''Lonely Boy'' is a 1962 ''

cinéma vérité Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or high ...

'' documentary about the former teen sensation

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

. The film takes its name from Anka's hit song, " Lonely Boy", which he performs to screaming fans in the film. This short documentary makes use of hand-held cameras to record intimate backstage moments. Co-directed by

Roman Kroitor Roman Kroitor (December 12, 1926 – September 17, 2012) was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as an early practitioner of ''cinéma vérité'', as co-founder of IMAX, and as creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic animation system. H ...

and

Wolf Koenig Wolf Koenig (October 17, 1927 – June 26, 2014) was a Canadian film director, Film producer, producer, animator, cinematographer, and a pioneer in Direct Cinema at the National Film Board of Canada. Early life Born in Dresden, Germany, Koenig em ...

, this

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 ...

production won 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 ...

as Film of the Year at the

15th Canadian Film Awards The 15th Canadian Film Awards were held on May 10, 1963 to honour achievements in Canadian film. This year saw a new record in film submissions: 175 productions from 44 producers, with the greatest increases in the TV Information and Travel and Re ...

, and was nominated at the

BAFTA Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

for its best short film prize.

Influence

''Lonely Boy'' was a substantial influence on the

Peter Watkins Peter Watkins (born 29 October 1935) is an English film and television director. He was born in Norbiton, Surrey, lived in Sweden, Canada and Lithuania for many years, and now lives in France. He is one of the pioneers of docudrama. His films ...

film '' Privilege''. Watkins had studied it in preparation for filming and his film deals with the phenomenal popularity of a pop singer and its abuse for political motives. One scene showing the central character, Steven Shorter, at a table with a venue owner is virtually a one-to-one reproduction of a scene in ''Lonely Boy'', even using the same name (Uncle Julie) for the like-mannered venue owner. The ''cinéma verité'' style of ''Lonely Boy'' was also adopted, and one DVD release of ''Privilege'' included ''Lonely Boy'' as well as an excerpt of an essay on that film as extra features.''Privilege''
at DVD Verdict.
- Greg Bennet

''At The Cinema'', March 29, 2011 The film's importance in the evolution of documentary film making was explored in the film '' Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment''.

References

External links

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Watch ''Lonely Boy'' at NFB.ca

Media Rights entry
1962 short films Canadian black-and-white films English-language Canadian films National Film Board of Canada documentaries Documentary films about singers Canadian short documentary films Black-and-white documentary films Best Picture Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners 1962 documentary films Films directed by Roman Kroitor National Film Board of Canada short films Quebec films 1960s English-language films 1960s Canadian films {{1960s-Canada-film-stub