
A portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and informative portrait of a dynamic man of vision. Grierson believed that the filmmaker had a social responsibility, and that film could help a society realize democratic ideals. His absolute faith in the value of capturing the drama of everyday life was to influence generations of filmmakers all over the world. In fact, he coined the term 'documentary film'.
Cast

Michael Kane
Narrator (voice)

John Grierson
Self (archive footage)

Norman McLaren
Self (archive footage)

Sydney Newman
Self
Basil Wright
Self

Lorne Greene
Self

Woodrow Wilson
Self (archive footage)

Roberto Rossellini
Self

Joseph McCarthy
Self (archive footage)

Joris Ivens
Self

Indira Gandhi
Self
Margaret Grierson
Self

Alberto Cavalcanti
Self
Bosley Crowther
Self
Pierre Juneau
Self

Lester B. Pearson
Self (archive footage)
Crew
Roger Blais
Director, Producer

Donald Brittain
Writer
Les Halman
Editor
John Kramer
Editor
Annick de Bellefeuille
Editor
Lewis McLeod
Director of Photography
Jacques Fogel
Director of Photography
Eugene Boyko
Director of Photography
Michel Thomas-d'Hoste
Director of Photography
Magí Torruella
Director of Photography
David Bairstow
Executive Producer
Raymond Dumas
Animation Director
André Galbrand
Sound Editor
Bernard Bordeleau
Sound Editor
Jean-Pierre Joutel
Sound Re-Recording Mixer
Bev Davidson
Sound
Ron Seltzer
Sound
Gildas LeSausse
Sound
Hans Oomes
Sound
Colin Charles
Location Sound Mixer
Recommendations
view all
Love, Antosha

I Am Heath Ledger

Milius

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

Directed by John Ford

Spielberg

De Palma

Being James Bond

Val

Mifune: The Last Samurai

Naqoyqatsi

Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now

Tyson

Ronaldo

John Candy: I Like Me

Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me

Audrey

More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story

Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction