Donald Code Brittain, (June 10, 1928 – July 21, 1989) was a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

and producer with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...

Career

Fields of Sacrifice ''Fields of Sacrifice'' is a 1964 documentary by Donald Brittain about Canadian war dead. The film visits former battlefields where over 100,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives in World War I and World War II and examines Canadian military c ...

'' (1964) is considered Brittain's first major film as director. His other notable directorial credits include the 1964 feature documentary ''Bethune'', 1965 documentaries '' Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. Leonard Cohen'' and '' Memorandum'' and the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

-winning 1979 documentary '' Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed''. He also directed the first-ever

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme ...

film, ''

Tiger Child ''Tiger Child'' ( ja, 虎の仔 ''Tora no ko'') was the first IMAX movie ever made. It was directed by Canadian filmmaker Donald Brittain and produced by Roman Kroitor and Kichi Ichikawa. It premiered at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan is a desi ...

'' for

Expo '70 The or Expo 70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan between March 15 and September 13, 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fai ...

, and '' Earthwatch'', a 70mm film for

Expo 86 The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communicat ...

. He wrote the 1975 Oscar-nominated short documentary ''

Whistling Smith ''Whistling Smith'' is a 1975 short documentary film directed by Marrin Canell and Michael J. F. Scott for the National Film Board of Canada. It was produced for the NFB's '' Pacificanada'' series, which aired on CBC-TV in early 1975. The fi ...

''. He co-directed the 1976 feature documentary '' Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry'' which garnered 6 Canadian Film Awards and an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination. Brittain also directed the three-part CBC-coproduced series '' The Champions'', chronicling the lives and battles of Canadian political titans

René Lévesque René Lévesque (; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Québécois politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to attemp ...

and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. His most ambitious project was '' The King Chronicle'', a three-part 1987-88 television series about the remarkable career of Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

. He won the

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for best screenplay and direction for the 1985 drama '' Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks''. As NFB producer, Brittain's credits included Arthur Lipsett's '' A Trip Down Memory Lane.'' Often a narrator of his own documentaries, Brittain also lent his voice to the animated mockumentary '' What on Earth!''

Lifetime achievement awards and posthumous honours

In 1989, Brittain was the recipient of a Margaret Collier Award. In 1990, he was posthumously appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of "his masterful visual records of our social and cultural past. The Donald Brittain Award for the best political or social documentary presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television at the

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

and more recently, the Canadian Screen Awards, are named in his honour. Brittain is interred in Ottawa, Ontario's Beechwood Cemetery.

References

External links

* * Donald Brittai
playlist
at the National Film Board of Canada
Donald Brittain
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

Donald Brittain
at the Canadian Film Encyclopedia
Donald Brittain
at the

Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our arc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brittain, Donald 1928 births 1989 deaths Officers of the Order of Canada Film directors from Ottawa National Film Board of Canada people Canadian documentary film producers Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Documentary Film Canadian documentary film directors Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery

Career

Lifetime achievement awards and posthumous honours

References

Further reading

External links