Magnus Isacsson (1948 – August 2, 2012) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

maker whose films investigated contemporary political issues and topics in

social activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

Early life and television career

Isacsson was born in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1948. His father founded and ran an art school and his mother taught children with learning disabilities. Isacsson first became involved with photography, with photographs exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm when he was 18 years old. He immigrated to Canada in 1970. He first worked as a radio producer for

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

and the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, before moving into television to direct reports for the English– and French-language CBC television networks, for such programs as '' The Fifth Estate'' and ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines. ''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...

''.

Film career

Frustrated by the creative constraints of working for TV networks, Isacsson began a career as an independent filmmaker in 1986. His film ''Uranium'', the story of radioactive contamination on Native land by Canada's

uranium mines Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Ni ...

, won a Golden Sheaf Award at the

Yorkton Film Festival Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...

in 1991; ''Power'', a feature-length chronicle of the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

's five-year struggle against the Great Whale Hydro Project in

Northern Quebec Northern Quebec () is a geographic term denoting the northerly, more remote and less populated parts of the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec.Alexandre Robaey"Charity group works with Indigenous communities to feed Northern Quebec's 'wandering dog ...

, received the award for Best Documentary at the International Environmental Film Festival in Paris (1997), among other accolades and nominations. '' Choir Boys! (Enfants de chœurs !)'', a film about the journey of a choir of homeless men in Montreal, won the award for Best Documentary at the

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Infor ...

in 2000. Isacsson has been involved in the

Documentary Organization of Canada The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) is a non-profit organization representing the interests of independent documentary filmmakers in Canada. It was founded as the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC) in the 1980s. DOC advocates for ...

(formerly CIFC) since its beginning, contributing to the formation of the Montreal chapter in 1988. He was also involved in starting the

Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal The Montreal International Documentary Festival () is a Canadian documentary film festival, staged annually in Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the ...

(RIDM) as a member of its first programming committee. In association with the RIDM, Isacsson instigated the Docu-Mondays (Lundis du Doc) screening series. Isacsson was a member of the ARRQ director's union in Quebec, and has served as a board member for the Observatoire du Documentaire. Observatoire du Documentaire Isacsson's last film was the feature-length documentary ''L'Art en Action'' (2009), a study of the ATSA group's provocative urban art installation. At the time of his death, Isacsson was working on ''Granny Power'', a film about the

Raging Grannies The Raging Grannies (or just "Raging Grannies") are activist organizations in many cities and towns in Canada, the United States, and other countries. The first group started in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in 198687. They are social just ...

Teaching

In addition to his filmmaking, Isacsson was also a university educator and a pioneer in community media, teaching audiovisual production courses in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

while working with Vidéo Tiers Monde.

Death and posthumous honours

Magnus Isacsson died of cancer in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec on August 2, 2012. As of August 2012, the RIDM is creating a new award in the name of Isacsson and frequent collaborator

Martin Duckworth Martin Duckworth (born March 8, 1933) is a Canadian documentary director and cinematographer who was on staff at the National Film Board from 1963 to 1970 and has continued to work with them as a freelance filmmaker. He was cinematographer on mor ...

Filmography

*''Toivo'' - 1990 *''Union Trouble'' - 1991 *''Uranium'' - 1991 *''Out of the Ashes'' - 1991 *''The Emperor's New Clothes'' - 1995 *''

Power Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

'' - 1996 *''The Big Upheaval'' - 1996 *''Vivre Ensemble'' - 1997 *''Pressure Point'' - 1999 *'' Choir Boys! (Enfants de chœurs !)'' - 1999 *'' Maxime, McDuff & McDo'' - 2002 *''View from the Summit'' - 2002 *''Waiting for Martin'' - 2004 *''Hell-bent for Justice'' - 2005 *''The Battle of Rabaska'' - 2008 *''L'Art en Action'' - 2009 *'' My Real Life (Ma vie réelle)'' - 2012

References

External links

*
Magnus Isacsson Official SiteBlog of Magnus Isacsson''Remembering Dedicated Documentary Filmmaker Magnus Isacsson''

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Isacsson, Magnus 1948 births 2012 deaths Canadian documentary film directors Swedish emigrants to Canada Film directors from Montreal Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people Swedish documentary filmmakers Deaths from cancer in Quebec Canadian film educators