Ron Kelly (born June 11, 1929 in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

) is a Canadian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He began his career with 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 ** ...

film unit, directing many short and

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 ...

s between 1952 and 1964. He traveled to France, Spain and Mexico producing and directing documentaries independently from 1956 to 1958. From 1959 to 1962 he studied at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

, England, on a Canadian Arts Council fellowship and while there produced and directed documentaries for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, CBC and National Office of Film, UK. In 1967 he co-wrote and directed the feature film Waiting for Caroline, as a commemoration of Canada's centennial year. ''Waiting for Caroline'' was distributed internationally by United Artists, Hollywood. In Hollywood in 1968, Kelly directed for Twentieth Century Fox Studios and Disney Studio. In 1970 he returned to Canada, writing, directing and producing dramas and documentaries for the NFB and CBC. His most recent film is ''Victims of Victims'' (2004), a documentary exploration of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Awards and recognition

Ron Kelly received the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

for England at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

, 1962 for ''The Tearaways''. In 1965 he received a

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

for Best Direction for his film The Gift, a documentary on

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

, and again in 1967 for an episode of the TV Series

Wojeck ''Wojeck'' is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1966 to 1968. It was arguably the first successful drama series on English Canadian television, and was the first TV series anywhere to regularly feature and ...

entitled ''The Last Man in the World''. The latter also received the

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

at Monte Carlo. Kelly's television productions of ''The Open Grave'' (a 1964 episode of the TV series

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

) and

The Megantic Outlaw ''The Megantic Outlaw'' is a Canadian historical drama television film, directed by Ron Kelly and broadcast by CBC Television in 1971.

(1970) were also winners of Canadian Film Awards, and ''The Open Grave'' won the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international television, radio-broadcasting and web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with th ...

in Genoa. ''The Irish'' received 1st prize for documentaries at the New York Film Festival, and the Atlanta Film Festival and the Chicago Film Festival's Gold Bear Award in 1975.

Partial filmography

*'' The Open Grave'' (1964) *''

Centennial Travellers A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

'' (Documentary, 1965) *'' Quo Vadis, Mrs. Lumb?'' (Documentary, 1965) *'' The Gift'' (1965) *''

Valley in a River A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a ve ...

'' (Documentary, 1966) *'' The Last Man in the World'' (1966) *'' Waiting for Caroline'' (1967) *''

King of the Grizzlies ''King of the Grizzlies'' is a 1970 adventure film directed by Ron Kelly and written by Jack Speirs, Rod Peterson and Norman Wright as a loose adaptation of Ernest Thompson Seton's 1900 novel ''Biography Of A Grizzly''. The film stars John Yesno, ...

'' (1970) *''

The Megantic Outlaw ''The Megantic Outlaw'' is a Canadian historical drama television film, directed by Ron Kelly and broadcast by CBC Television in 1971.

'' (1971) *'' Springhill'' (1972)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Ron 1929 births Living people Film directors from Vancouver Canadian male screenwriters Canadian documentary film directors National Film Board of Canada people Canadian television directors Disney people Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people Writers from Vancouver Best Director Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Screenwriters from British Columbia