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, p ...

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 f ...

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 ceme ...

'' (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 A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...

'' 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 scu ...

-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 F ...

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 desig ...

'' 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 fair ...

, 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 Communicatio ...

. He wrote the 1975 Oscar-nominated short documentary '' Whistling Smith''. He co-directed the 1976 feature documentary '' Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry'' which garnered 6

Canadian Film Awards 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 ...

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 ''The Champions'' is a British espionage thriller/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure television series. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company, and consists of 30 episodes broadcast in the UK on ITV ...

'', 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 attempt ...

and

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and ...

. His most ambitious project was ''

The King Chronicle ''The King Chronicle'' is a Canadian docudrama television miniseries, directed by Donald Brittain and broadcast by CBC Television in 1988. Blending both documentary and dramatic elements, the six-hour series was a portrait of former Canadian Prim ...

'', 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 Li ...

. 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 Arthur Lipsett (May 13, 1936 – May 1, 1986) was a Canadian avant-garde director of short collage films. Life and career Born in Montreal into a Jewish family, Lipsett saw his mother, an immigrant from Kiev, commit suicide when he was 10 years ...

's '' A Trip Down Memory Lane.'' Often a narrator of his own documentaries, Brittain also lent his voice to the animated

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

'' What on Earth!''

Lifetime achievement awards and posthumous honours

In 1989, Brittain was the recipient of a

Margaret Collier Award The Margaret Collier Award is a lifetime achievement award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, to a Canadian writer for their outstanding body of work in film or television. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, s ...

. In 1990, he was posthumously appointed an

Officer of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in recognition of "his masterful visual records of our social and cultural past. The

Donald Brittain Award The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, s ...

for the best political or social documentary presented by 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 film industry and television industry professionals, most notably through the Canadian Scre ...

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 a ...

and more recently, the

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

, 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 fo ...

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 archi ...

{{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