IT WAS JUST OVER 40 YEARS AGO that Rudy Buttignol, a rising documentary filmmaker, began to invite friends and colleagues over to his office on Toronto’s Victoria Street for Tuesday night drinks. Buttignol’s office was only a block away from the National Film Board’s office, which had become a second home for such young filmmakers as Laura Sky, David and Heather Springbett, Peter Raymont, Barry Greenwald, Bob Lang, Paul da Silva, and John Walker. That group and a few others would gather to trade stories about making films independently in the swirling atmosphere surrounding the establishment of Telefilm Canada, a funding agency set up for this country’s burgeoning media industry.
The group quickly coalesced into an advocacy organization called the Canadian Independent Film Caucus (CIFC). From beers on Tuesday nights, they turned into stirring proselytizers for independent documentary cinema. They demanded that Telefilm fund the indie sector and lobbied to the CBC and TVO (Ontario’s education station) to create documentary shows that would feature point-of-view work. Always willing to fight for the cause, the Caucus eventually got funding from the federal government and strands on both the CBC and TVO.
That wasn’t all. Under then-Caucus Chair Paul Jay, the Hot Docs festival was established and became such a success that it was made into its own entity. The Caucus’ newsletter became POV, now the longest running English-language Canadian film magazine. After 20 years as the CIFC, the organization rebranded itself as DOC, the Documentary Organization of Canada. From one chapter in Toronto, it has grown into a national network advocating for the documentary sector with six chapters across Canada.
To commemorate DOC’s 40th anniversary, POV’s editor Marc Glassman has interviewed 21 people who made an impact on the organization and the filmmaking culture of this country. This is an edited version of what they said. A fuller account will be posted later this year on the POV website, where the interviewees will say much, much more.
DOC’s Cast of Characters
POV interviewed the following people for this oral history:
Geoff Bowie, filmmaker; former editor of POV. Films include Nahanni, River of Forgiveness
Rudy Buttignol, filmmaker; executive producer; former commissioning editor at TVO; former CEO of Knowledge Network
Betsy Carson, film producer. Films include 500 Days in the Wild, A Place Called Chiapas
Barri Cohen, filmmaker; former editor/publisher of POV. Films include Toxic Trespass, Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children
Sandy Crawley, former DOC executive director; actor; Green Party shadow cabinet on culture
Ina Fichman, producer, Intuitive Pictures. Films include Fire of Love, The Oslo Diaries
Lisa Fitzgibbons, former DOC executive director; senior policy advisor, Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport
Jackie Garrow, former managing director, DOC Ontario; current Ring Five Impact Docs founder and producer
Barry Greenwald, filmmaker. Films include Taxi!, Metamorphosis, Between Two Worlds
Samantha Hodder, former DOC executive director; writer; producer
Paul Jay, filmmaker; co-founder, Hot Docs. Films include Hitman Hart, Return to Kandahar
Ali Kazimi, filmmaker; York University professor. Films include Narmada: A Valley Rises, Shooting Indians
Lalita Krishna, producer, In Sync Media. Films include Ryan’s Well (director), Bangla Surf Girls (producer)
Chuck Lapp, filmmaker. Films include 30 Takes, Painting the Mystery
Gary Marcuse, radio and print journalist; filmmaker. Films include Mind of a Child, Waking the Green Tiger
, co-founder, Hot Docs; first executive director of CIFC; former Industry co-ordinator, Festival of Festivals
