Interview with a "round table" gathering of esteemed NFB pioneers.
Pierre Juneau (1922-1912) joined the NFB in 1949. His contribution to the Canadian creative industry was immense including being founding chairman of the CRTC and architect of Canadian content regulations. The Juno Awards are named after him to respect his contribution towards improving Canadian creative copyright legislation.
Michael Spencer (1919-2016) was a documentary pioneer who joined the NFB in 1939 and became a cameraman for the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit. He and James Beveridge made a film together about the Peace River in 1941 and ever since were great friends. First Exec Director of the Canadian Film Development Corporation, he was passionate about developing the Canadian cinema industry.
Colin Low (1920-2016) was a Producer/Director/Innovator at the NFB. "Mr. Low pioneered breakthroughs across virtually every genre of film, during an illustrious career at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) that spanned over six decades." (NFB website)
Robert Verrall is a Canadian animator, director, film producer and administrator who worked with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) from 1945 until the 1980s. His 1960 film "A is for Architecture" was edited by James Beveridge.
William Weintraub (1926-1917) was a journalist, author and filmmaker who joined the NFB in its infancy. He worked on over 150 NFB films.
Friday, October 22, 2004
What a day. I had wanted to interview the people that worked with Dad at the NFB in those first few years. We managed to pull together a round table with some of the biggest names in the Canadian film industry; Michael Spencer, Pierre Juneau, Bob Verrall, William Weintraub, and Colin Low.
It was a very long, exhausting afternoon but extremely interesting. These people made the Canadian film and television industry what it is today. Their stories were wonderful and they gave me some really great insight into what was going on at the Film Board during the early years – one part of my Dad’s history that is still cloudy.
We got back to Toronto around 3 AM for a weekend of rest before some bigger traveling next week.
