook campaign to publicize the sit-in. He said he was happy with the turnout.

"It's a huge loss, right now we have access to our essential heritage," Sabino said.

Tyrone Benskin, the NDP heritage critic, showed up in solidarity with the protesters.

"I'm here to support citizens speaking out about cuts to arts and culture," Benskin said. "All these Canadian institutions contribute to who we are and culture is a pillar of society. When you think of great civilizations, you don't look at their economic plan."

Documentary filmmaker Martin Duckworth has made 30 films. Twenty of those are in the archives of the NFB screening room.

"I think (these cuts) are a disaster and a crime against the culture of this country," Duckworth said.

"The NFB helped to establish and build our national identity. This country needs a national film board."

Funding to the NFB represents 0.2 per cent of the total budget, said an NFB employee who didn't want his name published.

"This is peanuts," Sabino said through a megaphone to the crowd. "Our indignation must be shown because a people without culture are a people without history."

"This is just a starting point to our protest," he promised.

asutherland@montrealgazette.com