Paul Cowan is a Canadian filmmaker who spent the bulk of his career with the National Film Board of Canada. [1]
Cowan was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature for Going the Distance , a documentary about the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He was the director of the controversial docudrama The Kid Who Couldn't Miss [1] and cinematographer on the Oscar-winning Flamenco at 5:15 .
He is the winner of a Genie Award for his documentary Westray, on the Westray Mine disaster. [2] He wrote and directed the 2005 documentary The Peacekeepers . He retired from the NFB in 2009, after directing a film adaptation of Margaret MacMillan's Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War . He directed the 2012 documentary The Crash of Flight 810, part of TSN's Engraved on a Nation series of eight documentaries celebrating the 100th Grey Cup. [3] It concerns the 1956 Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 plane crash into Slesse Mountain in B.C. that killed all 62 people on board, including five football players returning from the annual East-West All-Star Game, and its impact on the players' families and Canadian football. [3]
In 2014, Cowan completed the documentary The Wanted 18 , co-directed with Palestinian artist Amer Shomali, about the efforts of the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to establish an independent dairy industry during the First Intifada. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. [4]
A resident of Westmount, Quebec, Cowan is married to CBC radio personality Katie Malloch. [1]
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and alternative dramas. In total, the NFB has produced over 13,000 productions since its inception, which have won over 5,000 awards. The NFB reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It has bilingual production programs and branches in English and French, including multicultural-related documentaries.
Roman Kroitor was a Canadian filmmaker who was known as a pioneer of Cinéma vérité, as the co-founder of IMAX, and as the creator of the Sandde hand-drawn stereoscopic 3D animation system. He was also the original inspiration for The Force. His prodigious output garnered numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, three Cannes Film Festival awards, and two Oscar nominations.
The Westray Mine was a Canadian coal mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia. Westray was owned and operated by Curragh Resources Incorporated, which obtained both provincial and federal government money to open the mine, and supply the local electric power utility with coal.
Alanis Obomsawin, is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers.
Robin Spry was a Canadian film director, producer and writer. He was perhaps best known for his documentary films Action: The October Crisis of 1970 and Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis about Quebec's October Crisis. His 1970 film Prologue won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Calvin Jack Jones was an American professional football guard. Jones played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and he is one of only two players to have his jersey number retired by the school. Jones became the first Hawkeye and the first African-American, to win the Outland Trophy in 1955. He played one year with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU). He died in a plane crash after playing in the East–West All-Star Game.
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810-9 was a Canadair North Star on a scheduled flight from Vancouver to Calgary. The plane crashed into Mount Slesse near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, on 9 December 1956 after encountering severe icing and turbulence over the mountains. All 62 people on board died, making it one of the deadliest airline crashes ever as of that date; it still ranks as the sixth deadliest air disaster in Canadian history.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Buster Keaton Rides Again is a 55-minute 1965 documentary film directed by John Spotton and narrated by Michael Kane. The film is a behind-the-scenes documentary shot while Buster Keaton's film The Railrodder (1965), was being produced. Although it is a production documentary, the film is actually longer than The Railrodder, which was only 24 minutes long. Both films were produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). A French version of Buster Keaton Rides Again, Avec Buster Keaton was also released.
Children of Jerusalem is a series of seven documentary films directed by Beverly Shaffer for the National Film Board of Canada between 1991 and 1996. The series illustrates life in Jerusalem from the points of view of children of various cultural, social and religious backgrounds.
Edwin Charles Harrison is the offensive line coach for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a former professional gridiron football guard who was a member of the Calgary Stampeders and the Kansas City Chiefs. He won a Grey Cup championship with the Stampeders in 2014. He played college football at Colorado.
Yung Chang is a Chinese Canadian film director and was part of the collective member directors of Canadian film production firm EyeSteelFilm.
The Kid Who Couldn't Miss is a 1983 docudrama film directed by Paul Cowan. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, it combines fact and fiction to question fighter pilot Billy Bishop's accomplishments during World War I, featuring excerpts from John MacLachlan Gray's play Billy Bishop Goes to War. The film specifically questions accounts of Bishop's solo mission to attack a German aerodrome on June 2, 1917, for which he was awarded a Victoria Cross, and suggests the event was imaginary and that Bishop exaggerated his own accomplishments.
Beverly Shaffer is a filmmaker in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Shaffer spent the bulk of her professional career with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), directing short documentaries and dramas. Her documentary I'll Find a Way, about a young girl with spina bifida, won the 1977 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
Melvin Howard Becket, was an American college football and professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, on December 9, 1956.
Mario Joseph DeMarco, was an American college football, National Football League (NFL), and professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, on December 9, 1956.
Gordon Henry Sturtridge was a professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, on December 9, 1956.
Raymond Nicholas "Ray" Syrnyk, was a professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810.
Blake is a 1969 Canadian short documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The film was directed by Bill Mason, and his fellow filmmaker Blake James, who pilots his own aircraft and lives by a unique code. Blake is Mason's cinematic testimonial to his friend and his "hobo of the skies" lifestyle.
Loc Dao is a Canadian digital media creator who is the chief digital officer (CDO) of the National Film Board of Canada. Dao was named CDO in March 2016, after serving as executive producer and creative technologist for the NFB English-language digital studio in Vancouver since 2011.