Rudy Buttignol (born June 18, 1951) is a Canadian television network executive and entrepreneur. Buttignol was the president and CEO of
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 ...
's Knowledge Network, BC's public broadcaster, from 2007 until June 2022. He was also president of Canadian subscription television channel BBC Kids from 2011 until it ceased operations in 2018.
In 2022, following a highly publicized diversity audit of the Knowledge Network, Buttignol was dismissed from his position as president and CEO.
Early life
Rudy Buttignol was born in 1951 in Pordenone, Italy to Nelda (Caterina) and Marino Buttignol. In 1955 at the age of four, Buttignol and his mother boarded the MS Vulcania and immigrated to Canada via Pier 21 in Halifax. In
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, they were reunited with Marino Buttignol, who had immigrated in 1954 to work for
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
laying rail in northern
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
. Buttignol was raised and educated in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. From 1971 to 1975, he attended
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
Buttignol's career spans more than four decades. At the beginning of his career, he worked as an independent producer, director, writer and editor of documentary and children's programs, and later as a commissioning editor, television programmer, and broadcast executive. He has been called "Canadian broadcasting and documentary guru" and "friend of the auteur in Canada and abroad". Buttignol is acknowledged for his roles developing Canadian cultural policy related to documentary film funding and broadcasting and advancing the creative documentary genre in Canada and on the world stage. Rudy Buttignol originated the idea behind the 2014 television series '' Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH''. He stressed the distinction between the genre of the series, which is a
documentary
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 ...
, and that of reality-based entertainment.
From 1975 to 1993, Buttignol worked as an independent filmmaker creating film and video works. His early documentaries were about an Italian dairy (''The Dairy'' (1977), a Canadian artist (''Jack Bush'' (1979), a pop history of neon lights (''Neon, an Electric Memoir'' (1984), an Apollo-era astronaut who became an artist (''Allan Bean: Art Off This Earth'' (1990), and the early history of the Russian space program (''Soviet Space: The Secret Designer'' (1992).
In 1993, Buttignol began work as a public broadcaster when he joined
TVOntario
TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...
as commissioning editor and creative head of independent production. From 2000 to 2006, he was
TVOntario
TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...
Mark Achbar
Mark Achbar (born 1955) is a Canadian filmmaker, best known for '' The Corporation'' (2003), '' Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media'' (1994), and as an Executive Producer on over a dozen feature documentaries.
Biography
Achbar ...
and Jennifer Abbott
*Multiple Gemini Award-winning ''Dying at Grace'' (2004) by
Allan King
Allan Winton King, (February 6, 1930 – June 15, 2009), was a Canadian film director.
Life
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the Great Depression, King attended Henry Hudson Elementary School, in Kitsilano.Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...
Allan King
Allan Winton King, (February 6, 1930 – June 15, 2009), was a Canadian film director.
Life
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the Great Depression, King attended Henry Hudson Elementary School, in Kitsilano. In 2007, Buttignol was awarded the inaugural Hot Docs' Doc Mogul Award. All together, Buttignol was the recipient of nine Gemini Awards, from the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...
.
In 2007, Buttignol was appointed as president and CEO of British Columbia's Knowledge Network. In 2011, he became president of BBC Kids. His mandate includes outreach through events throughout British Columbia.
Along with his professional success, Buttignol contributed to and participated in a number of organizations. He is current Chair of the International Advisory Council of the Hot Docs Documentary Forum, Vice-Chair of the Canadian Association of Public Educational Media; and a Director on the Boards of the
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...
, and the Cultural Properties Export Review Board which is a Canadian federal government tribunal. Buttignol is also a director on the board of the Britannia Mine Museum, Britannia Beach, British Columbia. In the past, he was founder of the Hot Docs Financing Forum, elected chair of the board of the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...
from 1997 to 2003, President of the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...
Foundation, director on the boards of Banff Television Foundation, Canada Media Fund, Canadian Conference of the Arts, and moderator at the Hot Docs Documentary Festival Summit. Buttignol was also a member of the European Television and Media Management Academy's Advisory Council in Strasbourg. In 2013, Buttignol was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to British Columbians and Canadians, and for his role in transforming the Knowledge Network, British Columbia's public broadcaster. On December 30, 2015, it was announced that Buttignol was appointed as a Member of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...
for his contributions as a champion of Canadian documentary filmmaking and for his transformative leadership at the Knowledge Network. In 2017, Buttignol's arts advocacy was recognized with an honorary
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
's Tentanda Via Bryden Alumni Award. The Tentanda Via Award reflects York University's motto, “The Way Must Be Tried”.
In August 2023, Rudy Buttignol was appointed as President and Board member of CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons).
Controversy
In February 2022 an internal audit revealed that under Buttignol's leadership only 1.7% of the Knowledge Network's $2.054 million pre-licence funding, over a seven year period, had been awarded to production companies owned by people of colour. Indigenous filmmakers meanwhile had received no funding.
Buttignol stated that he had "major reservations" with the audit. Members of the IBPOC film community claimed that Buttignol's response "contributed to an increased distrust and lack of confidence from filmmakers of colour and other concerned British Columbians". A petition on Change.org was started calling for his replacement.
On June 17, 2022, the Knowledge Network's Board released a statement that Buttignol's contract had been terminated and that a national search would begin to find his replacement.