Brian McKenna (Born August 8, 1945 in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) is a Canadian documentary film director. He is best known for his prize-winning films on Canadian history and exploration of the world at war. McKenna is a founding producer of CBC's Oscar and Emmy award-winning documentary program, '' The Fifth Estate'', where he worked from 1975 to 1988. McKenna is a former parliamentary correspondent for the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950s and remained the dominan ...

.'' He has been a frequent collaborator with his brother

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

, also a filmmaker, in particular on the three-part series '' The Valour and the Horror''. The most controversial segment in the series concerned

strategic bombing during World War II World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close ...

. McKenna's contributions have included prize-winning reporting of Canada's wars, including the War of 1812, the First and Second World Wars, and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Among his documentary film achievements, McKenna also co-authored the Penguin Books biography of former Montreal mayor

Jean Drapeau Jean Drapeau, (18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was Mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include the development of the Montreal Metro entirely underground mass transi ...

. McKenna has written for '' Saturday Night'', ''

Weekend Magazine ''Weekend Magazine'' was a long-running television show, shown by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Its original producer was Rex Clayton, with subsequent producers including Ivan Chapman. This short format show was typically filmed by t ...

'', the ''

Literary Review of Canada The ''Literary Review of Canada'' is a Canadian magazine that publishes ten times a year in print and online. The magazine features essays and reviews of books on political, cultural, social, and literary topics, as well as original Canadian poet ...

'', '' Cité libre'', the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' and ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...

''.

Filmography and Awards

McKenna has been awarded a combined nine Gemini and prix Gemeaux awards and is the winner of a lifetime achievement Gemini and the Pierre Berton Prize for Canadian History. He has received three Nellie awards for best documentary writing. His hour-long 1983 investigation on the assassination of JFK drew the largest audiences for ''The Fifth Estate'' in the show's history. "In many respects, Brian McKenna's extensive commitment to broadcasting Canada's stories laid the groundwork for future major television projects with Canadian history at their core. But what makes him so honourable to me, is his passion to telling exceptional stories of everyday Canadians – so that all of us can better see ourselves in our history," said Deborah Morrison, president and C.E.O. of

Canada's National History Society Canada's National History Society is a charitable organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Society was founded in 1994 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) for the purpose of promoting greater popular interest in Canadian history princip ...

, who bestows the annual Pierre Berton award. His work on the controversial documentary series, '' The Valour and the Horror'', with his brother Terence McKenna, uniquely earned prizes for Best Direction, Best Writing and Best Documentary Series in English and French (Prix Gemeaux). Denounced by England's tabloid press, the series caused an uproar when it was shown in Great Britain, winning acclaim from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'': "It was a brave film to make" wrote novelist

A.N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson (born 27 October 1950)"A. N. Wilson"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''.

, "and a brave film to show." ''Pierre Trudeau: The Memoirs'', was broadcast in both official languages and won the prix Gemeaux for Best Doctumentary Series in 1994. He won two Gemini awards for his feature-length drama on the Montreal underworld, ''And Then You Die.'' ''The Hooded Men'', his film on torture, won the top prize at the American Film Festival and was employed by Amnesty International in their stop torture campaign. His film on CIA brainwashing at a Montreal psychiatric hospital, ''Secret Tests'', landed on the front page of ''The New York Times'', provoking debate in the U.S. Congress and Parliament. It won the gold medal for Investigative Journalism at the New York Television and Film Festival. ''A Journey Back'', McKenna's documentary on the Holocaust, led to a prosecution under Canada's war crime law. A finalist with the Nellie for best television program, the film won the Blue Ribbon at the American Film Festival and the Nellie for best documentary. Involving the descendants of Great War soldiers and nurses recreating the battles of

Vimy Ridge The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the Battle of Arras, in the Pas-de-Calais department of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the four divisions of the Canadian Corps in the First Army, against three divisions of ...

and

Passendale Passendale () or Passchendaele (; obsolete spelling, retained in English; vls, Passchendoale) is a rural Belgian village in the Zonnebeke municipality of West Flanders province. It is close to the town of Ypres, situated on the hill ridge separ ...

, McKenna's series on Canada and the Great War is called a "groundbreaking" achievement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Brian 1945 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Canadian documentary film directors Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian television reporters and correspondents Loyola College (Montreal) alumni Canadian Screen Award winning journalists

Filmography and Awards

Other Notable Documentaries

References