David Steele Bairstow was born in Toronto in 1921, the only child of William Bairstow and Florence Steele, both of whom were immigrants—William from England, Florence from the United States. Bairstow successfully competed to attend University of Toronto Schools, and then went to University College, Toronto, graduating with an Honours degree in Sociology in 1944. In university, he was a member of the Sociology Club and the Historical Club, and was keenly interested in the arts. He was the Literary Director of the University College Literary and Athletic Society, through which he wrote and produced plays and musicals. He was a member of the Glee Club, the Music Club, the Victoria College Bob Committee[5] and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.[6] In 1946, he moved to Ottawa and joined the National Film Board of Canada.
Career
Bairstow was placed in the NFB’s storied Studio B, where his first film, Safe Clothing, was an award-winning comedic short film about the importance of wearing appropriate clothing. He moved through the 1940s with a long list of documentaries, and then spent 1951 through 1957 making scientific films, and training films and sponsored documentaries involving the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy.
In the early 1960s, Bairstow became very interested in environmental issues. He believed that humans inadvertently disturb the environment when they try to control it. But as to solving the problem of pollution, he agreed with the government’s solutions; just after making Morning on the Lièvre, Bairstow made a film about the 'national disgrace' that was the heavily-polluted Ottawa River. In River with a Problem (1961),[7] he and director Graham Parker proposed that state experts and scientists should solve the problems of the past. Their position was that government funding, specialist knowledge and waste management were vital to restoring the balance of nature, and that economic growth was not incompatible with environmental protection.[8]
Bairstow’s views, and those of colleagues such as Parker and Larry Gosnell, though slightly different, had a tremendous impact on how nature was represented in NFB cinema. The approach became more sophisticated and journalistic, as interviews about the effects of pollution became spontaneous, and cinematographers equipped with lightweight gear could record instances of ecological destruction at a moment’s notice. In some cases, the camera mimicked the perspective of wildlife. These filmmakers often went off-script, looking at the root causes of environmental destruction without the blessing of the government or sponsors. Poison, Pests, and People (1960),[9] illustrated that uses of nature, and solutions for pollution, had to be addressed based on individual communities, an approach that was new at the time.[10]
In the mid-1960s, Bairstow worked with Laurence Hyde to produce a 13-film series on the traditional Inuit way of life, using footage of the Netsilik people of Pelly Bay, Nunavut to illustrate the tales told by Tuktu, a fictional elder.[11]
In 1970, Bairstow spent a year producing films for the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit. Upon his return, now as Executive Producer of Studio B, he created the board’s Multiculturalism Program, which was seen as an innovative response to discursive racism and a way of increasing racial diversity among the NFB’s films. Some of the films to come out of this program are The People of the Book (Felix Lazarus, 1973), Kaszuby (André Herman, 1975), I've Never Walked the Steppes (Jerry Krepakevich 1975), Seven Shades of Pale (Les Rose, 1975), a 1977 trilogy from Beverly Shaffer—Gurdeep Singh Bains, Kevin Alec and Veronica, and three 1977 films from Albert Kish: Bekevar Jubilee, Our Street Was Paved with Gold, and Hold the Ketchup.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]
Eye Witness No. 54: Little League, An Auto a Minute, A Railroad Goes to Sea, Daryl Duke, Felix Lazarus and Jack Long 1953 - producer
Eye Witness No. 55: Indian Canoe Experts, Low-Cost College, Five-Pin Grey Cup, Stephen Greenlees, Gordon Burwash and John Foster 1953 - writer, producer
Eye Witness No. 56: Scottish Shepherd, Outdoor Classrooms, Canadians Help Arab Farmers, Hector Lemieux, Ron Weyman and Grant McLean 1953 - producer
International Documentary Film Days on the Environment, Ouistreham Riva-Bella: Honorable Mention, 1976
International Science and Technology Film Contest, Tokyo: Bronze Prize, Higher Education, 1976[54]
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References
↑ "David Bairstow". cfe.tiff.net. Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
↑ "Oceans of Science". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
↑ Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN0-7737-3238-1. pp. 57-60.
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