Magnus Isacsson (1948 - August 2, 2012) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
maker whose films investigated contemporary political issues and topics in
social activism
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
.
Early life and television career
Isacsson was born in
Sweden in 1948. His father founded and ran an art school and his mother taught children with learning disabilities. Isacsson first became involved with photography, with photographs exhibited at the
Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm when he was 18 years old. He immigrated to Canada in 1970. He first worked as a radio producer for
Sveriges Radio and the
CBC, before moving into television to direct reports for the English– and French-language CBC television networks, for such programs as ''
The Fifth Estate'' and ''
Le Point''.
Film career
Frustrated by the creative constraints of working for TV networks, Isacsson began a career as an independent filmmaker in 1986. His film ''Uranium'', the story of radioactive contamination on Native land by Canada's
uranium mines
Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Nig ...
, won a Golden Sheaf Award at the
Yorkton Film Festival
Yorkton Film Festival (YFF) is an annual film festival held in late May in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
In 1947, the Yorkton Film Council (YFC) was founded and in 1950 the first international documentary film festival officially opened in we ...
in 1991; ''Power'', a feature-length chronicle of the
Cree's five-year struggle against the Great Whale Hydro Project in
Northern Quebec Northern Quebec (french: le nord du Québec) is a geographic term denoting the northerly, more remote and less populated parts of the Canadian province of Quebec.Alexandre Robaey"Charity group works with Indigenous communities to feed Northern Queb ...
, received the award for Best Documentary at the International Environmental Film Festival in Paris (1997), amongst other accolades and nominations. ''The Choir Boys'', a film about the journey of a choir of homeless men in Montreal, won the award for Best Documentary at the
Mumbai International Film Festival
The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...
in 2000.
[
Isacsson has been involved in the Documentary Organization of Canada (formerly CIFC) since its beginning, contributing to the formation of the Montreal chapter in 1988. He was also involved in starting the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) as a member of its first programming committee. In association with the RIDM, Isacsson instigated the Docu-Mondays (Lundis du Doc) screening series. Isacsson was a member of the ARRQ director's union in Quebec, and has served as a board member for the Observatoire du Documentaire.
Isacsson's last film was the feature-length documentary ''L'Art en Action'' (2009), a study of the ATSA group's provocative urban art installation. At the time of his death, Isacsson was working on ''Granny Power'', a film about the ]Raging Grannies
The Raging Grannies (or just "Raging Grannies") are activist organizations in many cities and towns in Canada, the United States, and in other countries. The first group started in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, i ...
.[
]
Teaching
In addition to his filmmaking, Isacsson was also a university educator and pioneer in community media, teaching audiovisual production courses in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
while working with Vidéo Tiers Monde.[
]
Death and posthumous honours
Magnus Isacsson died of cancer in Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, Quebec on August 2, 2012. As of August 2012, the RIDM is creating a new award in the name of Isacsson and frequent collaborator Martin Duckworth.[
]
Filmography
*''Toivo'' (1990)
*''Union Trouble'' (1991)
*''Uranium'' (1991)
*''Out of the Ashes'' (1991)
*''The Emperor's New Clothes'' (1995)
*''Power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
'' (1996)
*''The Big Upheaval'' (1996)
*''Vivre Ensemble'' (1997)
*''Pressure Point'' (1999)
*''The Choir Boys'' (1999)
*'' Maxime, McDuff & McDo'' (2002)
*''View From the Summit'' (2002)
*''Waiting for Martin'' (2004)
*''Hell-bent for Justice'' (2005)
*''The Battle of Rabaska'' (2008)
*''L'Art en Action'' (2009)
*'' My Real Life (Ma vie réelle)'' (2012)[
*''Granny Power'' (in production)][http://www.grannypowerthefilm.com/ Finishing ‘Ma vie réelle’]
References
External links
*
Magnus Isacsson Official Site
Blog of Magnus Isacsson
''Remembering Dedicated Documentary Filmmaker Magnus Isacsson''
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 ...
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isacsson, Magnus
1948 births
2012 deaths
Canadian documentary film directors
Swedish emigrants to Canada
Film directors from Montreal
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people
Swedish documentary filmmakers
Deaths from cancer in Quebec
Canadian film educators